This was significant because other than Memphis's renowned Booker T. & the MGs (who were a house band first, usually regulated to working days and nights in the Stax studio), this made Whitsett's band one of the first, if not the only, integrated bands in the entire Southeastern United States at the time. Like a lot of white Southern musicians, the Whitsett brothers and their group were hugely influenced by two landmark albums: James Brown's "Live at the Apollo" and Bobby "Blue" Bland's "Two Steps From the Blues". (Carson Whitsett would later play on several Bland albums, including his "Live on Beale Street".) With the addition of Tate, they were more authentic than ever, and a force to be reckoned with. Also doing a brief stint with the band was Dorothy Moore of "Misty Blue" fame.