Today, Malaco Records publishes The Last Soul Company: The Malaco Records Story, a new history from Grammy Award-winning author Rob Bowman (Soulsville, U.S.A.: The Story of Stax Records) that celebrates the unique legacy of the longest running independent record label in the United States, as well as a leading force for the promotion of gospel, soul, blues and Black music in general.

Order The Last Soul Company: The Malaco Records Story here:https://amzn.to/3reARlQ 

It’s a stunning 200 full-color pages filled with exclusive stories, dozens of never-before-seen photographs, and other ephemera from the label’s illustrious 50-plus year history, an invaluable documentation of a unique and essential American music institution that highlights the careers of such seminal Malaco artists as Mississippi Fred McDowell, Bobby Blue Bland, Z.Z. Hill, Johnnie Taylor, Little Milton, James Cleveland, and many more. 

Listen to an NPR Morning Edition feature on The Last Soul Company that traces Malaco’s singular vision and legacy from the '60s to today:https://n.pr/39b3ie6 

The Last Soul Company — which features a foreword from legendary music author Peter Guralnick — is an intimate and loving look at a story that, according to Rob Bowman, “should never have happened.” From Tommy Couch Sr. booking soul artists at Ole Miss frat parties during the segregation era to modern artists like Kanye West, Drake, Cardi B, Megan Thee Stallion, Solange, Snoop Dogg or 2Chainz digging into Malaco’s incredible catalog for soulful samples to incorporate into chart-topping hits, it’s a revealing trip through the history of a label that has grown into the biggest and most important gospel label in the world. 

Read a new Memphis Commercial Appeal feature by GRAMMY-winner Bob Mehr that talks The Last Soul Company with Rob Bowman:https://bit.ly/398ufPw