Podcasts about FAME Studios

Mike's new album is called The Sound of Muscle Shoals.   He's waited almost 20 years to round up the next generation of Swampers and record at the world-famous FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals. Wow - was it worth the wait?  Mike Farris lives and sings The Sound of Muscle Shoals. The sound is a mix of blues, soul and country. The NY Times called it Indigenous American Music. The same sound that came from Etta, Aretha, Boz, Paul Simon, Wilson Pickett, Neil Young, Percy Sledge, Bob Dylan, Peter Gabriel, The Staple Singers and many more. Long before heading for FAME studios, Mike had to clean up his life, and he talks about hitting rock bottom. That's when his wife said, "We're going to do something different this time.  We'll start by talking about the why's. Why, when you start getting successful,  you self-destruct?" Mike said, "That scared the hell out of me."   Mike is many years clean now, and he's riding the Slow Train to Muscle Shoals.  Enjoy The Sound of Mike Farris!!

Interview by Kris PetersThe Dead Daisies have always had an underlying stream of blues coursing through their music. It is an age-old style of music that has influenced pretty much every conceivable genre over the years, although rock music has benefited the most.With vocalist John Corabi coming back on deck for last year's album Light 'em Up, The Dead Daisies embraced their blues side even more, culminating in late night jam sessions while recording that album at the legendary FAME studios progressing into recording sessions which led to their new album Nothin' But Trouble, which is due out on May 30.The album pays homage to the work of blues legends such as BB King, Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker and Howlin Wolf, with The Dead Daisies reworking their classic songs and sprinkling enough of their own DNA through the tracks to make them their own. It is an outstanding body of work from a band with an impressively high back catalogue, and showcases some of the influences that have seen the members hone their craft.HEAVY caught up with Corabi to find out more."You know what I'm excited about so far is that the first two songs that we released have been getting great feedback from everybody," he began. "And as I was saying earlier, this was it was what we call a happy accident. This whole thing came about in such a weird, random way. We went to this legendary studio in America called Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals, and it was kind of a bucket list thing for all of us, including Marti Frederiksen (producer).So we went down there with the thought in mind that we would just maybe write and maybe do a little bit of recording down in this legendary studio. It's a legendary place, but also it's a functioning studio, and they do museum tours through this place and each night around dinner time, they bring in 20, 30 people.So we'd take a break. And then we kind of sat and thought about it. We're like, well, okay, the tour was over. We were done eating, and we'd crack open either a bottle of whiskey or some wine. And we thought we could go back to the hotel and sit and watch TV all night, or, we're here, let's just jam. Let's see. Let's just have some fun. So we kind of started jamming some blues that everybody was familiar with, obviously, like Crossroads, Going Down, and Born Under a Bad Sign. And then it was weird, we just kind of sat, and Marti kept the session rolling. We listened and thought, okay, this is really cool. This is really cool, so what we did is during the day we worked on what became the Light 'em Up record, and we just continued working at night and putting together 10 of our favourite blues songs and so far man, everybody's been raving about it."In the full interview, John spoke more about the band's intention to honour their musical roots through a collection of blues tracks. He explained the challenges of reinterpreting classic songs, emphasizing the need to make them their own while maintaining their integrity, using When the Levee Breaks as a reference for transformation. He shared insights on the evolution of specific tracks, such as Terror Plane Blues into Take My Soul, and acknowledged the blues' influence across various genres.We talked about the process behind reworking other people's music, which songs were the easiest to do and which ones more difficult and more.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/heavy-music-interviews--2687660/support.

John Corabi is a powerhouse rock vocalist and guitarist whose career has spanned more than four decades. Known for his gravelly voice, heartfelt lyrics, and gritty authenticity, Corabi has carved a unique niche in rock and metal history. He first gained attention in the late 1980s with The Scream, a hard rock band that blended bluesy swagger with heavy riffs. Their 1991 debut Let It Scream earned a cult following and showcased Corabi's range and charisma, even as the grunge movement was starting to dominate the airwaves.His biggest break came in 1994, when he was tapped to replace Vince Neil as the lead singer of Mötley Crüe. The resulting self-titled album, Mötley Crüe (1994), marked a radical departure from the band's glam metal roots. With Corabi on vocals and rhythm guitar, the album was darker, heavier, and more musically ambitious. Though it received critical praise and remains a fan favorite, it didn't achieve the commercial success Elektra Records had hoped for, and Corabi left the band in 1997 when Neil returned.Unfazed, Corabi continued to explore new musical paths. He played guitar for Ratt for several years and worked with various artists in projects that allowed him to flex his creative muscles. One notable collaboration was with Union, the band he formed with former KISS guitarist Bruce Kulick. Union released two studio albums that blended classic rock with modern tones, again proving Corabi's versatility and songwriting chops.In the 2010s, Corabi joined The Dead Daisies, a revolving supergroup of rock veterans. With Corabi on vocals, the band released multiple albums, including Revolución (2015) and Burn It Down (2018), which received acclaim for their retro-hard rock sound and powerful performances. His work with the Daisies helped reintroduce him to a new generation of fans, thanks to extensive touring and a polished yet passionate delivery.Corabi is also known for his solo work, where he strips things down to an acoustic, story-driven format. His live shows often include personal anecdotes, behind-the-scenes stories from his time in Mötley Crüe and beyond, and intimate versions of songs spanning his entire career. In 2022, he released John Corabi: Horseshoes and Hand Grenades, an autobiography that pulls no punches in telling his story in his own words.John Corabi is keeping the blues alive and well in 2025, with not one but two major projects lighting up the rock world. First, he's fronting The Dead Daisies on their upcoming blues-drenched album Lookin' For Trouble, and second, he's signed a new solo record deal, marking a fresh chapter in his storied careerSet for release on May 30, 2025, Lookin' For Trouble is The Dead Daisies' first full-length blues album. Born from late-night jam sessions during the recording of their rock album Light 'Em Up, the band—featuring Corabi, Doug Aldrich, David Lowy, Michael Devin, and drummer Sarah Tomek—found themselves immersed in the soulful legacy of the blues. Recording at the iconic FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, they reimagined classics like Robert Johnson's “Crossroads,” John Lee Hooker's “Boom Boom,” and B.B. King's “The Thrill Is Gone” with their signature hard rock flairYou can follow him on social media or check out his latest news at ⁠johncorabi.com⁠.

Comenzamos una semana en la que estaremos en Muscle Shoals, Alabama. Un pequeño pueblo del que nació un sonido único y que dejó un enorme legado. Hoy haremos un recorrido por los legendarios FAME Studios, y recordaremos el fundamental rol que tuvo este lugar en la formación de algunos de los nombres más importantes de la música, en particular, Aretha Franklin.

On this MADM, T. Graham Brown is sharing about what recording in FAME Studios means to him. Sponsor: Thompson Roofing & Construction 256roofing.com

The Stylistics announce their first new album in almost two decades titled "Falling in Love with My Girl" to be released on February 21, 2025. Soul legends collaborate with Shania Twain on single "Yes, I Will" which drops on Valentine's Day, February 14th.This new collection to also feature music legends Ronnie Wood, Gene Simmons, Billy F. Gibbons, The Elton John Band, Steve Lukather, Bill Champlin, Tower of Power, and many more. The Stylistics announce their first new album in almost two decades titled "FALLING IN LOVE WITH MY GIRL," which will be released worldwide on February 21, 2025. The soul legends known for their iconic hits, "Stop, Look, Listen (To Your Heart)," "You Are Everything," "You Make Me Feel Brand New," and more, earning them 5 Gold singles and 3 Gold albums, will bring audiences their first new single from the 21-track album "Yes, I Will," featuring Shania Twain, on February 14. "FALLING IN LOVE WITH MY GIRL," produced by Tom Cridland and Executive Produced by Deborah Cridland, will feature a who's who of legendary and noted artists who collaborated on the album alongside Twain: Ronnie Wood of The Rolling Stones, Gene Simmons of KISS, The Elton John Band (including Nigel Olsson and Davey Johnstone), Bill Champlin of Chicago, Billy F. Gibbons of ZZ Top, Steve Lukather of Toto, Tower of Power, Ray Parker, Jr., Jay Graydon, Justin Hawkins of The Darkness, The Real Thing, Nathan East and Carly Paoli. For "Yes, I Will," Twain had been invited to sing on one of the tracks already written, but she had in mind the perfect song for the album that she had co-written with Nathan East, (to which Tom Cridland contributed), that was a soulful fit for The Stylistics. Ray Parker Jr., Steve Lukather and East performed on the track that was the last song recorded for the collection, and is the first new track in 17 years to be released by the legendary group. Says Twain, "I'm so happy that this song I wrote 'Yes, I Will' has found a home on The Stylistics album. That is just so exciting. It's a special song that came together on one special day at my home where I was hanging out with some friends and musicians. So I think it turned out great and I'm just really excited to share it with the whole world." Airrion Love from The Stylistics adds, "I fell in love with Shania Twain the first time I heard 'You're Still the One' - a great song that I still love. When we heard there might be a chance to do something with her we said, "Hell yeah!"" The Stylistics' original members Airrion Love and Herb Murrell, together with Jason Sharp who joined the group in 2011, recorded their vocals at Spice House Sound in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and at Wright Way Studios in Baltimore, Maryland. Tom Cridland arranged and recorded the background vocals in the Scottish Highlands and at Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. The Elton John Band including Nigel Olsson and Davey Johnstone laid down the instrumental tracks at the Record Plant in Hollywood, California. "FALLING IN LOVE WITH MY GIRL" was the last album ever made at the legendary recording studio. Most of the songs were written by Tom Cridland together with Anthony King of Blackpool and Anthony's wife, Fiona Shaw. Two tracks were written by Airrion Love, "Sad Tomorrows" and "I Get A Feeling." Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/arroe-collins-like-it-s-live--4113802/support.

