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Andy Sullivan: Against the Grain

In 1969, four local session players-Barry Beckett, Roger Hawkins, Jimmy Johnson and David Hood- known as the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section decided to open their own recording studio.  David Hood, the groups bass guitarist and studio co-founder, says the studios name was a joke of sorts.

“There was a Motown sound, there was a Nashville sound, there was a Memphis sound, and I said “Muscle Shoals Sound”, Hood tells NPR’s Debbie Elliot.  “And we all thought that was the funniest thing.  Then after a bit, we thought, “Heck, why not”?

That sound was indeed developing in Muscle Shoals at a studio called Fame-the first studio in the region to cut a hit record.  That was 1961’s “You Better Move On” by local bellhop Arthur Alexander.  It was the first of a string of R&B hits recorded there by such artists as Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett and Clarence Carter, Staples Singers and later Rolling Stones, Traffic, Bob Segar, Elton John, Boz Scaggs, Willie Nelson, Paul Simon, Dr. Hook, Elkie Brooks, Millie Jackson, Julian Lennon and Glenn Fry.

Seemingly an unlikely place for a celebrity crowd, the nicest hotel in Muscle Shoals was a Holliday Inn, and sometimes the area’s studios would put artists in mobile homes at the local trailer park.  The music kept the stars coming, as evident by the area being home to eight studios in the late ‘70’s. 

Among those drawn to the area was Paul Simon, who came in search of the band behind the recording many call the essence of the Muscle Shoals sound.  “I’ll Take You There” by The Staples Singers, Simon’s collaboration with the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section.  Simon’s collaboration with the Muscle Shoals Rhythm section produced the hits “Kodachrome” and “Loves Me Like A Rock”.

The studio was sold in 1985.  The MSRS partnered with Jerry Wexler who provided start-up funding to found Muscle Schoals Sound Studio at 3614 Jackson Highway in Sheffield.  The concrete block building, originally built around 1946, was previously a coffin showroom. Cher’s 6th album was called 3614 Jackson Highway amd became the informal name for the studio in 1969.  This studio’s first hit record was R.B. Greave’s “Take a Letter, Maria”.  By December 1969, the Rolling Stones were recording at the studio for three days.  It was a working studio until 2009-10.  It was, however, rented to record two albums-Band of Horses 3rd album called Infinite Arms, and 10 tracks of The Black Keys 6th album, Brothers.  (www.wikipedia.com) (www.npr.org)

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