Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section
The Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section is a group of American session musicians based in the northern Alabama town of Muscle Shoals. One of the most prominent American studio house bands from the 1960s to the 1980s, these musicians, individually or as a group, have been associated with more than 500 recordings, including 75 gold and platinum hits. They were masters at creating a southern combination of R&B, soul and country music known as the "Muscle Shoals sound" to back up black artists, who were often in disbelief to learn that the studio musicians were white. Over the years from 1962 to 1969, there have been two successive groups under the name "Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section" and the common factor in the two was an association with Rick Hall at FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals.
The original group hired by Hall in the early 1960s was Norbert Putnam, David Briggs, and Jerry Carrigan, who created hit records that brought recognition and stature to this unknown and out-of-the-way studio. This group was courted by Nashville studios and left Muscle Shoals to pursue independent careers in Nashville.
To replace these musicians, Hall hired a core group consisting of Barry Beckett, Roger Hawkins, David Hood and Jimmy Johnson, initially called "the Second FAME Gang", but widely known by the nickname "The Swampers". The Swampers subsequently recorded, produced, or engineered classic hits by Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett, Percy Sledge, the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, Leon Russell, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Rod Stewart, Bob Seger and the Staple Singers. The Swampers were the subject of the 2013 documentary film Muscle Shoals, winner of the 2013 Boulder International Film Festival Grand Prize. They were mentioned by name in the lyrics of "Sweet Home Alabama" by Lynyrd Skynyrd and appear on the cover of Cher's 1969 album 3614 Jackson Highway.
Aretha Franklin recorded at FAME on only one occasion, with the Swampers providing the accompaniment; her hit song "I Never Loved a Man " was recorded at the studio in 1967. After Franklin's husband Ted White started an altercation, producer Jerry Wexler decided to continue recording the LP in New York, again using the Swampers. The group also accompanied Franklin on other albums, such as Lady Soul, Aretha Arrives, Aretha Now and This Girl's in Love with You.
In 1969, the Swampers parted ways with Rick Hall and FAME Studios and founded their own competing business, the Muscle Shoals Sound Studios. A third FAME rhythm section was formed consisting of Freeman Brown, Jesse Boyce, Junior Lowe, Clayton Ivey and a four man brass section. They were a blend of African American and white, and sometimes they were called FAME Gang. Both the original FAME group and the second group were inducted into the Alabama Music Hall of Fame and into the Musicians Hall of Fame in 2008.
History
In 1958, Rick Hall, a local musician and songwriter in Florence, Alabama, befriended Tom Stafford, whose father owned a pharmacy in downtown Florence. Above the pharmacy, up some rickety stairs, Stafford had some recording gear. He had partnered with Rick Hall and Billy Sherrill to create "SPAR". He asked some 16-year-old members of a local band, Norbert Putnam, David Briggs and Jerry Carrigan, to make some song demos. It was here that these young musicians were first exposed to creating original parts on new songs, and they became proficient at it. Also frequenting these rooms were future musical elites, such as Donnie Fritts, Spooner Oldham, Terry Thompson and Dan Penn. Stafford and Sherrill later terminated Hall from the partnership, and Hall's humiliation fueled him to attempt to outdo them as their competitor.Achieving recording industry stature
In 1961, Hall took out a loan to buy an abandoned brick warehouse in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, to make a recording studio. Muscle Shoals is one of four towns in northwest Alabama clustered along the Tennessee River; the others are Florence, Sheffield, and Tuscumbia. His rhythm section was Briggs, Putnam, and Carrigan.One of Hall's first protégés was an African American bellhop at the Sheffield Hotel named Arthur Alexander, who had written some songs. Hall was a demanding taskmaster, and his recording session required 30 or 40 takes to get the rhythm tracks he wanted. The song, "You Better Move On" rose to number 24 on Billboard's Hot 100 in March 1962, and two years later, cover versions were recorded by both The Hollies and The Rolling Stones. Arthur Alexander was flown to Philadelphia to appear on Dick Clark's American Bandstand. The success stunned the big-city studios; the music industry quickly took notice of this unknown little studio called FAME.