The Stylistics announce their first new album in almost two decades titled "Falling in Love with My Girl" to be released on February 21, 2025. Soul legends collaborate with Shania Twain on single "Yes, I Will" which drops on Valentine's Day, February 14th.This new collection to also feature music legends Ronnie Wood, Gene Simmons, Billy F. Gibbons, The Elton John Band, Steve Lukather, Bill Champlin, Tower of Power, and many more. The Stylistics announce their first new album in almost two decades titled "FALLING IN LOVE WITH MY GIRL," which will be released worldwide on February 21, 2025. The soul legends known for their iconic hits, "Stop, Look, Listen (To Your Heart)," "You Are Everything," "You Make Me Feel Brand New," and more, earning them 5 Gold singles and 3 Gold albums, will bring audiences their first new single from the 21-track album "Yes, I Will," featuring Shania Twain, on February 14. "FALLING IN LOVE WITH MY GIRL," produced by Tom Cridland and Executive Produced by Deborah Cridland, will feature a who's who of legendary and noted artists who collaborated on the album alongside Twain: Ronnie Wood of The Rolling Stones, Gene Simmons of KISS, The Elton John Band (including Nigel Olsson and Davey Johnstone), Bill Champlin of Chicago, Billy F. Gibbons of ZZ Top, Steve Lukather of Toto, Tower of Power, Ray Parker, Jr., Jay Graydon, Justin Hawkins of The Darkness, The Real Thing, Nathan East and Carly Paoli. For "Yes, I Will," Twain had been invited to sing on one of the tracks already written, but she had in mind the perfect song for the album that she had co-written with Nathan East, (to which Tom Cridland contributed), that was a soulful fit for The Stylistics. Ray Parker Jr., Steve Lukather and East performed on the track that was the last song recorded for the collection, and is the first new track in 17 years to be released by the legendary group. Says Twain, "I'm so happy that this song I wrote 'Yes, I Will' has found a home on The Stylistics album. That is just so exciting. It's a special song that came together on one special day at my home where I was hanging out with some friends and musicians. So I think it turned out great and I'm just really excited to share it with the whole world." Airrion Love from The Stylistics adds, "I fell in love with Shania Twain the first time I heard 'You're Still the One' - a great song that I still love. When we heard there might be a chance to do something with her we said, "Hell yeah!"" The Stylistics' original members Airrion Love and Herb Murrell, together with Jason Sharp who joined the group in 2011, recorded their vocals at Spice House Sound in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and at Wright Way Studios in Baltimore, Maryland. Tom Cridland arranged and recorded the background vocals in the Scottish Highlands and at Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. The Elton John Band including Nigel Olsson and Davey Johnstone laid down the instrumental tracks at the Record Plant in Hollywood, California. "FALLING IN LOVE WITH MY GIRL" was the last album ever made at the legendary recording studio. Most of the songs were written by Tom Cridland together with Anthony King of Blackpool and Anthony's wife, Fiona Shaw. Two tracks were written by Airrion Love, "Sad Tomorrows" and "I Get A Feeling." Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/arroe-collins-unplugged-totally-uncut--994165/support.

In Part 2 of our Best of 2024 podcast, we revisit some of the more memorable excerpts from our interviews over the past year: -- Thomas Austin, on what it's like to deal with being fired by Dabo Swinney. In 2008, Austin was an offensive lineman on the team that helped Swinney secure the head-coaching job with a victory over South Carolina. Swinney even rode on Austin's shoulders to midfield that day to shake the hand of Steve Spurrier. -- Otis Pickett, on returning to his alma mater from Mississippi to be the historian of Clemson University. A significant part of Pickett's mission is introducing and framing the public conversation on Clemson's past, which includes difficult and complicated topics on race. -- Cliff Ellis, former Clemson basketball coach, shares numerous stories about his musical career. Had he not chosen coaching, Ellis could've easily spent his life as a professional musician. In the mid-1960s, his group The Villagers was a sensation and even recorded at the legendary Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals, Ala. Ellis remembers joining Roy Orbison on stage at a sold-out concert in Dothan, Ala. "If you can perform in front of people with Roy Orbison behind you, you're going to be OK going up against Dean Smith and Mike Krzyzewski," he said. -- Tommy West looks back to a totally different time for Clemson football in the 1990s when the Tigers didn't have any facilities to speak of and were so behind on that front that he once tried to stage an August practice at a local livestock arena.      

Rodney Hall, President of FAME Recording Studios, joins us ahead of FAME's 65th anniversary, to regale us with amusing stories and historic insight.

En los años 60, Muscle Shoals (Alabama) comenzó a convertirse en uno de los centros neurálgicos de la música gracias a Rick Hall y la creación de los Fame Studios. Sus músicos, los Swampers, se independizaron para crear a su vez el Muscle Shoals Sound Studio. Ambos lugares acogieron obras maestras de la música del siglo XX. En este capítulo, sin embargo, nos venimos hasta a la actualidad de las últimas dos décadas para ver como han seguido germinando los sonidos de aquella zona sagrada. La culpa es del primer sencillo que lanzan nuestros adorados Dewolff. Por aquí sonarán: Lost Satellite - Angelus Yoko Factor - Me And My Mulón Piper & The Hard Times - Trouble Man R.B Greaves - Take A Letter, Maria The Black Keys - Next Girl St. Paul & The Broken Bones - Broken Bones and Pocket Change The Revitalists - You And I Dylan LeBlanc - Easy Way Out Dylan LeBlanc - Dust Bishop Gunn - Devil Is A Woman Bishop Gunn - Ain't It A Shame Dewolff - In Love Father John Misty - I Guess Time Just Makes Fools Of Us All Morrisey Blvd - Black Tea The Hanging Stars - Sweet Light Owen Stewart - Over The Hill Captain Monk - Neighborhood Van Morrison - Ballerina Gracias por escuchar con cariño y dejar tu corazón en el audio, aunque no lo parezca, esta chorradita es importante. Apoya este proyecto desde 1,49€ al mes. Tan solo tienes que pulsar el botón azul que tienes en la cabecera de este canal Y gracias infinitas, ya que tu aportación nos permite mejorar cada programa. Este programa, como siempre, está dedicado especialmente a nuestros patrocinadores: Iñaki Del Olmo, Mechimariani, L Ibiricu Traba, Nachoigs, David, Alfonso Ladrón, Yago Llopis, Nacho Ruíz, Javier Carmona, Ana López, El Carabasser, Raúl Espinosa, La Última Frontera Radio, Gustavo, Ruth, Carmen Neke, Manuel García, Rebeca Tatiana, Michel y nuestros queridos anónimos.

Two-time Grammy nominated duo The Secret Sisters (Laura Rogers and Lydia Slagle) join us to chat about their development as songwriters and reaching new creative heights with their latest album. PART ONE:Scott and Paul chat about Scott's recent trip to see Norah Jones and Lake Street Dive perform at Red Rocks and discuss the ways concerts have changed in recent years. Plus, they take an opportunity to gripe about the changes coming to Southwest Airlines. What does that have to do with anything? Nothing, but I guess they're the ones with the microphones! PART TWO:Our in-depth conversation with Laura Rogers and Lydia Slagle of The Secret SistersABOUT THE SECRET SISTERS:Two-time Grammy nominees Laura Rogers and Lydia Rogers Slagle, known as The Secret Sisters, are Alabama-born siblings who released their self-titled debut album on Universal Republic Records in 2010. Produced by Dave Cobb, the album featured primarily traditional songs and country music covers alongside two originals. The follow-up, Put Your Needle Down, was produced by T-Bone Burnett and found the sisters contributing more original material, including collaborations with Brandi Carlile and Dan Wilson. Both albums reached the Top 10 on Billboard's folk chart. Their next two releases—You Don't Own Me Anymore and Saturn Return—were co-produced by Brandi Carlile, and each earned a Grammy nomination for Best Folk Album. Their fifth, and most recent, studio album is called Mind, Man, Medicine and finds the sisters co-producing for the first time, alongside Ben Tanner and John Paul White, who is best known as half of the duo The Civil Wars. The album was recorded in their hometown of Muscle Shoals, Alabama, primarily at the legendary FAME Studios. 

Sometimes you feel like a Nutt... Jimmy talked about Fame Studios, Jason Isbell, how to get $1000 for recording your music, miking up a bluegrass band, miking upright bass, the secret to great drums, large versus small mics, and setting up monitors. Get access to FREE mixing mini-course: https://MixMasterBundle.com My guest today is Jimmy Nutt a GRAMMY Award winning Engineer, Jimmy Nutt, grew up in Shreveport Louisiana surrounded by musicians steeped in blues and rock. He joined his first band at age 13. Early on, Jimmy was interested in recording and sound. He acquired a Tascam 4-track cassette recorder while still in his teens and started learning how to record a band. In 2000, Jimmy moved his family to Muscle Shoals, AL. to work as a staff-recording engineer at FAME Recording Studios. During his time at FAME, he recorded sessions for Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, Clarence Carter, Heartland, Russell Smith, The Drive-by-Truckers and many more. He worked at FAME for almost 3 years before becoming an independent recording engineer and producer. He was also a staff writer for FAME's publishing company during this time. Jimmy is now the owner of The NuttHouse Recording Studio, Inc. located in downtown Sheffield, Alabama. He transformed a bank built in 1955 into a recording studio and has hosted numerous recording sessions in the last 14 years including well-known artists; Percy Sledge, The Dead South, Blind Boys of Alabama, Dylan LeBlanc, Billy Ray Cyrus, Jason Isbell, John Paul White, Donna Jean Godchaux, and The SteelDrivers. In 2016, Jimmy won a GRAMMY award for engineering and mixing the “Bluegrass Album of the Year”, The SteelDrivers, “The Muscle Shoals Recordings”. And In 2020, Jimmy won the Canadian Juno award for producing and mixing the “Traditional Roots Album of the Year” for The Dead South album “Sugar & Joy”. Thank you so much to Jake Kiser, Mark Rubel, Craig Alvin, suggesting Jimmy come on the show and Kyle Lenhing for making our introduction! THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS! http://UltimateMixingMasterclass.com https://www.adam-audio.com https://www.native-instruments.com Use code ROCK10 to get 10% off! https://www.izotope.com Use code ROCK10 to get 10% off! https://gracedesign.com/ https://RecordingStudioRockstars.com/Academy  https://www.thetoyboxstudio.com/ Check out the MBSI on sale now for $80 off! https://www.makebelievestudio.com/mbsi  Listen to this guest's discography on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2Wo9DKqojKpzf9ocdxbFG2?si=356832708b5046f2 If you love the podcast, then please leave a review: https://RSRockstars.com/Review CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE SHOW NOTES AT: https://RSRockstars.com/464

In the early ‘70s with a string of hit R&B records, produced by her great friend, the late Rick Hall of the legendary FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals: “I'd Rather Be an Old Man's Sweetheart (Than a Young Man's Fool),” “I'm Just a Prisoner (of Your Good Lovin'),” “Sweet Feeling,” “Stand by Your Man” and … Continue reading Soul Discovery Show – An Exclusive Interview with Candi Staton 19/06/24 →

