Andria Lisle, looks at Memphis’ incredible musical legacy in today’s Guardian.

As the legend goes, if you plant your pocket change on the silty banks of the lower Mississippi River, copper and silver trees will spring up overnight. Maybe that’s not entirely true - but what Memphis, Tennessee lacks in monetary riches has, in musical wealth, been harvested a hundredfold.

It’s a great piece and especially poignant in light of Isaac Hayes’ recent passing.

I’d forgotten how much I loved his music till I listened to the Wattstax album again this week. During my first year of college, just getting into soul and funk in a serious way, one of my friends picked up a copy and we would listen to the Isaac Hayes section over and over (and over) again. Listening to it now, more than 10 years later, I still know all the changes, each note of the solos, it one of those records that has been aurally seared into my memory.

It’s a killer set and as close to the perfect example of live soul music as I’ve ever heard-amazing musicians playing the gig of their lives at the peak of their abilities. My only hope is that over time, Isac Hayes as ‘Chef’ and the easy media focus on ‘Theme from Shaft’ gives way to a better appreciation of his incredible contributions to popular music and that the Black Moses will keep leading us to back to the promised land of those halycon Memphis years.

For ever and ever.

Amen.

Isaac Hayes-Ain’t No Sunshine/Lonely Avenue (Live at WattStax)