'Written In Their Soul': New box set features unreleased Stax songwriter demos

Stax Records and Craft Recordings have announced a new box set that gathers previously unreleased songwriter demos from the vaults of the iconic Memphis soul label.

"Written In Their Soul: The Stax Songwriter Demos" is a seven-CD set collecting 146 tracks — 140 of which have never been released — that "spotlight Stax’s legendary roster of songwriters, including Bettye Crutcher, Homer Banks, William Bell, and many more." The set will be released June 23 and is available for pre-order now.

The project promises "early sketches of classic hits to never-before-heard songs with full-blown arrangements... [offering] fans a rare behind-the-scenes glimpse at Stax’s studio magic."

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A preview track, an Eddie Floyd demo of “634-5789 (Soulsville, USA)” — written by Floyd and Steve Cropper — was released Wednesday. The song would go on to be recorded by Wilson Pickett, who made it a No. 1 R&B hit and Top 20 pop single in 1966.

"Written In Their Soul" — which has been nearly two decades in the making — was compiled by multiple Grammy-winning producer Cheryl Pawelski. The set includes a new essay by Emmy- and Grammy-winning writer/producer Robert Gordon and Deanie Parker, Stax’s original director of publicity and two-time Emmy winner.

“Demo recordings are often tossed off without inhibition, just writer and tape recorder sharing an intimate space,” Pawelski said. “I love all these songs as they tumbled out for the first time. They’re filled with the joy and magic of discovering something that wasn’t there moments before. Suddenly, there it is, a song filled with the hope of finding an audience, of saying something, of moving someone.”

Parker added: “This music has lasted over 50 years, and it’s still being studied, emulated, enjoyed. It has earned the right to become a tool used to teach a new generation: Culture. Music. Arts. Man’s humanity to man. There’s so many lessons to be learned from these demos, from the Stax vault, from the songwriters at Stax… But every great song starts with something that hits you.”

Three versions of “Written In Their Soul” will be available, including a digital edition, a seven-CD edition and a bundle package, which includes the discs and a Stax T-shirt. All are available for purchase at Craftrecordings.com.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: New Stax box set to feature unreleased songwriter demos: What we know