The best ad for mixing was "Leave the door open!" Glenn talked about mixing at the Power Station and Sigma Sound, recording Madonna, Springsteen, U2, Talking Heads, Ziggy Marley, the birth of remixing, and renewing Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals. Get access to FREE mixing mini-course: https://MixMasterBundle.com My guest today is Glenn Rosenstein a Multi Grammy-winning producer, engineer, and mixer who began his music career at the legendary Power Station Recording Studio in NYC, assisting alongside some of the best producers, engineers as well as at New York's historic Sigma Sound Studios where Glenn became a mixer and remix engineer, creating work for such artists as U2, Madonna, Talking Heads, The Ramones, Ziggy Marley, Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam, James Brown, Miles Davis and many others. Glenn's music production & mixes continue to be highly visible & diverse, from Whitney Woerz, Carly Simon and Earl “Chinna” Smith to James Taylor, Black Uhuru, Wes Sheffield and Bif Naked. He produced Benedictines Of Mary project for Decca/Universal which was Billboard Magazine's #1 Classical release for the 2012 to 2013 holiday season. As a producer, mixer, & engineer, Glenn's projects have won 3 Grammy Awards, 5 Grammy nominations, an Oscar and a Golden Globe Award. His work is responsible for record sales well in excess of 300 million units. His music production & mixing credits for film & television include The Sopranos, Celebrity Circus, The Last Emperor, Blown Away, Married To The Mob, Charmed, Beverly Hills 90210, All My Children and Buffy The Vampire Slayer. As both songwriter & producer, Glenn's work with reggae artist Snow led to a chart-topping single in Canada. In addition, Glenn has overseen production of a landmark multi-DVD project for Saturday Night Live‘s 25th Anniversary, producing the surround remixes and audio for 60 unique music performances, as well as 60 musical comedic sketches. This project features the live performances of Mariah Carey, Sting, Aretha Franklin, Metallica, Nirvana, Paul McCartney, Snoop Doggy Dog, Paul Simon, Alanis Morissette, James Brown and Bruce Springsteen, to name just a few. Glenn has also partnered in the renovation and restoration of the historic Fame Recording Studios in Muscle Shoals AL, where he maintains a residence and studio and where we join you today.  And last but not least I consider Glenn a longtime friend and mentor here in Nashville. THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS! http://UltimateMixingMasterclass.com https://www.adam-audio.com https://www.native-instruments.com Use code ROCK10 to get 10% off! https://www.izotope.com/en/deals.html iZotope RX 11 is here! https://www.lewitt-audio.com/ray https://gracedesign.com/ https://RecordingStudioRockstars.com/Academy  https://www.thetoyboxstudio.com/ Listen to this guest's discography on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7hJRXvS4M6FURuZurWyWth?si=3bd7089aa93e4e1b If you love the podcast, then please leave a review: https://RSRockstars.com/Review CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE SHOW NOTES AT: https://RSRockstars.com/457

Had he not chosen the coaching profession, Cliff Ellis could've easily spent his life as a professional musician. In the mid-1960s, his group The Villagers was a sensation and even recorded at the legendary Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals, Ala. Ellis remembers joining Roy Orbison on stage at a sold-out concert in Dothan, Ala. "If you can perform in front of people with Roy Orbison behind you, you're going to be OK going up against Dean Smith and Mike Krzyzewski," he said. Ellis announced his retirement in December, ending a 49-year coaching career. His final 17 seasons were at Coastal Carolina, where he led the Chanticleers to 297 victories and 10 postseason appearances. His 831 career NCAA victories put him at ninth in Division I basketball history behind Krzyzewski, Jim Boeheim, Bob Huggins, Jim Calhoun, Roy Williams, Bob Knight, Dean Smith and Adolph Rupp. Ellis says the changing landscape of college athletics, namely NIL and the transfer portal, led him to walk away. He's currently writing a book about his life, and he looks back fondly on his time at Clemson from 1984 to 1994. Ellis led Clemson to its only ACC title in school history in 1989-90 when the Tigers claimed the regular-season title with back-to-back home triumphs over North Carolina and Duke. Four years later, he abruptly resigned and later took the head job at Auburn. He said he was angry over the Clemson administration's handling of the Wayne Buckingham situation in the face of NCAA scrutiny of the player's eligibility as a freshman. Ellis remembers exactly where he was on Jan. 18, 1990 when he heard Danny Ford was out as Clemson's coach. "I was playing golf with our pilot, Earle Ambrose," he said. "We were on the 15th hole at Boscobel. It was a tough, tough time. "But I told Danny at the time to tell Clemson thanks a million. Because they paid him a million dollars. And then he went to Arkansas and got another thanks-a-million. I never got those thanks-a-millions."

*Part 1 of SRV Roots Series*

This week Kiya is joined by Janna Malone, the Chair of UNA's Entertainment Industry department. What is Janna's history with FAME Studios? How did she end up at UNA? And what exactly goes on in the Entertainment Industry department? Find out all of this and more in this week's entertaining episode!   To watch this episode with a video component, go to:   https://youtu.be/rTbWMI6nCeI

This episode is with five-time-Grammy-nominated guitarist Kenny Wayne Shepherd. Kenny's new album: "Dirt On My Diamonds, Vol 1" is scheduled to be released on November 17th, and we were lucky enough to catch him for the interview right before his tour started. The new album was recorded at the legendary FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. The project chronicles Shepherd's journey of musical evolution, touching on stories of loss, redemption, and memorable melodies, all crafted by an elite team of songwriters. Born in Louisiana, in 1977, Shepherd's own life has never followed the script. Steeped in classic blues and rock 'n' roll from an early age by his dad - a respected Louisiana radio personality and promoter - Kenny soon reached for his first Fender Stratocaster and found he didn't require lessons to make it cry and wail. Long Before Warner Brothers subsidiary Giant Records offered a deal, Shepherd had toured in clubs he was still too young to drink in. 

Brian Wise's guest in this podcast is Jason Isbell. To call Isbell the King Of Americana is not an idle claim. Since 2009 he has won 9 Americana Awards and been nominated for another ten - to add to his four Grammy Awards! Born and raised in Alabama and got a publishing deal with Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals when he was just 21, joined Paterson Hood in the Drive By Truckers and after five years began his solo career which included forming the 400 Unit and releasing 8 albums, the latest of which is Weathervanes, which follows the album Georgia Blue in 2021. Brian first spoke to Isbell when he was in Australia for the first time with Justin Townes Earle in 2012 and they have chatted frequently since. Last year they caught up by Zoom to talk about the Fender Jason Isbell Signature model while Isbell was on the set of Martin Scorsese's latest film Killers of the Flower Moon in which he plays the role of farmer Bill Smith.  This time Brian and Jason met to talk about the new album Weathervanes prior to Isbell's show at the Palais in Melbourne during his April tour of Australia with the 400 Unit, supported by Allison Russell.

In this episode I sit down with "Rowdy" Rob Williford. Rob played guitar and wrote hits with Luke Combs since Luke got his start just up until last December when he retired to focus more on songwriting and his own project. We are going to dive into life on the road with Luke and talk about the stories behind the massive hits Rob wrote for Luke like "One Number Away," "Doin This," and "Nothin But You." So far Rob has written 8 songs that have been recorded by Luke Combs along with other incredible songs recorded by Wheeler Walker Jr. and Kameron Marlowe. Rob has also been nominated and won several awards: 2018 ASCAP Song of the Year for "One Number Away", 2019 ACM Song of the Year Nominee for "Beautiful Crazy", 2019 CMA Song of the Year Winner for "Beautiful Crazy", 2020 NSAI Multiplatinum Songwriter Award, 2021 Grammy Nomination (Best Country Solo Performance) for "Forever After All", 2021 CMA Song of the Year Nominee for "Forever After All", 2022 Music Row Song of the Year Nominee for "Doin' This" and his recent Grammy nomination for Best Country Song "Doin' This." He also has just recently put out his own project titled "WILDCARD" that he co-produced with Kyle Cook from Matchbox 20 and recorded at the famous Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals, AL. If you haven't heard that album, go listen today! It's so good and Rob put so much effort into it. We are going to talk about all of this on this episode and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did listening to his stories behind the songs. Show/Liner Links: Rob Williford's Website Rob's Instagram - @RowdyRob74 Rob's WILDCARD album on Spotify, Apple Music, and his WILDCARD documentary on YouTube. And follow up - Stories Behind The Songs - here: Instagram - @SBTSongs TikTok - @SBTSongs YouTube - @SBTSongs Chris Blair's Instagram - @ChrisBlairMusic Chris Blair's Website - ChrisBlair.com And as always, thanks for the support on this podcast! We appreciate you hitting the like, follow and subscribe buttons - it helps a ton and allows us to keep creating content for you! And thanks to our sponsors Britt Skin Beauty Aesthetics and Sennheiser microphones! --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/sbtsongs/support

Travis Wammack is a legendary guitarist and recording artist whose guitar licks have been featured on an estimated 60 million records sold. He was the first to develop and use the fuzz tone for an electric guitar. At the age of 16, he had his 1963 number-one hit, “Scratchy,” and by 1969, Wammack's skills landed him in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. There he teamed up with legendary producer Rick Hall at FAME Studios to record songs with Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett, Little Richard, Mac Davis, Clarence Carter, the Osmond Brothers, Bobbie Gentry, Sam Cooke, and many others. Sit down with a legend and find out why Rolling Stone called Travis the “Fastest Guitar Player in the South” on this episode of "Rick & Bubba University"! Sponsors: Raycon: Whether you're working from home these days or just working on your fitness, now's the perfect time to get a pair of Premium Wireless Earbuds. Raycon ear buds start at about ½ the price of other premium brands you'll find out there on the market -- but they sound just as amazing.  You'll get 15% off your order when you go to https://BUYRAYCON.com/rickbubbapod.  Ladder is revolutionizing an age-old industry offering term life insurance at a personalized price, that can flex as your needs change. Why not pay a bit each month to protect the ones you love? Ladder makes it impressively fast and easy to get covered. You just need a few minutes, and a phone or laptop to apply. Ladder's smart algorithms work in real-time, so you'll find out instantly if you're approved. No hidden fees. Cancel any time. At Ladder, they've created a painless way to get the life insurance coverage you need for those you care about most. Check out Ladder today to see if you're instantly approved. Go to https://ladderlife.com/rickbubba. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tracking with her brand: “an old soul inside a 30-something millennial,” Alice Howe‘s latest was recorded at FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, AL. Although the legendary studio has seen massive icons like Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett and Etta James recording their biggest hits, the building itself is quite unremarkable. Regardless, Alice was able to soak up the incredible vibe that ugly wood-paneled space offers over the course of the recording sessions, which was done in two parts. Freebo, her frequent collaborator and bassist, helmed the production and joined us for this interview. The two gave some insight into the way they communicate and how that works itself out in a studio setting.We dig into some of the songs on the new record Circumstance, including “What About You,” which comes along with a music video featuring some very playful sides of Alice, including some very femme scenes of her at the pool and on the beach. We got into an interesting discussion of different ways women portray themselves in music, using Bonnie Raitt and Linda Rondstadt prototypes. Not sure if we reached a consensus, but I enjoyed getting into it! We also get into how Freebo is a goofball AND a cool-guy scholar and how those traits translate into his and into Alice's music. And we leave some space for Alice and Freebo to fawn all over Freebo's former collaborator, Bonnie Raitt, and her recent song of the year award at the 2023 Grammys. It's always so fun to talk to Alice (who was also on episode 72!) and we have a doubly good time with Freebo. Enjoy!Follow Basic Folk on social media: https://basicfolk.bio.link/ Sign up for Basic Folk's newsletter: https://bit.ly/basicfolknews Help produce Basic Folk by contributing: https://basicfolk.com/donate/ Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Charlotta Kerbs & The Strays is a band co-founded by Finnish singer/songwriter Charlotta Kerbs and bassist/producer and songwriter Darrell Craig Harris (Cirque Du Soleil, Billy Preston, QUEEN Rock Symphony). Originally founded as an online collaboration, this new group has grown into a new two new singles, and an upcoming album release “Muscle Shoals Sessions” recorded this past December at the legendary FAME Recording Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama!   Every Step I Take from our new album “Muscle Shoals Sessions” recorded at the legendary FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama

