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The terms deep soul and southern soul generally refer to a driving, energetic soul style combining R & B's energy with pulsating southern United States gospel music sounds.

Memphis, Tennessee label Stax Records nurtured a distinctive sound, which included putting vocals further back in the mix than most contemporary R & B records, using vibrant horn parts in place of background vocals, and a focus on the low end of the frequency spectrum.

The vast majority of Stax releases were backed by house bands Booker T and the MGs ( with Booker T. Jones, Steve Cropper, Duck Dunn, and Al Jackson ) and the Memphis Horns ( the splinter horn section of the Mar-Keys ).