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By Tracey Teo
For the Journal-Constitution
Sunday, February 01, 2009
Nashville has long been known as the country music capital, and Memphis is the undisputed home of the blues and the root of rock ‘n’ roll. Tiny Muscle Shoals, Ala., once touted as the “hit recording capital of the world,” is the birthplace of the famous Muscle Shoals Sound. It has never had the glamour of these more sophisticated Southern music meccas, and it’s a world away from the L.A. music scene, but that’s partly what attracted such diverse music legends as Aretha Franklin, the Rolling Stones and Rod Stewart during Muscle Shoals’ heyday in the ’60s and ’70s.
Muscle Shoals and its surrounding area, including nearby Sheffield, was an oasis from the limelight and gave musicians a place to focus on their work with no distractions. But the main reason artists flocked to this obscure corner of Northwest Alabama was to get that indefinable, funky sound that couldn’t be duplicated elsewhere. Many attribute that trademark sound, a confluence of country, rock and soul, to the smokin’ hot Muscle Shoals rhythm section known as The Swampers.
Muscle Shoals Sound Studios. In 1969, Cher released an album titled “3614 Jackson Highway,” the address of the Muscle Shoals Sound Studios (technically located in Sheffield) where the record was cut. Although that was almost 40 years ago, Cher fans still show up to have their photograph made in front of this very unglamorous building.
“It happens all the time,” studio owner Noel Webster said. “People make pilgrimages here.”
Thanks to Webster, this building that was once vacant is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Fans from around the world arrive clutching albums and CDs by Lynyrd Skynyrd, the Rolling Stones and many other bands that made history here. Some seem almost reverential as they check out old sound equipment and the instruments that were played on their favorite classic tracks.
Webster bought the studio in 1999 as a venue to record his own music, but with so much interest in the studio’s history, he has been thrust into the role of tour guide, telling stories of legendary Muscle Shoals jam sessions.
Even the bathroom is a source of fascination. David Hood, a bassist for the Muscle Shoals rhythm section, left behind his signature, as did many other renowned performers. Legend has it that Mick Jagger penned “Wild Horses” here.
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