Why is Muscle Shoals, Alabama considered to be blessed by the musical gods? Muscle Shoals has been the site of several legendary recording studios, including FAME Studios and Muscle Shoals Sound Studio. These studios attracted some of the biggest names in music, including Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding, and the Rolling Stones.  Well, today's podcast features a Grammy-winning country and bluegrass musician who was born in the soil of that rich musical area.  He just signed a new deal and has released a new bluegrass single called "Fire in the Dark."  He's Gary Nichols and he's definitely Someone You Should Know. BUY RIK A BEERLink to Gary's webpageLink to Gary's Facebook pageLink to Gary's Instagram pageLink to Gary'sTikTok Link to Gary's YouTube channelLink to SteelDriver's video "Long Way Down"Link to Gary's video "Fire in the Dark"Link to Gary's video "Unbroken Ground"Book Ivy Manor at the ShoalsAll music used by permission from the artistSomeone You Should Know 2023 // CatGotYourTongueStudios 2023How to Contact Us:Official Website: https://Someoneyoushouldknowpodcast.comGmail: Someoneyoushouldknowpodcast@gmail.comTwitter: @RIKANTHONY1Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rikanthonyInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/someoneyoushouldknowpodcast/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rik-anthony2019/TikTok: @SomeoneYouShouldKnow2023YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@someoneyoushouldknowpodcastThank you for listening!Theme music "Welcome to the Show" by Kevin MacLeod was used per the standard license agreement.

What does breaking from the fundamentalist Christian church and forging your own identify and sense of sanctuary look like? Hannah Aldridge's story paints a picture.Hannah Aldridge's music has been described as “dark country”. She grew up in a musical family. Her dad worked as a musician in Fame Studios, a recording studio in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, where some of the most well-known singers of our time cut records, including the Rolling Stones and Aretha Franklin. Hannah grew up running around in that studio. She also grew up in a family that was fundamentalist Christian. In her early twenties, she started playing music on stages close to home. After she broke from the church, she started playing on stages all around the world. Her songs strike a delicate balance between rebellion and self-discovery. This episode is the first story on our show where we will weave a woman's story with her own, original music. You'll hear snippets of Hannah's music throughout. Hannah came-of-age in the South but she's spent a lifetime trying to create an identity outside of it. Hannah Aldridge's forthcoming album ‘Dream of America' will be released in early 2023. SEE HANNAH'S SPECIAL PATRON PERFORMANCEIf you're a patron of the show, Hannah has offered a special video recording of her track “Unbeliever.” Head over to Patreon to watch it! GET YOUR FREE COFFEE MUGBecome a patron of the podcast before March 1st, and we will send you an exclusive coffee mug as a thank you gift. See blog for images. Pledge any amount to get behind-the-scenes extras, discounts on merchandise and patron-only gifts. Become a patron today. JOIN OUR WALL OF FLAMEHelp us improve women's well-being through the power of story. Pledge $600 or more here and your name, bio and portrait will be added to our virtual monument: The Wall of Flame! REVIEW USHelp other women find us. Rate us on the Apple podcast app or on our website. SOCIALS & WEBIf You Knew Me websiteInstagramFacebookLinkedinSign Up for our Newsletter! CREDITS Produced by Jamie Yuenger and Piet Hurkmans. Our show's musical intro and outro is taken from the track “Thursday” by the independent artist Nick Takénobu Ogawa. You can listen and support his music on bandcamp here. Other music in this episode is by Blue Dot Sessions Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Located alongside the Tennessee River, Muscle Shoals, Alabama, and the studios there helped create some of the most important and resonant songs in rock and roll. On this episode, we look back at bit of the history of the Muscle Shoals sound, a trio of FAME Studio house bands, including the great "Swampers", and how Detroit's Bob Seger fused their sound with his heartland rock to produce some underappreciated but great songs - and one song ("Old Time Rock and Roll") that has been played way too much, burned deeply into our music brains, but whose story - from writing to the final version - is a wild one. We listen to a few Seger and Muscle Shoals Studios and Fame Studios tunes, hear some sublimely elegant Bob deep cuts, and have a blast rediscovering some of the famous and forgotten songs that came out of Muscle Shoals, Alabama. #muscleshoals #rolling stones #otisreddiing #wilsonpickett #bobseger #cher #osmonds #sweetsoulmusic SUBSCRIBE: Apple Podcasts Spotify Stitcher Google Podcasts Read Rob's current and archived writing at rockforwardmusic.com website: rockpopandroll.com EMAIL: rockpoprollpodcast@gmail.com  

My guest Fia Nyxx is considered stylistically as somewhere in between Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey and Toni Braxton. She embraces a theatrical approach to her music and experimental clash of genres.   Fia is also seen as a Hollywood glam-star, garnished with a rockstar twist. On her latest release Red Umbrella, she unleashes a masterful vision for storytelling. The album attempts to connect the dots along a path less traveled, embracing strength through vulnerability, devine-femininity, spiritual awakening, sexual liberation and a love story.   Fia recorded her first album, Everything Girl, at FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, AL. under the musical direction of Will McFarlane (Etta James, Bonnie Raitt, Bobby "Blue" Bland) and Brian Malouf (Michael Jackson, Queen, Madonna), and features players from the iconic Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, 'The Swampers.'  She has toured the U.S. and Asia, and has been featured on the back cover of Billboard Magazine, Rolling Stone, CelebMix, Music Connection, Elicit Magazine, Prelude Press, Buzz Music, The Hype Magazine among other publications.  That is the abbreviated version of her bio from FiaNyxx.com. Earlier this year, she did an impressive video for the single Escape, with dancer/choreographer Bobby Newberry (Danity Kane, Pussycat Dolls, Missy Elliot). In this conversation we talk about that video, plus PR, marketing, common indie artist struggles, release strategy, recording studio lessons, building confidence through repetition, and theatrical performance. I believe Fia was suffering from allergies or possibly a cold when we spoke. Fia, I hope you're all better now. Please enjoy this conversation with me and singer, songwriter, performer Fia Nyxx. Support the Unstarving Musician The Unstarving Musician exists solely through the generosity of its listeners, readers, and viewers. Learn how you can offer your support. This episode was powered by Music Marketing Method, a program for independent musicians looking to grow their music career. Music Marketing Method was created by my good friend Lynz Crichton. I'm in the program and I'm learning tons! I'm growing my fan base and learning about many ways that I'll be earning money in the new year. It's also helping me grow this podcast. How cool is that? To lean more and find out if Music Marketing Method can help your music career, visit UnstarvingMusician.com/MusicMarketing. This episode of the was powered by Liner Notes. Learn from the hundreds of musicians and industry pros I've spoken with for the Unstarving Musician on topics such as marketing, songwriting, touring, sync licensing and much more. Sign up for Liner Notes. Liner Notes is an email newsletter from yours truly, in which I share some of the best knowledge gems garnered from the many conversations featured on the Unstarving Musician. You'll also be privy to the latest podcast episodes and Liner Notes subscriber exclusives. Sign up at UnstarvingMusician.com. It's free and you can unsubscribe at anytime. Mentions and Related Episodes FiaNyxx.com  Fame Studios BobbyNewberry.com Escape Official Music Video - Bobby Newberry / Fia Nyxx / Sam J Garfield Resources The Unstarving Musician's Guide to Getting Paid Gigs, by Robonzo Music Marketing Method – The program that helps musicians find fans, grow an audience and make consistent income Bandzoogle – The all-in-one platform that makes it easy to build a beautiful website for your music Dreamhost – See the latest deals from Dreamhost, save money and support the UM in the process. More Resources for musicians Pardon the Interruption (Disclosure)  Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. This means I make a small commission, at no extra charge to you, if you purchase using those links. Thanks for your support! Visit UnstarvingMusician.com to sign up for Liner Notes to learn what I'm learning from the best indie musicians and music industry professionals. Stay in touch! @RobonzoDrummer on Twitter  and  Instagram @UnstarvingMusician on Facebook  and  YouTube

Brooks Long is back and that means he and Nate are talking about a book written or co-written by the great David Ritz. While at Billboard magazine in the 1940s, Jerry Wexler coined the term Rhythm & Blues. He went on to become one of the great "record men" at Atlantic Records in the 1950s, 60s and 70s where he produced career-peak recordings by legends such as Ruth Brown, LaVern Baker, Ray Charles, Solomon Burke, Aretha Franklin. He also found time to be a villain in the stories of Stax Records, Bert Berns and FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama.Buy the book and support the podcast.Download this episode.Don't miss Nate's interview with David Ritz.Don't miss Nate & Brooks discussing:Aretha FranklinRay CharlesDon't miss Nate's interview with Bert Berns biographer Joel Selvin.Don't miss Nate's interviews with Robert Gordon about Stax Records:Part 1Part 2Have a question or a suggestion for a topic or person for Nate to interview? Email letitrollpodcast@gmail.comFollow us on Twitter.Follow us on Facebook.Let It Roll is proud to be part of Pantheon Podcasts.  

From the Tennessee River mud that flows through The Shoals, to the studios, to the records, and the world, helped to forge that Muscle Shoals Sound, created by The Swampers. They were rural Alabama's answer to The Wrecking Crew and became bigger than most big city studio players, achieving so much, without leaving home. Well, there were a few trips to record in places like New York, and opening for The Beatles, when the situation required it. Those will be discussed, as well as the growth of a recording empire that was truly unique. From Rick Hall and Fame Studios forming, to the Swampers getting their nickname, their own place, and making amazing records, Markus & Ray wade through it all, and deliver a Shotgun 5 Faves of this amazing music!We have fantastic sponsors of our podcast, please visit their web sites, and support those who make the show go:Boldfoot Socks   https://boldfoot.comCrooked Eye Brewery   https://crookedeyebrewery.com/Don't forget that you can find all of our episodes, on-demand, for free right here on our web site: https://imbalancedhistory.com/     

From the Tennessee River mud that flows through The Shoals, to the studios, to the records, and the world, helped to forge that Muscle Shoals Sound, created by The Swampers. They were rural Alabama's answer to The Wrecking Crew and became bigger than most big city studio players, achieving so much, without leaving home. Well, there were a few trips to record in places like New York, and opening for The Beatles, when the situation required it. Those will be discussed, as well as the growth of a recording empire that was truly unique. From Rick Hall and Fame Studios forming, to the Swampers getting their nickname, their own place, and making amazing records, Markus & Ray wade through it all, and deliver a Shotgun 5 Faves of this amazing music!We have fantastic sponsors of our podcast, please visit their web sites, and support those who make the show go:Boldfoot Socks   https://boldfoot.comCrooked Eye Brewery   https://crookedeyebrewery.com/Don't forget that you can find all of our episodes, on-demand, for free right here on our web site: https://imbalancedhistory.com/     

From a chance meeting with Nashville waitress with a profoundly personal and deeply universal story to a lushly realized FAME Studios recording, then Brooklyn-mixed and mastered masterpiece, this is the story of one song's journey to your ears.

