From a dusty road to musical gold, ‘Soul Man’ David Porter looks back
David Porter speaks during the Soulsville Foundation’s inaugural Power of Music honors award ceremony at Stax Museum of American Soul, on May 2, 2025. (Brad Vest/Special to The Daily Memphian file)
It is a rare achievement to have written a song so classic that more than 50 years later it’s still utterly familiar, even inescapable, even for those born after its creation.
David Porter is one of the few people on the planet to know how that feels.
The song in question would be “Soul Man,” the 1967 smash from Memphis-based Stax Records, recorded by the vocal duo Sam & Dave but written and produced by the Memphis-to-the-bones duo of Isaac Hayes and David Porter. The two first met as teen talent competition rivals at Beale Street’s Palace Theater and soon became, as “Hayes-Porter,” the Memphis answer to “Lennon-McCartney.”
“Soul Man” is one of hundreds of songs written by Porter, now 84, and it serves as the title of his new memoir, which will be published April 14.
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David Porter Stax Records Isaac Hayes Booker T. Jones Carla Thomas Maurice White Soulsville Subscriber OnlyThank you for reading The Daily Memphian. Your support is critical.
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Chris Herrington
Chris Herrington has covered the Memphis Grizzlies, in one way or another, since the franchise’s second season in Memphis, while also writing about music, movies, food and civic life. As far as he knows, he’s the only member of the Professional Basketball Writers Association who is also a member of a film critics group and has also voted in national music critic polls for Rolling Stone and the Village Voice (RIP). He now splits his time between Minneapolis-St. Paul, where his wife works, and Memphis.
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