IT BEGINS The first album recorded at Muscle Shoals Sound Studios SWAMPERSīarry Beckett, Roger Hawkins, David Hood, and Jimmy Johnson were the ‘Muscle Shoals Sound.’ It was Denny Cordel that dubbed them The Swampers, for their ‘southern swamp sound.’ The four musicians made a deal with Jerry Wexler, a record producer with Atlantic records, when they decided to part ways with Fame. This busy, active studio is where the Allman Betts Band, the sons of the Allman Brothers, recently recorded. Beginning downstairs in what had been the publishing department and the songwriters in the ‘hang out’ room. Our tour guide, Chase, who is also an engineer at the studio, showed us around the small two-level building. Pulling in to the small parking lot of the Muscle Shoals Sound Studios, I didn’t know what to expect after having learned about Fame and the Swampers. By all means, see the Muscle Shoals documentary will give you many insights into the ‘Muscle Shoals Sound.’ Muscle Shoals Sound Studios Muscle Shoals Sound Studios The Fame studio tour is a great introduction to the Muscle Shoals sound. The quartet of musicians left Fame to create their own studio at the Muscle Shoals Sound Studio just two miles from their former employer, with the assistance of music executive Jerry Wexler. The Swampers left Fame in 1969 because they did not approve of a contract that Hall proposed to them. Rick Hall was a driven man and a workaholic. These four, who came together at Fame, were an integral part of creating the Muscle Shoals sound. It was four local session musicians, Barry Beckett on keyboards, Roger Hawkins on drums, David Hood on bass, and Jimmy Johnson on guitar who were known as the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section and were later dubbed the Swampers. Rick died in 2018 and Rick’s wife, Linda, continues to run the family business. Spencer told our tour group that the creation of a hit song is always the same, “Song, Performance, Engineering, Always. By the 90s, Fame focused on publishing with songwriters like Walt Alders, who created 63 hits songs in his seventeen years with Fame. In the 1980s, country artists came to town. In the 1970s, it was Etta James, Tammy Wynette, Lou Rawls, Otis Redding, and the Allman Brothers Band recorded there. The 60s saw a lot of R&B hits recorded at Fame. In 1967, studio B was opened to accommodate more recording space for artists. Arthur Alexander’s “You Better Move On” put FAME on the map and introduced the producers to the world.īy the mid-1960s, Rick Hall and Fame was a known hitmaker, with artists like Wilson Pickett, Percy Sledge, Etta James, and Aretha Franklin. Our tour guide Spencer, also an engineer at Fame, recommended the 2013 documentary on Muscle Shoals.įame was founded in 1959 by Rick Hall, Tom Stafford, and Billy Sherrill as a music publishing company. This was my first introduction to the musical history of Muscle Shoals. FAME FAMEĪrriving at the World Famous Fame Studios (Florence Alabama Music Enterprises) was like walking back in time. As I journeyed around The Shoals, I discovered North Alabama’s Music heritage and learned the true story of the unique Muscle Shoals sound. The weather is good and there are smaller crowds of visitors. January is a great time to explore Muscle Shoals and Florence in North Alabama.
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