The Muscle Shoals Sound

A string of R&B hits by such artists as Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett and Clarence Carter were recorded in Muscle Shoals, Alabama in the early 1960s, and helped launch a phenomenon that would become the "Muscle Shoals sound." Detroit had  Motown, Nashville had country, Memphis had Stax, L.A. and New York had their signature sounds, but Muscle Shoals had a rock, R&B and soul-sound all of it's own.

Among those drawn to the Shoals was Paul Simon, who came in search of the band behind the recording that many call the essence of the Muscle Shoals sound: "I'll Take You There" by the Staple Singers. Simon's collaboration with the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section produced the hits "Kodachrome" and "Loves Me Like a Rock."*

I was recording a project with my friend Lenny LeBlanc several years ago in his studio, just outside of Muscle Shoals. Between sessions, the late-great Ava Aldridge, writer of Dr. Hook's "Sharing the Night Together"--who was also singing on the session--took me on a tour of the Shoals in her great-big Cadillac. I saw the studios like FAME and Muscle Shoals Sound, where great music was made--and still is to this day. She then drove me to a small, nondescript store-front, with no more than 800 feet of space inside, and told me that the Rolling Stones recorded "Brown Sugar" and "Wild Horses" for the Sticky Fingers album there in December of 1969. As we peeped through the dusty window into the shadows of the abandoned store, she pointed to the back restroom area. There, Ava told me, the signatures and notes of many famous artists most likely still cover the walls. Wow--I had to stop for a moment to take it all in!

The Osmonds recorded "One Bad Apple" in  Muscle Shoals. Mac Davis recorded "Baby, Don't Get Hooked on Me" and Percy Sledge's "When A Man Loves a Woman" was recorded there, too.

When I think back to that little impromptu tour Ava gave me more than twenty years ago, I am amazed that so few people know about the city of Muscle Shoals. Just like Bethlehem--considered insignificant, yet chosen as the birthplace of the King of Kings--Muscle Shoals, though diminutive in stature. was chosen to give birth to incredible music; it's greatness is profound.

Rest in peace, Ava Aldridge. Although you've been gone for several years now, your influence will be felt for generations to come.

*Excerpts from an article by Debbie Elliott: The Legendary Muscle Shoals Sound.