The Story of Booker T & The M.G.'s. As Told by Steve Cropper 

This man is an icon and one of my heroes

Steve is one of the most Low-Key Famous Musicians EVER!

He is an important piece of American history...not just music history. Who else rubs elbows with Otis and Elvis and lives to tell?🤗

Steve is such a down to Earth, no nonsense gentleman. This interview is gold Joe. 'Green Onions' was the first 45 I bought as a ten year old kid. It's still one of the greatest instrumenta ever recorded. Thank you.

Apart from being an ace musician, he comes across as a charming bloke. Magical

He contributed to SO MANY fantastic songs, all throughout the Volt/Stax era, which happened to coincide with my high school years. He not only played, but wrote, co-wrote, produced, arranged. He is a guy who really did it ALL, which you can't say about too many people. A giant talent.

Steve is a living history of music , he’s a cool dude , excellent player / producer 😎🇺🇸⚓️

The Man The Myth The Legend

Awesome interview. Mr. Cropper seems so humble and grateful. Now I feel humble and grateful just to be able to hear this. Getting to hear from the guy who wrote my all time favorite intrumental. GREEN ONIONS! God Bless

If you played in a band back in the day you played Dock of the Bay, Midnight Hour, knock on would, Green Onions, Soul Man....

Time is Tight is still one of my favorite tunes to jam on...Great interview with a true legend among us pickers.

Great interview. Still got my original 45 of Green Onions. It was the best record in the world!👍🏼

Very calm and nice guy Mr. Steve Cropper I remembered him dueling solos with Mr. Joe Walsh in Mr. Clapton's show crossroads guitar festival.

My 1st guitar hero! I studied and played every lick he recorded beginning with Green Onions! I was literally waiting with bated breath between record releases!

Thank you for posting this interview. Steve Cropper has been my favorite guitarist since I was a small kid in the early 70's. So good to see the man is as cool as I've always thought he may be.

First album I ever bought was Melting Pot by Booker T and the MG's. It had been out for a couple of decades by then, but I found it in a used bin for $2 in 1990. It was in great shape and I still have it, an original Stax release. I bought it the day Stevie Ray died, although I didn't find out about that until the next day. Two of my favorite guitarists, Steve Cropper and Stevie Ray Vaughan.

I didn't know he was such an accomplished writer too. "Soul Man", and "Knock on Wood", etc.

I'm 68, so I was a boy when Green Onions became a part of my life. Steve's work continued to be a part of my life whether I knew it or not. To be able to hear his voice, to get an inkling of the person that he is, is a great gift. Thank you.

I could listen to him all day long. I had hoped he would say more about Duck in this interview then he surely did when he ended it with the story of Duck's recovered Bass. Heavy stuff.

I recently visited the MHOF as well as the Stax Museum in Memphis - man what a legacy Booker T and the MGs left behind

Great to see the Colonel on this... Fantastic!

Steve Cropper, one of my favorites!

After listening to Steve Cropper’s music all my life and now watching some of his interviews, meeting him in person is now on my bucket list before I die.

"Play it Steve"!

This is solid Gold, thank you Steve cropper

Legend , thanks for a great interview x

Green Onions should STILL be #1 on the charts! Cropper is such a great story teller and reveals so much interesting little tidbits. Joe, you're a great interviewer and a breathe of fresh air allowing the musicians to speak and elaborate uninterrupted bringing out the best of them

Music Trivia: "Dock Of The Bay" has 7 Major chords. G-A-B-C-D-E-F. Nice interview, Joe.

👉”I’m still a kid in Memphis “😝I love it!...and stat of pancakes?😂😂😂classic!!!!

Met him a few years ago...very down to earth, easy to talk to. We talked about the McLemore Avenue album.

Great interview

Another priceless interview from Joe Chambers.Fantastic.🌟🎶

The Colonel! Hip Hug Her. My fav.

Gold. From the master.

I agree with Anthony: This interview w/ Steve Cropper is pure gold. God bless Joe Chambers....

Thanks for years of more than great music

What a gentleman.

Fantastic! Thank you.

Great interview! Steve and the booker T band are the best groove band ever in my humble opinion. A massive influence on my guitar playing. I've been a fan since i was a kid, and all these years later, I still spin their music on the regular.

Love this story telling for the best songs of my youth! Love, love, love.

I love learning the history of songs👍

awesome!

CROP you are the MAN!!!!!!!

Because of this man our High School bands had great songs to play for money at FratParties, Clubs, Lounges. Great Memories !

thank you so much for doing these, much better than lifeless relics hanging on the wall.... this is the best way!

Thank you.

Wonderful Show

Has one mans talent been shared by more folks, known and unknown. What a treat. I’m building a tele as we speak. I think it’s really going to make my 65’ Ampeg Reverberocket shine.

Joe, another awesome interview, Steve is an icon, but his humility is refreshing! Several years ago I toured Stax, what an excellent experience! You are a blessed man to have the opportunity to interview such talented folks! Keep up the good work, enjoyed it a immensely!💫

This series is the best.

Another great interview... wow such interesting stories

Great gentleman there in Steve Cropper. Never heard of him before until this interview Joe,as I'm just one of those that listens to the car radio,,playing it like a typwriter going down the road, my entire life. I can tell Steve had the same mindset,,that our mother told us when we were little rats."Nothing good is thrown in your lap,ya gotta get out and get after it",,,and Steve was welling to sweep the floors in the record store,,and look were this ethic led him,, to several iconic records produced. Thanks for sharing this.