Last August, armed with a dozen new demos, I set out for FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, to begin recording my forthcoming LP, Constellations. The album, my tenth, drops October 14th. This week, the journey from iPhone demo to mastered album track for the first single, Wide Awake.

The forceful music that rolled out of Muscle Shoals in the 1960s and 1970s shaped hits by everyone from Wilson Pickett and Aretha Franklin to the Rolling Stones and Paul Simon. Christopher M. Reali's in-depth look at the fabled musical hotbed examines the events and factors that gave the Muscle Shoals sound such a potent cultural power. Many artists trekked to FAME Studios and Muscle Shoals Sound in search of the sound of authentic southern Black music—and at times expressed shock at the mostly white studio musicians waiting to play it for them. Others hoped to draw on the hitmaking production process that defined the scene. Reali also chronicles the overlooked history of Muscle Shoals's impact on country music and describes the region's recent transformation into a tourism destination. Multifaceted and informed, Music and Mystique in Muscle Shoals (University of Illinois Press, 2022) reveals the people, places, and events behind one of the most legendary recording scenes in American history. Dr. Christopher Reali is an assistant professor of music at Ramapo College of New Jersey. Emily Ruth Allen (@emmyru91) holds a Ph.D. in musicology from Florida State University. Her current research focuses on parade musics in Mobile, Alabama's carnival. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/african-american-studies

The forceful music that rolled out of Muscle Shoals in the 1960s and 1970s shaped hits by everyone from Wilson Pickett and Aretha Franklin to the Rolling Stones and Paul Simon. Christopher M. Reali's in-depth look at the fabled musical hotbed examines the events and factors that gave the Muscle Shoals sound such a potent cultural power. Many artists trekked to FAME Studios and Muscle Shoals Sound in search of the sound of authentic southern Black music—and at times expressed shock at the mostly white studio musicians waiting to play it for them. Others hoped to draw on the hitmaking production process that defined the scene. Reali also chronicles the overlooked history of Muscle Shoals's impact on country music and describes the region's recent transformation into a tourism destination. Multifaceted and informed, Music and Mystique in Muscle Shoals (University of Illinois Press, 2022) reveals the people, places, and events behind one of the most legendary recording scenes in American history. Dr. Christopher Reali is an assistant professor of music at Ramapo College of New Jersey. Emily Ruth Allen (@emmyru91) holds a Ph.D. in musicology from Florida State University. Her current research focuses on parade musics in Mobile, Alabama's carnival. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

The forceful music that rolled out of Muscle Shoals in the 1960s and 1970s shaped hits by everyone from Wilson Pickett and Aretha Franklin to the Rolling Stones and Paul Simon. Christopher M. Reali's in-depth look at the fabled musical hotbed examines the events and factors that gave the Muscle Shoals sound such a potent cultural power. Many artists trekked to FAME Studios and Muscle Shoals Sound in search of the sound of authentic southern Black music—and at times expressed shock at the mostly white studio musicians waiting to play it for them. Others hoped to draw on the hitmaking production process that defined the scene. Reali also chronicles the overlooked history of Muscle Shoals's impact on country music and describes the region's recent transformation into a tourism destination. Multifaceted and informed, Music and Mystique in Muscle Shoals (University of Illinois Press, 2022) reveals the people, places, and events behind one of the most legendary recording scenes in American history. Dr. Christopher Reali is an assistant professor of music at Ramapo College of New Jersey. Emily Ruth Allen (@emmyru91) holds a Ph.D. in musicology from Florida State University. Her current research focuses on parade musics in Mobile, Alabama's carnival. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/history

The forceful music that rolled out of Muscle Shoals in the 1960s and 1970s shaped hits by everyone from Wilson Pickett and Aretha Franklin to the Rolling Stones and Paul Simon. Christopher M. Reali's in-depth look at the fabled musical hotbed examines the events and factors that gave the Muscle Shoals sound such a potent cultural power. Many artists trekked to FAME Studios and Muscle Shoals Sound in search of the sound of authentic southern Black music—and at times expressed shock at the mostly white studio musicians waiting to play it for them. Others hoped to draw on the hitmaking production process that defined the scene. Reali also chronicles the overlooked history of Muscle Shoals's impact on country music and describes the region's recent transformation into a tourism destination. Multifaceted and informed, Music and Mystique in Muscle Shoals (University of Illinois Press, 2022) reveals the people, places, and events behind one of the most legendary recording scenes in American history. Dr. Christopher Reali is an assistant professor of music at Ramapo College of New Jersey. Emily Ruth Allen (@emmyru91) holds a Ph.D. in musicology from Florida State University. Her current research focuses on parade musics in Mobile, Alabama's carnival. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/performing-arts

The forceful music that rolled out of Muscle Shoals in the 1960s and 1970s shaped hits by everyone from Wilson Pickett and Aretha Franklin to the Rolling Stones and Paul Simon. Christopher M. Reali's in-depth look at the fabled musical hotbed examines the events and factors that gave the Muscle Shoals sound such a potent cultural power. Many artists trekked to FAME Studios and Muscle Shoals Sound in search of the sound of authentic southern Black music—and at times expressed shock at the mostly white studio musicians waiting to play it for them. Others hoped to draw on the hitmaking production process that defined the scene. Reali also chronicles the overlooked history of Muscle Shoals's impact on country music and describes the region's recent transformation into a tourism destination. Multifaceted and informed, Music and Mystique in Muscle Shoals (University of Illinois Press, 2022) reveals the people, places, and events behind one of the most legendary recording scenes in American history. Dr. Christopher Reali is an assistant professor of music at Ramapo College of New Jersey. Emily Ruth Allen (@emmyru91) holds a Ph.D. in musicology from Florida State University. Her current research focuses on parade musics in Mobile, Alabama's carnival. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/american-studies

The forceful music that rolled out of Muscle Shoals in the 1960s and 1970s shaped hits by everyone from Wilson Pickett and Aretha Franklin to the Rolling Stones and Paul Simon. Christopher M. Reali's in-depth look at the fabled musical hotbed examines the events and factors that gave the Muscle Shoals sound such a potent cultural power. Many artists trekked to FAME Studios and Muscle Shoals Sound in search of the sound of authentic southern Black music—and at times expressed shock at the mostly white studio musicians waiting to play it for them. Others hoped to draw on the hitmaking production process that defined the scene. Reali also chronicles the overlooked history of Muscle Shoals's impact on country music and describes the region's recent transformation into a tourism destination. Multifaceted and informed, Music and Mystique in Muscle Shoals (University of Illinois Press, 2022) reveals the people, places, and events behind one of the most legendary recording scenes in American history. Dr. Christopher Reali is an assistant professor of music at Ramapo College of New Jersey. Emily Ruth Allen (@emmyru91) holds a Ph.D. in musicology from Florida State University. Her current research focuses on parade musics in Mobile, Alabama's carnival. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/music

Famous Record Producer, Rick Hall, spent a period of time homeless, living out of a car while battling depression. However, within a few years - he'd become a self-made millionaire. He credits the grace of God and endless hard work for pulling him out of those hard times. Known today as one of the greatest producers in the world, and the man behind that famous "Muscle Shoals Sound", his legend lives on through the music of many artists including but not limited to: Percy Sledge, The Rolling Stones, Aretha Franklin, Etta James and many more. In today's Roots Music History Documentary, we dig into the roots that grew Rick Hall and FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. #MuscleShoalsSound #music #history #documentary #ROOTSMUSICHISTORY #RickHall #musicstudio #musicindustry #capitalism #selfmademillionaire #livingoutofcar #homeless

