Candid Conversations with Steve Cropper
One reporter’s reflections on the late legendary producer and guitar player
In the annals of modern music, very few guitarists made a more enduring impact than Steve Cropper.
Cropper, who died Dec. 3 at the age of 84, remained an essential icon throughout his career, an artist who, as much or more than any other, was responsible for the fusion of R&B, pop and rock ‘n’ roll. That lifetime legacy began with his early stint at Stax Records, where he helmed the label’s influential session band, Booker T. & The M.G.’s. The songs he helped compose, produce and contribute to — among them, “In The Midnight Hour,”, “Knock On Wood,”,”(Sittin’ On) The Dock Of The Bay,” and “Soul Man,” the song for which he’ll likely always be best remembered, courtesy of its spontaneous shout-out “Play it, Steve!” — helped define the evolution of modern soul music.
VIDEO: Steve Cropper performs “Soul Man” with Sam and Dave on The Midnight Special
Cropper’s career began with the Royal Spades, the band that eventually morphed into the Mar-Keys, Stax’s original house band. Aside from many musical responsibilities, he eventually took the title of A&R representative for the label, overseeing the management of the label’s remarkable roster. Cropper’s former in-house associate, producer and engineer, Jim Gaines, offered an interesting anecdote about their time at Stax courtesy of his memoir “Thirty Years Behind the Glass.”
“Oftentimes recording sessions would last all night and would only end at dawn,” Gaines recalled. “Sometimes we would go have breakfast and then go home. However one time, I suggested we go fishing at a lake next to some property I owned in Mississippi, close to the Tennessee state line. Bear in mind that some of the longer sessions involved alcohol consumption, especially in the later hours. That likely influenced our decision to go by my house, get some fishing poles and then continue to the lake. Naturally, we didn’t tell anyone about it, including our wives. So there we were on the bank, with a bunch of poles in the water, all of us laid out, and eventually passed out. Naturally, when we woke up, we were pretty nearly sunburned, and all our poles were in the middle of the lake.”
That was the beginning of their misfortune.
“By now, everyone had started looking for us,” Gaines continued. “When my wife found that the fishing poles were missing, she had someone from the studio go out looking for us. We were found around the time we were just waking up. From that point on, we weren’t allowed to go fishing again.”
Not that Cropper didn’t take his responsibilities seriously. After leaving Stax, he received an offer from Columbia Records president Clive Davis to produce records exclusively for Columbia’s offshoot Epic Records.
Later, Cropper turned his attention to producing other artists as well, which found him contributing to sessions on behalf of such notables as John Lennon, Rod Stewart, Peter Frampton, Alabama, Art Garfunkel, Ringo Starr, Wynonna Judd, Tower of Power, John Mellencamp, Leon Russell, Dolly Parton, Paul Simon, Neil Young, Mavis Staples, Jose Feliciano, Chris Hillman, Levon Helm, John Oates and John Prine, among many, many others.
He also played an important part in the Bob Dylan 30th Anniversary Concert at Madison Square Garden sharing the stage alongside George Harrison, Eric Clapton, Tom Petty, Johnny Cash, Stevie Wonder, Pearl Jam, Chrissie Hynde and Sinead O’Connor.
VIDEO: Steve Cropper performs on Conan
Indeed, mingling with superstars was a constant throughout Cropper’s career. At one point, he was approached by The Beatles’ manager, Brian Epstein, to produce one of the Fab Four’s albums circa Revolver. Arrangements were made for the band to fly to Memphis to record, but security concerns eventually put an end to the idea.
This reporter spoke with Cropper on several occasions — on the phone, over Zoom as recently as last year, and in person while interviewing him for a forthcoming documentary about Richie Furay, which referenced Cropper’s onetime role as Poco’s producer. During one of those exchanges, I asked him who he wished he had worked with and never did. Two names were mentioned: Tina Turner and John Mayer.
Cropper released a dozen albums of his own over the course of his career, including two collaborations with the Rascals’ Felix Cavaliere (2008’s Nudge It Up and 2010’s Midnight Flyer) and his most recent offering, Friendlytown, which appeared just last year. Credited to Steve Cropper and the Midnight Hour, and overseen by veteran producer Jon Tiven, it featured a star-studded line-up consisting of Billy Gibbons, Brian May, Roger C. Reale and Tim Montana. It was the latest in a string of solo efforts that dated back to his critically acclaimed 1969 debut, With a Little Help from My Friends.
A member of the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame, as well as a recipient of two Grammy Awards, seven Grammy nominations and Lifetime Achievement recognition from The Recording Academy, Cropper was also featured in the 2024 HBO documentary about the history of Stax Records. At the time, he told me he was in the process of writing a memoir.
“I’m glad people just like me,” Cropper modestly mentioned. Despite a lengthy list of incredible accomplishments, Cropper always came across as exceedingly humble.
In that regard, I asked him if he ever listened to any of his early recordings. “No, but I will listen to a song I’m working on a hundred times or more,” he replied. “Once it’s out, I don’t listen to it anymore. I know I’m known for the song ‘Green Onions,’ but that was 63 years ago.”
AUDIO: Booker T. & The M.G.’s “Green Onions”
That made me curious as to whether he tends to reminisce.
“I have worked with guys who have changed the world, but I didn’t change anything,” he insisted. “I was just trying to do my parts. That’s all I was doing…. I treated everyone the same, no matter the personality involved.”
Cropper also denied having any particular favorites as far as his songs were concerned. “No, not really,” he suggested. “It doesn’t matter what it was, I put the same energy into it.”
In that regard, he also admitted that he wasn’t especially nostalgic. “You can’t do anything about the past,” he mused. “You can’t embellish it even if you wanted to… I look forward,” he told me. “I don’t like looking back. However when I’m doing a show, I really never not play songs that I’m accustomed to playing and things that I’m noted for. There’s no way I can’t do ‘Midnight Hour’ and ‘Soul Man’. It’s expected. And I have a belief that if someone is going to pay to hear you play, you better play something they know, You can’t just force feed them new music that they never heard before. You can’t just leave out the hits and play new stuff. I guess some artists have been able to get away with it, but not me.”
He went on to confess that he had only one regret. The only thing I wish was that I’d taken more piano lessons when I was younger,” he reckoned. “I didn’t. I know just enough about music to count, because I’m fairly good in math and that’s what music is. It’s all about math.”
VIDEO: Otis Redding “(Sittin’ On) The Dock Of The Bay”
While every artist he worked with had his or her own particular personality, Cropper said was always able to establish an effective working rapport regardless.
“Even if an artist is difficult, I’ve tried to bring them around psychologically, and they trust me to do that,“ Cropper maintained. “I’ve been very lucky through the years. I don’t ever remember walking out on a session. Even going back to Otis Redding, he trusted me with his music. He trusted me enough that he’d bring his ideas to me and I’d help him finish them. And then I produced them in a studio and finish them up on my own. When he got back to the studio, he’d say, ‘Man, you did a great job on it.’ That’s why I wrote so many songs with him.”
Despite all his many accomplishments, Cropper said he never took his success for granted.
“I’ve been good at being at the right place at the right time,” he suggested. “I put myself in that position. Whenever the right time comes, I’ll be there for certain.”
Indeed, in light of his passing, that shout-out from “Soul Man” seems to ring and resonate even more than before. The epitome of a true soul man himself, Cropper created a sound that will always and inevitably linger on.
“Play it, Steve!”
For generations to come, there will always be those eager to hear him play whatever he chose again and again.
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