When Joliet Jake Blues (AKA John Belushi) ad-libs “play it, Steve” in "Soul Man," the Steve in question is Steve Cropper, lead guitarist of the fictional Blues Brothers Musical Revue. The song is a cover of the Stax classic originally performed by Sam and Dave, which had climbed all the way to number 2 on the Billboard charts in 1967.
Jake and his brother Elwood (Dan Ackroyd) were playing fictional characters. Their band members were all the real thing. Cropper had played guitar on the Sam and Dave original.
Steve Cropper died on Wednesday at the age of 84, and with him, a large piece of Memphis soul also disappeared. For a session player whose name was mostly unknown outside the insular world of musicians themselves, he had an outsized impact on the development of rhythm & blues and Memphis soul.
The Colonel, as he was sometimes known, was a major producer and songwriter in addition to being one of the greatest guitar players in the world.
Memphis legend Steve Cropper dies at 84
Begin with Stax Records, one of the few rivals to Motown in the 1960s. Jim Stewart and his sister Estelle Axton had originally formed the label in Memphis in order to produce country records. But Stewart was soon convinced that a different kind of music – one that grew out of southern black culture – offered something new and exciting to the marketplace.
Stax didn’t invent rhythm & blues music, but it pushed it farther into the mainstream than the genre had ever been.
Cropper came into the Stax orbit as a guitar player with his racially integrated band, the Mar-Keys. Soon, he worked his way up to becoming the A&R man for the young label. The Mar-Keys would add keyboardist Booker T. Jones and rechristen themselves as Booker T. & the M.G.s.
The “M.G.” stood for “Memphis Group.” Like a more intimate version of the West Coast’s Wrecking Crew, Booker T. & the M.G.s became an elite session group, playing on virtually every Stax release.
Cropper co-wrote classic songs like Otis Redding’s “(Sittin’ on) The Dock of the Bay,’ Eddie Floyd’s “Knock on Wood,” and Wilson Pickett’s “In the Midnight Hour.” He was also credited on the Booker T. & the M.G. original instrumentals, like “Green Onions,” which made it to Number 3 in 1962.
As a guitarist, Cropper was a legend. Scan any list of the greatest session guitar players, and you will find his name in the top ten. Rolling Stone ranked him the 36th greatest guitar player (not just session player) of all time. The British magazine Mojo put him at number 2, behind only Jimi Hendrix.
As both a player and producer, Cropper was always in demand. Other guitar greats particularly recognized his talent. He played on albums by B.B. King and Peter Frampton. He produced Jeff Beck. It is hard to find iconic guitar players of the last sixty years who Steve Cropper did not play with at some point.
Pete Townsend was one of the many he influenced. The Who guitar player once admitted that he liked to play “like Cropper … simply and tastefully.” Keith Richards called his playing “perfect.”
Words like “perfect” and ‘tastefully” should not leave you with the impression that Cropper could not shred with the best of them. That’s simply the life of a career session player. He was never there to stand out on his own.
He was there to support. Cropper could play anything, and he could play it with just enough style to make it stick while not overshadowing the headliner. Think of the countless riffs he played in support. Little figures in “Soul Man” and “Shake Your Tail Feather” that are instantly recognizable but never get ij the way.
Immediately after his death was announced, tributes poured in. Joe Bonamassa, Tommy Emmanuel. Dave Mason and Dave Davies were just some of the guitar masters who expressed their admiration.
Had he only been the tall, shaggy guitar player standing alongside Jake and Elwood, Cropper would have had his place in music history. The Blues Brothers rendition of “Soul Man” also made it into the top twenty. But the Colonel was so much more.
As a member of Booker T. & the M.G.’s, Cropper is in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. And as a writer, producer, and especially session guitarist, Steve Cropper wasn’t simply well-regarded by his peers. In the world of R&B and soul music, he was recognized as one of the most influential musicians of the modern era.