Mr. Cropper's influence was massive and truly undeniable. It's hard to imagine the likes of Steve Winwood and Jeff Beck (who he would later produce) being inspired by him, but when Booker T & the MGs played the UK in the mid 60s, it was revelation for British players, many of whom, like the original Small Faces and Brian Auger were already into the Stax sound. This track below, 'Don't Want You No More', the B-side of the first single the Spencer Davis Group did after the departures of Stevie and Muff Winwood from the band (they show in the photo), sees new boys Phil Sawyer (voc./gtr.) and Eddie Hardin (Hammond/bass pedals) adding some serious MGs spirit, with Sawyer's Telecaster chord slashes so reminiscent of what he'd heard Cropper do. Even the riff is so like 'Green Onions'. The Allman Brothers opened their debut album with an instrumental arrangement of this tune, so if it sounds familiar, that is why. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-j4bxZukeOuw.html

Steve Cropper The Man with the Golden Touch. infinite eternal immortal an American Legend

A couple of accomplished gentlemen having a chat. Best thing going on RU-vid. The Willis interview was stellar too. Amazing people...so much more interesting than the "stars". Let me correct that. We have endless video and interviews with the front-line...far too little with these men and women who made it happen. Thanks again.

One of the greatest studio musicians that ever lived. His talent for writing, performing, and producing music with others, helped make Stax the legendary hits factory it ultimately became in just a few short years. His riffs are unforgettable. His lyrics are spellbinding. His influence on music in general, and Memphis Soul in particular is indelible. Continued good health and happiness Steve...you "play(ed) it" indeed!🎸

What a great interview

The brainstorming of thought,ideas put to notes of songs to be recorded! And Mr.D,J.play my song! Steve and the band display music brings all walks of life together ! Booker T and the MG,s the original salt n pepper of Soul Man! I hoping that Steve talk about his custom Peavey tele style guitar ,was it purple? LoL! Was it one only or production to his specs! Great human being ,Soul Man of Stax!

I saw him with the Blues Brothers at the Hollywood Bowl and did not even know it . Damn , wish I was smart enough to know who was in that band .

Wow..!! Joe,you definitely know how to pick em..!👍🏼…and how to get em talkin too..! Great job.!

Steve is awesome

Joe...my hero.. RIP

A walking history of stax and memphis music..at the center of it..with so many stories he could probably tell for hours. He is not interviewed enough. Between Stax, Volt, HI (Holiday Inn) and Sun, quite a music scene.

Green Onions... immediate response worldwide at the time. Shows the power of RnB, the universal power of good old down-home cooking.

This dude is good

I absolutely love these interviews with Steve Cropper and he is always such a good interview and he was a HUGE foundation of the early days of STAX but I can't help but notice in any interview I read or watch about the early days of STAX that Chips Moman is left out of the conversation so often. I know it later became too much of a rift between he and the Axtons for him to stay but the work he did in the early days can't be denied but sure seems like there is a concerted effort to deminish it or ignore it all together...I mean Steve Cropper is legendary no doubt, but you would think that only he and Jim Stewart were the only producers at STAX/VOLT? I love the interviews and how you let the musicians talk btw...just had to get my thoughts in! Thanks!

A great guy and the musicians musician.

Instrumental hit? Check out 1952 "Juke" by Little Walter #1 for a long time on the R&B charts, harmonica instrumental....on Chess Records. (just so happens I have played harp 48 years)

The Blues Brothers wouldn't be... Without him and duck on bass

He seems so matter-of-fact about not knowing what happened to those guitars. I know what happened to every guitar I've ever owned and had one stolen once, which REALLY killed me, especially since it was my own damn fault. Those instruments are three of the most iconic guitars in pop music history.

Time is tight.

Steve was/is the master of restrained tasteful playing. Too many players overplay a song. When you hear Steve he will do just enough to make the record memorable. Like on Green Onions. The licks are so simple. But its the way he does it. That makes it memorable. Keith Richards had this ability too. GREEN ONIONS MIDNIGHT HOUR SOUL MAN KNOCK ON WOOD DOCK OF THE BAY Some of his stand out moments

I like this man very much too. These guys , just like Joe, I think if you met on the street they would treat everyone they meet really good. I believe that.

It is a tragedy that he got his big break at the studio then Isaac Hayes' ego and greed along with the inept new upper management was the death sentence for STAX. Some of the best music ever from that era came from STAX.

A lot of people talk about Keith Richards being the "rhythm master"; truth is, despite being the solid rhythm player that he is, he couldn't hold a candle to Steve Cropper.

The flip side was 'Chinese Checkers'

Hey Joe (you must get a 'Hendrixisation' of your name a lot but it needed to be said!) --- Steve Cropper sure ages well, he looks no different in this video than he does 11 years later in your later interview with the great man!

When Bobby Whitlock was stranded without a band, it was Steve Cropper who said, "Why don't you go visit Eric (Clapton) and paid for his ticket. The beginnings of Derek and the Dominos.

I listened a half-dozen times to Steve's explanation of why he prefers a Telecaster, and still didn't understand what he was saying. In older electric times the construction of a guitar made a difference. These days, with modern electronics, it makes absolutely no difference. The amps can be adjusted for any sound.

0:30 is that you joe?

:)

The older guys are real pros, not like todays musicians, all fancy, angry and boring!

Joe

Wow he donated his amp to the Smithsonian. Which one l wonder ... American History or the African American History and Culture Museum?

Steve cropper not many in his class

Too many bullshit commercials