Episode 149 of A History of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs looks at “Respect", and the journey of Aretha Franklin from teenage gospel singer to the Queen of Soul. Click the full post to read liner notes, links to more information, and a transcript of the episode. Patreon backers also have a fifteen-minute bonus episode available, on "I'm Just a Mops" by the Mops. Tilt Araiza has assisted invaluably by doing a first-pass edit, and will hopefully be doing so from now on. Check out Tilt's irregular podcasts at http://www.podnose.com/jaffa-cakes-for-proust and http://sitcomclub.com/ Also, people may be interested in a Facebook discussion group for the podcast, run by a friend of mine (I'm not on FB myself) which can be found at https://www.facebook.com/groups/293630102611672/ Errata I say "Rock-a-Bye Your Baby to a Dixie Melody" instead of "Rock-a-Bye Your Baby With a Dixie Melody". Also I say Spooner Oldham co-wrote "Do Right Woman". I meant Chips Moman. Resources No Mixcloud this week, as there are too many songs by Aretha Franklin. My main biographical source for Aretha Franklin is Respect: The Life of Aretha Franklin by David Ritz, and this is where most of the quotes from musicians come from. I also relied heavily on I Never Loved a Man the Way I Loved You by Matt Dobkin. Information on C.L. Franklin came from Singing in a Strange Land: C. L. Franklin, the Black Church, and the Transformation of America by Nick Salvatore. Rick Hall's The Man From Muscle Shoals: My Journey from Shame to Fame contains his side of the story. Country Soul by Charles L Hughes is a great overview of the soul music made in Muscle Shoals, Memphis, and Nashville in the sixties. Peter Guralnick's Sweet Soul Music: Rhythm And Blues And The Southern Dream Of Freedom is possibly less essential, but still definitely worth reading. And the I Never Loved a Man album is available in this five-album box set for a ludicrously cheap price. But it's actually worth getting this nineteen-CD set with her first sixteen Atlantic albums and a couple of bonus discs of demos and outtakes. There's barely a duff track in the whole nineteen discs. Patreon This podcast is brought to you by the generosity of my backers on Patreon. Why not join them? Transcript Before I start this episode,  I have to say that there are some things people may want to be aware of before listening to this. This episode has to deal, at least in passing, with subjects including child sexual abuse, intimate partner abuse, racism, and misogyny. I will of course try to deal with those subjects as tactfully as possible, but those of you who may be upset by those topics may want to check the episode transcript before or instead of listening. Those of you who leave comments or send me messages saying "why can't you just talk about the music instead of all this woke virtue-signalling?" may also want to skip this episode. You can go ahead and skip all the future ones as well, I won't mind. And one more thing to say before I get into the meat of the episode -- this episode puts me in a more difficult position than most other episodes of the podcast have. When I've talked about awful things that have happened in the course of this podcast previously, I have either been talking about perpetrators -- people like Phil Spector or Jerry Lee Lewis who did truly reprehensible things -- or about victims who have talked very publicly about the abuse they've suffered, people like Ronnie Spector or Tina Turner, who said very clearly "this is what happened to me and I want it on the public record". In the case of Aretha Franklin, she has been portrayed as a victim *by others*, and there are things that have been said about her life and her relationships which suggest that she suffered in some very terrible ways. But she herself apparently never saw herself as a victim, and didn't want some aspects of her private life talking about. At the start of David Ritz's biography of her, which is one of my main sources here, he recounts a conversation he had with her: "When I mentioned the possibility of my writing an independent biography, she said, “As long as I can approve it before it's published.” “Then it wouldn't be independent,” I said. “Why should it be independent?” “So I can tell the story from my point of view.” “But it's not your story, it's mine.” “You're an important historical figure, Aretha. Others will inevitably come along to tell your story. That's the blessing and burden of being a public figure.” “More burden than blessing,” she said." Now, Aretha Franklin is sadly dead, but I think that she still deserves the basic respect of being allowed privacy. So I will talk here about public matters, things she acknowledged in her own autobiography, and things that she and the people around her did in public situations like recording studios and concert venues. But there are aspects to the story of Aretha Franklin as that story is commonly told, which may well be true, but are of mostly prurient interest, don't add much to the story of how the music came to be made, and which she herself didn't want people talking about. So there will be things people might expect me to talk about in this episode, incidents where people in her life, usually men, treated her badly, that I'm going to leave out. That information is out there if people want to look for it, but I don't see myself as under any obligation to share it. That's not me making excuses for people who did inexcusable things, that's me showing some respect to one of the towering artistic figures of the latter half of the twentieth century. Because, of course, respect is what this is all about: [Excerpt: Aretha Franklin, "Respect"] One name that's come up a few times in this podcast, but who we haven't really talked about that much, is Bobby "Blue" Bland. We mentioned him as the single biggest influence on the style of Van Morrison, but Bland was an important figure in the Memphis music scene of the early fifties, which we talked about in several early episodes. He was one of the Beale Streeters, the loose aggregation of musicians that also included B.B. King and Johnny Ace, he worked with Ike Turner, and was one of the key links between blues and soul in the fifties and early sixties, with records like "Turn on Your Love Light": [Excerpt: Bobby "Blue" Bland, "Turn on Your Love Light"] But while Bland was influenced by many musicians we've talked about, his biggest influence wasn't a singer at all. It was a preacher he saw give a sermon in the early 1940s. As he said decades later: "Wasn't his words that got me—I couldn't tell you what he talked on that day, couldn't tell you what any of it meant, but it was the way he talked. He talked like he was singing. He talked music. The thing that really got me, though, was this squall-like sound he made to emphasize a certain word. He'd catch the word in his mouth, let it roll around and squeeze it with his tongue. When it popped on out, it exploded, and the ladies started waving and shouting. I liked all that. I started popping and shouting too. That next week I asked Mama when we were going back to Memphis to church. “‘Since when you so keen on church?' Mama asked. “‘I like that preacher,' I said. “‘Reverend Franklin?' she asked. “‘Well, if he's the one who sings when he preaches, that's the one I like.'" Bland was impressed by C.L. Franklin, and so were other Memphis musicians. Long after Franklin had moved to Detroit, they remembered him, and Bland and B.B. King would go to Franklin's church to see him preach whenever they were in the city. And Bland studied Franklin's records. He said later "I liked whatever was on the radio, especially those first things Nat Cole did with his trio. Naturally I liked the blues singers like Roy Brown, the jump singers like Louis Jordan, and the ballad singers like Billy Eckstine, but, brother, the man who really shaped me was Reverend Franklin." Bland would study Franklin's records, and would take the style that Franklin used in recorded sermons like "The Eagle Stirreth Her Nest": [Excerpt: C.L. Franklin, "The Eagle Stirreth Her Nest"] And you can definitely hear that preaching style on records like Bland's "I Pity the Fool": [Excerpt: Bobby "Blue" Bland, "I Pity the Fool"] But of course, that wasn't the only influence the Reverend C.L. Franklin had on the course of soul music. C.L. Franklin had grown up poor, on a Mississippi farm, and had not even finished grade school because he was needed to work behind the mule, ploughing the farm for his stepfather. But he had a fierce intelligence and became an autodidact, travelling regularly to the nearest library, thirty miles away, on a horse-drawn wagon, and reading everything he could get his hands on. At the age of sixteen he received what he believed to be a message from God, and decided to become an itinerant preacher. He would travel between many small country churches and build up audiences there -- and he would also study everyone else preaching there, analysing their sermons, seeing if he could anticipate their line of argument and get ahead of them, figuring out the structure. But unlike many people in the conservative Black Baptist churches of the time, he never saw the spiritual and secular worlds as incompatible. He saw blues music and Black church sermons as both being part of the same thing -- a Black culture and folklore that was worthy of respect in both its spiritual and secular aspects. He soon built up a small circuit of local churches where he would preach occasionally, but wasn't the main pastor at any of them. He got married aged twenty, though that marriage didn't last, and he seems to have been ambitious for a greater respectability. When that marriage failed, in June 1936, he married Barbara Siggers, a very intelligent, cultured, young single mother who had attended Booker T Washington High School, the best Black school in Memphis, and he adopted her son Vaughn. While he was mostly still doing churches in Mississippi, he took on one in Memphis as well, in an extremely poor area, but it gave him a foot in the door to the biggest Black city in the US. Barbara would later be called "one of the really great gospel singers" by no less than Mahalia Jackson. We don't have any recordings of Barbara singing, but Mahalia Jackson certainly knew what she was talking about when it came to great gospel singers: [Excerpt: Mahalia Jackson, "Precious Lord, Take My Hand"] Rev. Franklin was hugely personally ambitious, and he also wanted to get out of rural Mississippi, where the Klan were very active at this time, especially after his daughter Erma was born in 1938. They moved to Memphis in 1939, where he got a full-time position at New Salem Baptist Church, where for the first time he was able to earn a steady living from just one church and not have to tour round multiple churches. He soon became so popular that if you wanted to get a seat for the service at noon, you had to turn up for the 8AM Sunday School or you'd be forced to stand. He also enrolled for college courses at LeMoyne College. He didn't get a degree, but spent three years as a part-time student studying theology, literature, and sociology, and soon developed a liberal theology that was very different from the conservative fundamentalism he'd grown up in, though still very much part of the Baptist church. Where he'd grown up with a literalism that said the Bible was literally true, he started to accept things like evolution, and to see much of the Bible as metaphor. Now, we talked in the last episode about how impossible it is to get an accurate picture of the lives of religious leaders, because their life stories are told by those who admire them, and that's very much the case for C.L. Franklin. Franklin was a man who had many, many, admirable qualities -- he was fiercely intelligent, well-read, a superb public speaker, a man who was by all accounts genuinely compassionate towards those in need, and he became one of the leaders of the civil rights movement and inspired tens of thousands, maybe even millions, of people, directly and indirectly, to change the world for the better. He also raised several children who loved and admired him and were protective of his memory. And as such, there is an inevitable bias in the sources on Franklin's life. And so there's a tendency to soften the very worst things he did, some of which were very, very bad. For example in Nick Salvatore's biography of him, he talks about Franklin, in 1940, fathering a daughter with someone who is described as "a teenager" and "quite young". No details of her age other than that are given, and a few paragraphs later the age of a girl who was then sixteen *is* given, talking about having known the girl in question, and so the impression is given that the girl he impregnated was also probably in her late teens. Which would still be bad, but a man in his early twenties fathering a child with a girl in her late teens is something that can perhaps be forgiven as being a different time. But while the girl in question may have been a teenager when she gave birth, she was *twelve years old* when she became pregnant, by C.L. Franklin, the pastor of her church, who was in a position of power over her in multiple ways. Twelve years old. And this is not the only awful thing that Franklin did -- he was also known to regularly beat up women he was having affairs with, in public. I mention this now because everything else I say about him in this episode is filtered through sources who saw these things as forgivable character flaws in an otherwise admirable human being, and I can't correct for those biases because I don't know the truth. So it's going to sound like he was a truly great man. But bear those facts in mind. Barbara stayed with Franklin for the present, after discovering what he had done, but their marriage was a difficult one, and they split up and reconciled a handful of times. They had three more children together -- Cecil, Aretha, and Carolyn -- and remained together as Franklin moved on first to a church in Buffalo, New York, and then to New Bethel Church, in Detroit, on Hastings Street, a street which was the centre of Black nightlife in the city, as immortalised in John Lee Hooker's "Boogie Chillun": [Excerpt: John Lee Hooker, "Boogie Chillen"] Before moving to Detroit, Franklin had already started to get more political, as his congregation in Buffalo had largely been union members, and being free from the worst excesses of segregation allowed him to talk more openly about civil rights, but that only accelerated when he moved to Detroit, which had been torn apart just a couple of years earlier by police violence against Black protestors. Franklin had started building a reputation when in Memphis using radio broadcasts, and by the time he moved to Detroit he was able to command a very high salary, and not only that, his family were given a mansion by the church, in a rich part of town far away from most of his congregation. Smokey Robinson, who was Cecil Franklin's best friend and a frequent visitor to the mansion through most of his childhood, described it later, saying "Once inside, I'm awestruck -- oil paintings, velvet tapestries, silk curtains, mahogany cabinets filled with ornate objects of silver and gold. Man, I've never seen nothing like that before!" He made a lot of money, but he also increased church attendance so much that he earned that money. He had already been broadcasting on the radio, but when he started his Sunday night broadcasts in Detroit, he came up with a trick of having his sermons run long, so the show would end before the climax. People listening decided that they would have to start turning up in person to hear the end of the sermons, and soon he became so popular that the church would be so full that crowds would have to form on the street outside to listen. Other churches rescheduled their services so they wouldn't clash with Franklin's, and most of the other Black Baptist ministers in the city would go along to watch him preach. In 1948 though, a couple of years after moving to Detroit, Barbara finally left her husband. She took Vaughn with her and moved back to Buffalo, leaving the four biological children she'd had with C.L. with their father.  