Cropper played on just about every record made at Stax in the 1960s, his guitar licks adding sinew and grit to a body of songs that created the template for Southern soul music and which continue to influence generations of musicians to this day.“We didn’t really have music when I was growing up because there was no electricity,” he said. “All you’d hear on the radio was stuff like (How Much Is) That Doggie in the Window? But when we moved to Memphis, I found a gospel station on the radio and never looked back. I ended up playing soul and R&B. But it’s that same rhythm. It just makes you move.”More than a brilliant guitarist, Cropper acted as engineer, producer, songwriter and A&R man responsible for finding new talent. Among his discoveries was Otis Redding, who turned up at Stax one day in 1962 working as a chauffeur for the blues artist Johnny Jenkins.Cropper went on not only to produce or play on all of Redding’s greatest recordings but co-write several of his best-known songs, including Mr Pitiful and (Sittin’ on) The Dock of the Bay.Known among his fellow musicians as “the Colonel” — he claimed he never knew why, although he had served as a captain in the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps — he was named by the music magazine Mojo in 1996 as the world’s second greatest guitarist after Jimi Hendrix.
Source: The Times
Image credit: Will Ireland
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