Don Nix photos of George Harrison, Ringo Starr, Sam the Sham, more to go on display

 George Harrison with Don Nix on a fishing trip during the Concert For Bangladesh period.




www.commercialappeal.com
Don Nix photos of George Harrison, Ringo Starr, Sam the Sham, more to go on display
John Beifuss, Memphis Commercial Appeal
Published  Feb. 27, 2019


Don Nix with George Harrison, left, at the ex-Beatle's home at Henley-on-Thames, England, 1974. (Photo: Courtesy of Don Nix and the Stax Museum of American Soul Music)

Don Nix, the great Memphis songwriter and musician, says he is "legally blind" due to "macular degeneration in kind of the final stages," which is not what you expect to hear right off the bat when you're interviewing someone about an exhibit of photographs they have taken.

"I just bought me an 82-inch TV, and if I sit about five feet in front of it I can almost make out what's going on," Nix, 77, said in a telephone interview from the Germantown condominium that is his current home. "But I can't drive or read or use the internet. But I don't care because I've seen it all already."


Booker T. & the MG's bass player Donald "Duck" Dunn in London, 1970. (Photo: Courtesy of Don Nix and the Stax Museum of American Soul Music)

Nix may not be exaggerating. An architect of Memphis soul and R&B, Nix became a significant international presence in music while remaining rooted in the rich silty sediment of the Mississippi River bluffs of his hometown. A Zelig of 1970s rock 'n' roll, his collaborators included not only his colleagues at Stax and in Memphis (such as "Wooly Bully" singer Sam the Sham) but such stars as George Harrison, Eric Clapton, Ringo Starr and Leon Russell.

This weekend, close to 40 of Nix's photographs of his famous friends and colleagues go on display at the Stax Museum of American Soul Music. A free opening-night reception runs from 6 to 8 p.m. March 1.



Nix was a charter member of the Mar-Keys, the pre-Booker T. & the MG's Stax house band — members included guitarist Steve Cropper and bassist Donald "Duck" Dunn — that had one of the company's first big hits with "Last Night" in 1961. He backed, produced or arranged sessions for such artists as Carla Thomas, Isaac Hayes, Freddie King and Leon Russell (who signed Nix to his Shelter Records label). His 1969 composition "Going Down" has been covered by Jeff Beck, Deep Purple and Sturgill Simpson. He participated in Harrison's 1971 "Concert for Bangladesh" at Madison Square Garden, with an artist roster that included Starr and Bob Dylan. Nix is a habitual self-deprecator, but all this activity is hardly the resume of someone described on the encyclopedic AllMusic.com website as "one as of the more obscure figures in Southern soul and rock."


Ringo Starr practices for the Concert for Bangladesh, 1971. (Photo: Courtesy of Don Nix and the Stax Museum of American Soul Music)

"In 10 years he went from playing baritone saxophone with the Mar-Keys to helping to organize the Concert for Bangladesh," Stax Museum Executive Director Jeff Kolath said. "That's a pretty amazing journey when you think about it."

For much of his career, Nix was accompanied by a camera, continuing a hobby he began as a teenager when he used the money he earned from his Memphis Press-Scimitar paper route to buy his first camera, a Brownie. Eventually, he graduated to a 35 millimeter, and from snapshots to prints, collecting an almost lifelong archive of what he calls "memories of my travels."

"I'm not a photographer, I don't claim to be, but I think the subject matter is interesting," said Nix, his wry drawl as much a signifier of his Memphis identity as his bluesy musical instincts. "I got to go to a lot of places and take a lot of pictures. I messed up enough pictures to where I actually learned how to take some decent ones."


Domingo "Sam the Sham" Samudio, outside Burkle's Bakery in Overton Square, 1966. (Photo: Courtesy of Don Nix and the Stax Museum of American Soul Music)

Indeed. The pictures at Stax capture some of the world's most famous people in relaxed, unguarded moments, and in a wide variety of settings. One image shows 31-year-old ex-Beatle George Harrison at his estate at Henley-on-Thames, England; another shows septuagenarian blues master Furry Lewis in his humble Memphis apartment. Discussing the images, Nix seems to have a — yes — photographic memory. "I can remember everything about the day they were taken," he said.


Sam Moore at Stax, 1968. (Photo: Courtesy of Don Nix and Stax Museum of American Soul Music)

Nix exhibited some of his photographs a decade ago at the Jack Robinson Gallery on Front Street. The current show was organized by Kolath, who went through Nix's contact sheets to pick out some images that even Nix had overlooked, as well as a few pictures of Nix, taken with Nix's camera.

"He's lived a musical journey that I think is somewhat unprecedented in Memphis because of his connections and the relationships he made with people," Kolath said. "He's been one of the ambassadors that carried the sound beyond the borders of the city, which made him desirable as a producer and a writer and an arranger."


Leon Russell, at right, Don Nix, changing tire, and Denny Cordell, Russell's partner in Shelter Records: A gag photo that shows what else is required of Nix as he signs a contract with the Shelter label. (Photo: Courtesy of Don Nix and the Stax Museum of American Soul Music)

Like his music, Kolath said, Nix's photographs show "his true love for the people who are making the music. He's a genuine collaborator, and he has very little ego when it comes to working with people."

Nix, meanwhile, expresses an attitude toward his photographic art (to use a word he never would) that is as direct and unaffected as the two syllables that make up his name.

"The only thing a picture's good for is you like looking at 'em," Nix said. "Enjoyment."

'Passing Through - The Friends of Don Nix'

What: A photo exhibit at the Stax Museum of American Soul Music, 926 E. McLemore

When: March 1-April 30 

Opening night reception: 6-8 p.m. March 1. Food, beverages, music. Admission: free.

Info: Visit staxmuseum.com