Well-known producers began coming to Muscle Shoals to record with this house band to capture the perceived "Muscle Shoals sound". Atlanta producer Bill Lowery brought The Tams, who recorded "What Kind of Fool ", and Nashville's Felton Jarvis brought Tommy Roe to record "Everybody". Percy Sledge's cousin, Jimmy Hughes recorded "Steal Away" with the same teenaged session players, and it rose to #17 on the Billboard Hot 100 It was followed by "Neighbor, Neighbor" and "Why Not Tonight"– both of which made the charts. Hall stated, "Those hits showed that FAME could be musically diverse, and they announced our open-door policy toward other labels". Rick Hall's financial success from "You Better Move On" gave him the capital to secure land in Muscle Shoals City, where, in 1962, he built a first-rate studio at 603 Avalon Avenue patterned after Owen Bradley's in Nashville. Some 50 years later, the building would be listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Before long, Nashville music moguls Ray Stevens, Bob Beckham and Felton Jarvis made overtures to lure away Hall's backing musicians, saying that in Nashville, they would make four times the money Rick Hall was paying them. They resigned as a group to pursue independent careers in Nashville, and Hall was without his hit-making rhythm section. The replacement musicians were initially called "the Second FAME Gang" but were later nicknamed "The Swampers".
Swampers' early days
The core group of Rick Hall's new rhythm section was:- Barry Beckett— keyboards
- Roger Hawkins— drums
- David Hood— bass
- Jimmy Johnson— guitar
Guitarist Jimmy Johnson was the first FAME employee and did many jobs there, including playing rhythm guitar, engineering, and sweeping the floors. In 1964, drummer Roger Hawkins was hired. When bass player David Hood first received the call that a job at FAME had opened up, he was working at his father's tire store.
Keyboard player Barry Beckett knew nothing about Muscle Shoals in 1967, but was hired on a session there, James and Bobby Purify's "I'm Your Puppet". He said, "Every night I would just sit there and listen to the tape over and over again", and said, "that was amazing." With no firm job offer, Beckett moved his family from Florida to Muscle Shoals and was eventually hired. On the many hit records out of Muscle Shoals, there were many incidences where other musicians would join or substitute, including Chips Moman, Junior Lowe, Dan Penn, Tommy Cogbill, Pete Carr, Spooner Oldham.
According to music writer Carla Jean Whitley, more than a few people were surprised to learn that the musicians backing many notable black artists were white. Whitley said, "There were many producers accused of lying ...Rod Stewart was one of those who took his producer out and said, 'seriously?' " In the early 1960s, it was not a routine practice to have the same musicians as a "house band" for recording different artists, the exceptions being Motown and Stax Records. Hall wanted to obtain a consistent sound rather than have unfamiliar musicians on each session. The New York Times called the Muscle Shoals sound "indigenous American music, a distinctly Southern amalgamation of rhythm & blues, soul, and country music".
Atlantic Records executive Jerry Wexler became acquainted with Hall and brought artists such as Wilson Pickett and Aretha Franklin to record at FAME with the group of southern musicians based on their previous string of hit recordings.
1967 Aretha Franklin session
In January 1967, Jerry Wexler brought Aretha Franklin, then in her mid-20s, to Muscle Shoals for her first session for Atlantic. During this first session with the Swampers for "I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You", Franklin's husband at the time, Ted White, who had been cordial at first, became belligerent. White had secretly been sharing a bottle of vodka with the horn section during the session. White then demanded that Ken Laxton, the trumpet player, be fired for making passes at Aretha. Hall and Wexler reluctantly agreed. About an hour later, White burst into the control room and demanded that the sax player be fired, saying, "He's flirting with my wife". The producers then fired the sax player. By this time everyone was exhausted and the rapidly-deteriorating session was terminated.An hour later, Rick Hall, who had begun drinking after the session ended, went to Aretha and Ted's hotel room at the Downtowner Hotel in Florence "to try to smooth things over", but a fist fight erupted between Hall and White, with Aretha joining in to try to get Hall out. Hall then screamed, cursed and pounded the door, arousing Wexler, whose room was nearby. Wexler was horrified. Hall went to the lobby, called Aretha's room, and told Ted he'd better get out of town. They left the following day.
The only song that had been finished, "I Never Loved a Man ", went on to number one on Billboard's R&B Selling chart and number nine on the Billboard Hot 100, so Atlantic Records wanted the Swampers, but without Hall and without Muscle Shoals. The solution was to fly the Swampers to New York to record at Atlantic Studios. Less than a month later, The Swampers were in New York recording "Respect", Aretha's first hit that held the number one R&B spot for eight weeks and was number one on the pop charts for two weeks. Rolling Stone named it as the fifth-best song of all time. Some of the other songs for Aretha were Do Right Woman, Do Right Man, Think, Share Your Love With Me, and Call Me.