NPR News

Hailing from Memphis, Tenn., Joshua Cosby, Geoff Smith and Nick Redmond make up the folk-pop trio Star & Micey.

As part of World Cafe's "Sense of Place" series on Memphis, Tenn., we've dug up archival interviews with two legendary Stax Records performers: guitarist Steve Cropper and organist Booker T. Jones, both of Booker T. & The M.G.'s.

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AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

The war in Afghanistan may be winding down, but the toll on soldiers and Marines back home is not. The military has tallied suicides among active duty troops last year, and the number is at a record level. NPR's Pentagon correspondent Tom Bowman joins us now. And, Tom, suicides were up again among troops in 2012?

As part of our "Sense of Place" series on Memphis, we dug into the World Cafe archives and pulled out a 2003 interview with Stax Records' best-selling artist, the late Isaac Hayes.

Before Hayes became known for the theme to Shaft, he was an in-house songwriter and producer for Stax; along with David Porter, he wrote the iconic hit "Soul Man" for Sam & Dave.

Here, host David Dye speaks with Hayes about his beginnings at Stax, his work with Booker T. Jones and the Memphis scene in general, which he called "wonderfully incestuous."