But it's important to note that she didn't leave her children -- they would visit her on a regular basis, and stay with her over school holidays. Aretha later said "Despite the fact that it has been written innumerable times, it is an absolute lie that my mother abandoned us. In no way, shape, form, or fashion did our mother desert us." Barbara's place in the home was filled by many women -- C.L. Franklin's mother moved up from Mississippi to help him take care of the children, the ladies from the church would often help out, and even stars like Mahalia Jackson would turn up and cook meals for the children. There were also the women with whom Franklin carried on affairs, including Anna Gordy, Ruth Brown, and Dinah Washington, the most important female jazz and blues singer of the fifties, who had major R&B hits with records like her version of "Cold Cold Heart": [Excerpt: Dinah Washington, "Cold Cold Heart"] Although my own favourite record of hers is "Big Long Slidin' Thing", which she made with arranger Quincy Jones: [Excerpt: Dinah Washington, "Big Long Slidin' Thing"] It's about a trombone. Get your minds out of the gutter. Washington was one of the biggest vocal influences on young Aretha, but the single biggest influence was Clara Ward, another of C.L. Franklin's many girlfriends. Ward was the longest-lasting of these, and there seems to have been a lot of hope on both her part and Aretha's that she and Rev. Franklin would marry, though Franklin always made it very clear that monogamy wouldn't suit him. Ward was one of the three major female gospel singers of the middle part of the century, and possibly even more technically impressive as a vocalist than the other two, Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Mahalia Jackson. Where Jackson was an austere performer, who refused to perform in secular contexts at all for most of her life, and took herself and her music very seriously, and Tharpe was a raunchier, funnier, more down-to-earth performer who was happy to play for blues audiences and even to play secular music on occasion, Ward was a *glamorous* performer, who wore sequined dresses and piled her hair high on her head. Ward had become a singer in 1931 when her mother had what she later talked about as a religious epiphany, and decided she wasn't going to be a labourer any more, she was going to devote her life to gospel music. Ward's mother had formed a vocal group with her two daughters, and Clara quickly became the star and her mother's meal ticket -- and her mother was very possessive of that ticket, to the extent that Ward, who was a bisexual woman who mostly preferred men, had more relationships with women, because her mother wouldn't let her be alone with the men she was attracted to. But Ward did manage to keep a relationship going with C.L. Franklin, and Aretha Franklin talked about the moment she decided to become a singer, when she saw Ward singing "Peace in the Valley" at a funeral: [Excerpt: Clara Ward, "Peace in the Valley"] As well as looking towards Ward as a vocal influence, Aretha was also influenced by her as a person -- she became a mother figure to Aretha, who would talk later about watching Ward eat, and noting her taking little delicate bites, and getting an idea of what it meant to be ladylike from her. After Ward's death in 1973, a notebook was found in which she had written her opinions of other singers. For Aretha she wrote “My baby Aretha, she doesn't know how good she is. Doubts self. Some day—to the moon. I love that girl.” Ward's influence became especially important to Aretha and her siblings after their mother died of a heart attack a few years after leaving her husband, when Aretha was ten, and Aretha, already a very introverted child, became even more so. Everyone who knew Aretha said that her later diva-ish reputation came out of a deep sense of insecurity and introversion -- that she was a desperately private, closed-off, person who would rarely express her emotions at all, and who would look away from you rather than make eye contact. The only time she let herself express emotions was when she performed music. And music was hugely important in the Franklin household. Most preachers in the Black church at that time were a bit dismissive of gospel music, because they thought the music took away from their prestige -- they saw it as a necessary evil, and resented it taking up space when their congregations could have been listening to them. But Rev. Franklin was himself a rather good singer, and even made a few gospel records himself in 1950, recording for Joe Von Battle, who owned a record shop on Hastings Street and also put out records by blues singers: [Excerpt: C.L. Franklin, "I Am Climbing Higher Mountains" ] The church's musical director was James Cleveland, one of the most important gospel artists of the fifties and sixties, who sang with groups like the Caravans: [Excerpt: The Caravans, "What Kind of Man is This?" ] Cleveland, who had started out in the choir run by Thomas Dorsey, the writer of “Take My Hand Precious Lord” and “Peace in the Valley”, moved in with the Franklin family for a while, and he gave the girls tips on playing the piano -- much later he would play piano on Aretha's album Amazing Grace, and she said of him “He showed me some real nice chords, and I liked his deep, deep sound”. Other than Clara Ward, he was probably the single biggest musical influence on Aretha. And all the touring gospel musicians would make appearances at New Bethel Church, not least of them Sam Cooke, who first appeared there with the Highway QCs and would continue to do so after joining the Soul Stirrers: [Excerpt: The Soul Stirrers, "Touch the Hem of his Garment"] Young Aretha and her older sister Erma both had massive crushes on Cooke, and there were rumours that he had an affair with one or both of them when they were in their teens, though both denied it. Aretha later said "When I first saw him, all I could do was sigh... Sam was love on first hearing, love at first sight." But it wasn't just gospel music that filled the house. One of the major ways that C.L. Franklin's liberalism showed was in his love of secular music, especially jazz and blues, which he regarded as just as important in Black cultural life as gospel music. We already talked about Dinah Washington being a regular visitor to the house, but every major Black entertainer would visit the Franklin residence when they were in Detroit. Both Aretha and Cecil Franklin vividly remembered visits from Art Tatum, who would sit at the piano and play for the family and their guests: [Excerpt: Art Tatum, "Tiger Rag"] Tatum was such a spectacular pianist that there's now a musicological term, the tatum, named after him, for the smallest possible discernible rhythmic interval between two notes. Young Aretha was thrilled by his technique, and by that of Oscar Peterson, who also regularly came to the Franklin home, sometimes along with Ella Fitzgerald. Nat "King" Cole was another regular visitor. The Franklin children all absorbed the music these people -- the most important musicians of the time -- were playing in their home, and young Aretha in particular became an astonishing singer and also an accomplished pianist. Smokey Robinson later said: “The other thing that knocked us out about Aretha was her piano playing. There was a grand piano in the Franklin living room, and we all liked to mess around. We'd pick out little melodies with one finger. But when Aretha sat down, even as a seven-year-old, she started playing chords—big chords. Later I'd recognize them as complex church chords, the kind used to accompany the preacher and the solo singer. At the time, though, all I could do was view Aretha as a wonder child. Mind you, this was Detroit, where musical talent ran strong and free. Everyone was singing and harmonizing; everyone was playing piano and guitar. Aretha came out of this world, but she also came out of another far-off magical world none of us really understood. She came from a distant musical planet where children are born with their gifts fully formed.” C.L. Franklin became more involved in the music business still when Joe Von Battle started releasing records of his sermons, which had become steadily more politically aware: [Excerpt: C.L. Franklin, "Dry Bones in the Valley"] Franklin was not a Marxist -- he was a liberal, but like many liberals was willing to stand with Marxists where they had shared interests, even when it was dangerous. For example in 1954, at the height of McCarthyism, he had James and Grace Lee Boggs, two Marxist revolutionaries, come to the pulpit and talk about their support for the anti-colonial revolution in Kenya, and they sold four hundred copies of their pamphlet after their talk, because he saw that the struggle of Black Africans to get out from white colonial rule was the same struggle as that of Black Americans. And Franklin's powerful sermons started getting broadcast on the radio in areas further out from Detroit, as Chess Records picked up the distribution for them and people started playing the records on other stations. People like future Congressman John Lewis and the Reverend Jesse Jackson would later talk about listening to C.L. Franklin's records on the radio and being inspired -- a whole generation of Black Civil Rights leaders took their cues from him, and as the 1950s and 60s went on he became closer and closer to Martin Luther King in particular. But C.L. Franklin was always as much an ambitious showman as an activist, and he started putting together gospel tours, consisting mostly of music but with himself giving a sermon as the headline act. And he became very, very wealthy from these tours. On one trip in the south, his car broke down, and he couldn't find a mechanic willing to work on it. A group of white men started mocking him with racist terms, trying to provoke him, as he was dressed well and driving a nice car (albeit one that had broken down). Rather than arguing with them, he walked to a car dealership, and bought a new car with the cash that he had on him. By 1956 he was getting around $4000 per appearance, roughly equivalent to $43,000 today, and he was making a *lot* of appearances. He also sold half a million records that year. Various gospel singers, including the Clara Ward Singers, would perform on the tours he organised, and one of those performers was Franklin's middle daughter Aretha. Aretha had become pregnant when she was twelve, and after giving birth to the child she dropped out of school, but her grandmother did most of the child-rearing for her, while she accompanied her father on tour. Aretha's first recordings, made when she was just fourteen, show what an astonishing talent she already was at that young age. She would grow as an artist, of course, as she aged and gained experience, but those early gospel records already show an astounding maturity and ability. It's jaw-dropping to listen to these records of a fourteen-year-old, and immediately recognise them as a fully-formed Aretha Franklin. [Excerpt: Aretha Franklin, "There is a Fountain Filled With Blood"] Smokey Robinson's assessment that she was born with her gifts fully formed doesn't seem like an exaggeration when you hear that. For the latter half of the fifties, Aretha toured with her father, performing on the gospel circuit and becoming known there. But the Franklin sisters were starting to get ideas about moving into secular music. This was largely because their family friend Sam Cooke had done just that, with "You Send Me": [Excerpt: Sam Cooke, "You Send Me"] Aretha and Erma still worshipped Cooke, and Aretha would later talk about getting dressed up just to watch Cooke appear on the TV. Their brother Cecil later said "I remember the night Sam came to sing at the Flame Show Bar in Detroit. Erma and Ree said they weren't going because they were so heartbroken that Sam had recently married. I didn't believe them. And I knew I was right when they started getting dressed about noon for the nine o'clock show. Because they were underage, they put on a ton of makeup to look older. It didn't matter 'cause Berry Gordy's sisters, Anna and Gwen, worked the photo concession down there, taking pictures of the party people. Anna was tight with Daddy and was sure to let my sisters in. She did, and they came home with stars in their eyes.” Moving from gospel to secular music still had a stigma against it in the gospel world, but Rev. Franklin had never seen secular music as sinful, and he encouraged his daughters in their ambitions. Erma was the first to go secular, forming a girl group, the Cleo-Patrettes, at the suggestion of the Four Tops, who were family friends, and recording a single for Joe Von Battle's J-V-B label, "No Other Love": [Excerpt: The Cleo-Patrettes, "No Other Love"] But the group didn't go any further, as Rev. Franklin insisted that his eldest daughter had to finish school and go to university before she could become a professional singer. Erma missed other opportunities for different reasons, though -- Berry Gordy, at this time still a jobbing songwriter, offered her a song he'd written with his sister and Roquel Davis, but