One hot summer afternoon, the sun was beating down on the National Mall. The area was filled with visitors from around the world who had come to enjoy the 2025 Smithsonian Folklife Festival. I could hear the energetic sounds of the bass, drums, trumpet, keyboard, and guitar in the distance. It was the talented musicians and performers of Stax Music Academy.

As I followed the music, I saw that everyone was enthusiastically stomping their feet and clapping to the rhythm. I began to jam along with the rest of the crowd. The performance was electric. I felt transported to the 1960s and ‘70s, when soul music ruled the airwaves and local clubs.

Founded in 2000 in Memphis, Tennessee, Stax Music Academy is dedicated to educating the next generation of soul musicians. It honors the legacy of Stax Records, a prolific record label responsible for hits that have contributed to the soundtrack of the United States. Each day of the Festival, the Stax Music Academy students commanded the attention of visitors with their dynamic performances.

After the Festival, when I interviewed music director Sam Franklin IV, who was once a student of the academy himself, it was clear how his students have risen to such a high level of musicianship. 

What was it like attending Stax Music Academy as a student?

I started in the Stax Music Academy when I was twelve years old. I was actually a part of the first ever Junior Academy which is now known as the Satellite Band. Going through the Stax Music Academy as a student to now, I can say that it prepared me for the position that I’m in now. A lot of things that I’m doing now, I wasn’t doing before I joined the academy. It taught me how to read music, how to work well with people that I’ve never met before and I’ve never played with before. It really taught me how to build bonds outside of music.

I was very fortunate to work with an amazing music director by the name of Mr. Paul McKinney. Paul McKinney served as the music director of SMA for over fifteen years. He’s had a huge impact on my life. It was a really great experience.

What is it like now being the music director?

Being the music director now at the Stax Music Academy has been a great experience, working with the kids and seeing almost what I went through, in them. It’s cool to see everything come back around full circle. For example, Mr. McKinney used to talk to us about writing out the format of a song. So like, how many bars are in the intro, the verse, the pre-chorus, chorus, second verse, second chorus bridge. Now I have a chance to share it with the kids that are here. It’s a really, really great feeling.

Why is it important for kids to start early in their musical education?

I think it’s important because it helps the kids find their identity. It helps them to discover who they are, not even just as a musician, but as a person. It did that for me. I didn’t really feel like I had an identity musically before I came to Stax.

What is it like to be a part of the rich legacy of Stax Records?

It’s an amazing feeling, especially being able to see some of the Stax artists. I always tell the kids that no matter if the artist is deceased or alive, we are always paying tribute to these artists. The students have had the opportunity to see Booker T. Jones from Booker T. and the M.G.’s. They’ve even had a chance to perform with them before.

When we were in Washington, D.C., for the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, after a performance, I was just chilling in my hotel room, and this car commercial came on. I don’t remember what car it was, but “Mr. Big Stuff” was playing. In that moment, I’m like, this music reaches people. It reaches the world. I’m literally sitting in my Stax office right now, knowing that this music was literally recorded right next door. To be literally right next door to where history was created is an amazing feeling.

What was it like performing with your students at the Folklife Festival?

It was really a good experience to be able to show them how to do certain things. Especially the workshop—we had our vocal instructor, Leah Buckley, perform two songs that required a full band, “Oh Happy Day” and “Rock Street.” To be able to jam with them and have fun, I think that’s what the overall mission is.

You see a bunch of kids that love music—they love, live, breathe music. So for them to be able to play music all day long—because we were doing the workshops, we had the performances, and even when we would get back to the hotel, they are still singing. They’re still tapping on our desk, and they’re enjoying it, you know. I think that’s the overall mission, to see youth actively wanting to be a part of something great.

What inspires you to make music?

My future. I’m always thinking about tomorrow. So that inspires me to make music, to produce, to arrange, to do everything. I really want to make my future wife and my future kids proud. That’s my push to want to be an amazing musician.

Why is it important to keep these genres of music alive?

All of these songs had meaning, especially in the ’60s. A lot of people don’t understand when these songs were written—they just hear lyrics, but there is a message in all of these songs. Especially in the ’60s, Stax was a place where segregation didn’t exist.

You had Booker T. and the M.G.’s. It consisted of four people: you had Al Jackson, Jr.—which was my all-time favorite drummer, by the way—then you had Booker T. Jones, two Black guys. But then you had Donald “Duck” Dunn, who was the bass player. He was white. Then you had Steve Cropper, who is the guitar player. He was also white. They were the house band for Stax.

You had Blacks and whites working together in this building, but then as soon as you leave out of the doors of 926 East McLemore, you still have to face reality. The reality is there was still heavy segregation in the city of Memphis. There was still a whites-only, Blacks-only type of thing. And they used to write about that type of stuff. They used to write about the daily struggles of what they had to go through in the ’60s.

What is a cherished memory as a student of the academy?

As a student, I have so many, but my most memorable moment was actually when I was able to tour with the academy. We toured Europe for two weeks. We performed in cities like Manchester, London, Hitchin, Bordeaux, Gateshead. Yeah, that was my most memorable moment in Stax, being able to tour and go across the sea and be in Europe, seeing like their culture, trying different foods.

How about a cherished memory as music director?

This one was actually the most memorable one: I walk into the rehearsal room to get ready for just another day at rehearsal, and I see one of my students on the floor, on his computer. I was trying to figure out what he was working on. When he turned his computer around, it was a full chart. He had literally charted out “Bring the Whole Hood” by Evvie McKinney. He had charted out the entire song—the horns, the piano, guitar.

I didn’t know that he had been spending quality time trying out music for a show that we had coming up. This was a goal of mine, for a student to want to take that initiative. He knew that at the time a particular chart wasn’t complete yet, but he took it upon himself to finish it. That was a very, very memorable moment for me.

*****

As Sam Franklin and I wrapped up the interview, I felt grateful to be able to learn more about Stax Music Academy, their amazingly talented performers, and their inspirational leader. Although the Festival has come to an end, I will always remember their exciting performances. I applaud them in their mission of educating the next generation of soul musicians.

Amare Davis is a program intern at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival and a rising sophomore at Morehouse College, majoring in history.