CultureTechLens logoCULTURETECHLENS

“Culture, Clearly Seen.” Black Cultural Intelligence

14 flagships · 25 briefs staged (weekly from Oct 13) · 9 dossiers · 25 guides · 2,957 entities — record updated October 12, 2026
The DuSable Black History Museum’s Harold Washington Wing, Chicago — CultureTechLens
Research Brief

Photo: TonyTheTiger, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Research Briefs

Otis Redding — Otis Blue (1965)

CTL Thin Brief · CTL-TB-000125 · Published 2026-10-09

Thin Brief — a short evidence sketch, not a full research brief.

What makes Otis Blue a landmark?

Released in 1965 on Volt, the Stax subsidiary, the album pairs Redding originals like “Respect” and “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long” with covers of Sam Cooke and the Temptations. SUPPORTED

Key facts

  • Otis Redding was the defining voice of Stax Records and 1960s Southern soul. SUPPORTED
  • Otis Blue: Otis Redding Sings Soul was released in 1965 on Volt Records. SUPPORTED
  • The album includes Redding’s “Respect” — later reimagined by Aretha Franklin — and “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long.” SUPPORTED
  • It also covers Sam Cooke’s “A Change Is Gonna Come” and the Temptations’ “My Girl.” SUPPORTED
  • The record stands as the definitive statement of the Stax/Memphis soul sound. PROVISIONAL

Sources

  • AllMusic: Otis Blue album page
  • Stax/Volt catalog
  • Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee biography — Otis Redding

Evidence grades: VERIFIED — strong primary or multiple corroborating sources. SUPPORTED — credible, partly corroborated. PROVISIONAL — single source or general knowledge, uncorroborated.

Cite as: CultureTechLens, "Otis Redding — Otis Blue (1965) (CTL-TB-000125)," 2026-10-09.

Source: CultureTechLens

From the Archive

The archive in pictures

The people, places, and institutions this work documents. Photographs from the CultureTechLens research record — rights-cleared, credited, and cited like everything else here.

Children playing in vacant lot in Negro section of Chicago, Illinois, Chicago, 1941 — CultureTechLens
Children playing in vacant lot in Negro section of Chicago, Illinois, Chicago, 1941 — CultureTechLensPhoto: Lee, Russell, 1903-1986, FSA-OWI, Public Domain, via Library of Congress
Hallway of a kitchenette apartment building, Chicago, 1941 — CultureTechLens
Hallway of a kitchenette apartment building, Chicago, 1941 — CultureTechLensPhoto: Russell Lee, FSA-OWI, Public Domain, via Library of Congress
Negro swinging his girl on roller skates. Savoy Ballroom, Chicago, Illinois, Chicago, 1941 — CultureTechLens
Negro swinging his girl on roller skates. Savoy Ballroom, Chicago, Illinois, Chicago, 1941 — CultureTechLensPhoto: Lee, Russell, 1903-1986, FSA-OWI, Public Domain, via Library of Congress

Trust & evidence

Evidence before authority. CultureTechLens publishes its methods, its limits, and its corrections alongside its findings. Claims carry grades — VERIFIED, SUPPORTED, PROVISIONAL, DISPUTED, UNRESOLVED — and unknowns are never reported as zero.

Every claim graded. Every source named. Every correction public — see the corrections log.