Erma thought of herself as a jazz singer and didn't want to do R&B, and so "All I Could Do Was Cry" was given to Etta James instead, who had a top forty pop hit with it: [Excerpt: Etta James, "All I Could Do Was Cry"] While Erma's move into secular music was slowed by her father wanting her to have an education, there was no such pressure on Aretha, as she had already dropped out. But Aretha had a different problem -- she was very insecure, and said that church audiences "weren't critics, but worshippers", but she was worried that nightclub audiences in particular were just the kind of people who would just be looking for flaws, rather than wanting to support the performer as church audiences did. But eventually she got up the nerve to make the move. There was the possibility of her getting signed to Motown -- her brother was still best friends with Smokey Robinson, while the Gordy family were close to her father -- but Rev. Franklin had his eye on bigger things. He wanted her to be signed to Columbia, which in 1960 was the most prestigious of all the major labels. As Aretha's brother Cecil later said "He wanted Ree on Columbia, the label that recorded Mahalia Jackson, Duke Ellington, Johnny Mathis, Tony Bennett, Percy Faith, and Doris Day. Daddy said that Columbia was the biggest and best record company in the world. Leonard Bernstein recorded for Columbia." They went out to New York to see Phil Moore, a legendary vocal coach and arranger who had helped make Lena Horne and Dorothy Dandridge into stars, but Moore actually refused to take her on as a client, saying "She does not require my services. Her style has already been developed. Her style is in place. It is a unique style that, in my professional opinion, requires no alteration. It simply requires the right material. Her stage presentation is not of immediate concern. All that will come later. The immediate concern is the material that will suit her best. And the reason that concern will not be easily addressed is because I can't imagine any material that will not suit her." That last would become a problem for the next few years, but the immediate issue was to get someone at Columbia to listen to her, and Moore could help with that -- he was friends with John Hammond. Hammond is a name that's come up several times in the podcast already -- we mentioned him in the very earliest episodes, and also in episode ninety-eight, where we looked at his signing of Bob Dylan. But Hammond was a legend in the music business. He had produced sessions for Bessie Smith, had discovered Count Basie and Billie Holiday, had convinced Benny Goodman to hire Charlie Christian and Lionel Hampton, had signed Pete Seeger and the Weavers to Columbia, had organised the Spirituals to Swing concerts which we talked about in the first few episodes of this podcast, and was about to put out the first album of Robert Johnson's recordings. Of all the executives at Columbia, he was the one who had the greatest eye for talent, and the greatest understanding of Black musical culture. Moore suggested that the Franklins get Major Holley to produce a demo recording that he could get Hammond to listen to. Major Holley was a family friend, and a jazz bassist who had played with Oscar Peterson and Coleman Hawkins among others, and he put together a set of songs for Aretha that would emphasise the jazz side of her abilities, pitching her as a Dinah Washington style bluesy jazz singer. The highlight of the demo was a version of "Today I Sing the Blues", a song that had originally been recorded by Helen Humes, the singer who we last heard of recording “Be Baba Leba” with Bill Doggett: [Excerpt: Helen Humes, "Today I Sing the Blues"] That original version had been produced by Hammond, but the song had also recently been covered by Aretha's idol, Sam Cooke: [Excerpt: Sam Cooke, "Today I Sing the Blues"] Hammond was hugely impressed by the demo, and signed Aretha straight away, and got to work producing her first album. But he and Rev. Franklin had different ideas about what Aretha should do. Hammond wanted to make a fairly raw-sounding bluesy jazz album, the kind of recording he had produced with Bessie Smith or Billie Holiday, but Rev. Franklin wanted his daughter to make music that would cross over to the white pop market -- he was aiming for the same kind of audience that Nat "King" Cole or Harry Belafonte had, and he wanted her recording standards like "Over the Rainbow". This showed a lack of understanding on Rev. Franklin's part of how such crossovers actually worked at this point. As Etta James later said, "If you wanna have Black hits, you gotta understand the Black streets, you gotta work those streets and work those DJs to get airplay on Black stations... Or looking at it another way, in those days you had to get the Black audience to love the hell outta you and then hope the love would cross over to the white side. Columbia didn't know nothing 'bout crossing over.” But Hammond knew they had to make a record quickly, because Sam Cooke had been working on RCA Records, trying to get them to sign Aretha, and Rev. Franklin wanted an album out so they could start booking club dates for her, and was saying that if they didn't get one done quickly he'd take up that offer, and so they came up with a compromise set of songs which satisfied nobody, but did produce two R&B top ten hits, "Won't Be Long" and Aretha's version of "Today I Sing the Blues": [Excerpt: Aretha Franklin, "Today I Sing the Blues"] This is not to say that Aretha herself saw this as a compromise -- she later said "I have never compromised my material. Even then, I knew a good song from a bad one. And if Hammond, one of the legends of the business, didn't know how to produce a record, who does? No, the fault was with promotion." And this is something important to bear in mind as we talk about her Columbia records. Many, *many* people have presented those records as Aretha being told what to do by producers who didn't understand her art and were making her record songs that didn't fit her style. That's not what's happening with the Columbia records. Everyone actually involved said that Aretha was very involved in the choices made -- and there are some genuinely great tracks on those albums. The problem is that they're *unfocused*. Aretha was only eighteen when she signed to the label, and she loved all sorts of music -- blues, jazz, soul, standards, gospel, middle-of-the-road pop music -- and wanted to sing all those kinds of music. And she *could* sing all those kinds of music, and sing them well. But it meant the records weren't coherent. You didn't know what you were getting, and there was no artistic personality that dominated them, it was just what Aretha felt like recording. Around this time, Aretha started to think that maybe her father didn't know what he was talking about when it came to popular music success, even though she idolised him in most areas, and she turned to another figure, who would soon become both her husband and manager. Ted White. Her sister Erma, who was at that time touring with Lloyd Price, had introduced them, but in fact Aretha had first seen White years earlier, in her own house -- he had been Dinah Washington's boyfriend in the fifties, and her first sight of him had been carrying a drunk Washington out of the house after a party. In interviews with David Ritz, who wrote biographies of many major soul stars including both Aretha Franklin and Etta James, James had a lot to say about White, saying “Ted White was famous even before he got with Aretha. My boyfriend at the time, Harvey Fuqua, used to talk about him. Ted was supposed to be the slickest pimp in Detroit. When I learned that Aretha married him, I wasn't surprised. A lot of the big-time singers who we idolized as girls—like Billie Holiday and Sarah Vaughan—had pimps for boyfriends and managers. That was standard operating procedure. My own mother had made a living turning tricks. When we were getting started, that way of life was part of the music business. It was in our genes. Part of the lure of pimps was that they got us paid." She compared White to Ike Turner, saying "Ike made Tina, no doubt about it. He developed her talent. He showed her what it meant to be a performer. He got her famous. Of course, Ted White was not a performer, but he was savvy about the world. When Harvey Fuqua introduced me to him—this was the fifties, before he was with Aretha—I saw him as a super-hip extra-smooth cat. I liked him. He knew music. He knew songwriters who were writing hit songs. He had manners. Later, when I ran into him and Aretha—this was the sixties—I saw that she wasn't as shy as she used to be." White was a pimp, but he was also someone with music business experience -- he owned an unsuccessful publishing company, and also ran a chain of jukeboxes. He was also thirty, while Aretha was only eighteen. But White didn't like the people in Aretha's life at the time -- he didn't get on well with her father, and he also clashed with John Hammond. And Aretha was also annoyed at Hammond, because her sister Erma had signed to Epic, a Columbia subsidiary, and was releasing her own singles: [Excerpt: Erma Franklin, "Hello Again"] Aretha was certain that Hammond had signed Erma, even though Hammond had nothing to do with Epic Records, and Erma had actually been recommended by Lloyd Price. And Aretha, while for much of her career she would support her sister, was also terrified that her sister might have a big hit before her and leave Aretha in her shadow. Hammond was still the credited producer on Aretha's second album, The Electrifying Aretha Franklin, but his lack of say in the sessions can be shown in the choice of lead-off single. "Rock-a-Bye Your Baby With a Dixie Melody" was originally recorded by Al Jolson in 1918: [Excerpt: Al Jolson, "Rock-a-Bye Your Baby With a Dixie Melody"] Rev. Franklin pushed for the song, as he was a fan of Jolson -- Jolson, oddly, had a large Black fanbase, despite his having been a blackface performer, because he had *also* been a strong advocate of Black musicians like Cab Calloway, and the level of racism in the media of the twenties through forties was so astonishingly high that even a blackface performer could seem comparatively OK. Aretha's performance was good, but it was hardly the kind of thing that audiences were clamouring for in 1961: [Excerpt: Aretha Franklin, "Rock-a-Bye Your Baby With a Dixie Melody"] That single came out the month after _Down Beat_ magazine gave Aretha the "new-star female vocalist award", and it oddly made the pop top forty, her first record to do so, and the B-side made the R&B top ten, but for the next few years both chart success and critical acclaim eluded her. None of her next nine singles would make higher than number eighty-six on the Hot One Hundred, and none would make the R&B charts at all. After that transitional second album, she was paired with producer Bob Mersey, who was precisely the kind of white pop producer that one would expect for someone who hoped for crossover success. Mersey was the producer for many of Columbia's biggest stars at the time -- people like Barbra Streisand, Andy Williams, Julie Andrews, Patti Page, and Mel Tormé -- and it was that kind of audience that Aretha wanted to go for at this point. To give an example of the kind of thing that Mersey was doing, just the month before he started work on his first collaboration with Aretha, _The Tender, the Moving, the Swinging Aretha Franklin_, his production of Andy Williams singing "Moon River" was released: [Excerpt: Andy Williams, "Moon River"] This was the kind of audience Aretha was going for when it came to record sales – the person she compared herself to most frequently at this point was Barbra Streisand – though in live performances she was playing with a small jazz group in jazz venues, and going for the same kind of jazz-soul crossover audience as Dinah Washington or Ray Charles. The strategy seems to have been to get something like the success of her idol Sam Cooke, who could play to soul audiences but also play the Copacabana, but the problem was that Cooke had built an audience before doing that -- she hadn't. But even though she hadn't built up an audience, musicians were starting to pay attention. Ted White, who was still in touch with Dinah Washington, later said “Women are very catty. They'll see a girl who's dressed very well and they'll say, Yeah, but look at those shoes, or look at that hairdo. Aretha was the only singer I've ever known that Dinah had no negative comments about. She just stood with her mouth open when she heard Aretha sing.” The great jazz vocalist Carmen McRea went to see Aretha at the Village Vanguard in New York around this time, having heard the comparisons to Dinah Washington, and met her afterwards. She later said "Given how emotionally she sang, I expected her to have a supercharged emotional personality like Dinah. Instead, she was the shyest thing I've ever met. Would hardly look me in the eye. Didn't say more than two words. I mean, this bitch gave bashful a new meaning. Anyway, I didn't give her any advice because she didn't ask for any, but I knew goddamn well that, no matter how good she was—and she was absolutely wonderful—she'd have to make up her mind whether she wanted to be Della Reese, Dinah Washington, or Sarah Vaughan. I also had a feeling she wouldn't have minded being Leslie Uggams or Diahann Carroll. I remember thinking that if she didn't figure out who she was—and quick—she was gonna get lost in the weeds of the music biz." So musicians were listening to Aretha, even if everyone else wasn't. The Tender, the Moving, the Swinging Aretha Franklin, for example, was full of old standards like "Try a Little Tenderness": [Excerpt: Aretha Franklin, "Try a Little Tenderness"] That performance inspired Otis Redding to cut his own version of that song a few years later: [Excerpt: Otis Redding, "Try a Little Tenderness"] And it might also have inspired Aretha's friend and idol Sam Cooke to include the song in his own lounge sets. The Tender, the Moving, the Swinging Aretha Franklin also included Aretha's first original composition, but in general it wasn't a very well-received album. In 1963, the first cracks started to develop in Aretha's relationship with Ted White. According to her siblings, part of the strain was because Aretha's increasing commitment to the civil rights movement was costing her professional opportunities. Her brother Cecil later said "Ted White had complete sway over her when it came to what engagements to accept and what songs to sing. But if Daddy called and said, ‘Ree, I want you to sing for Dr. King,' she'd drop everything and do just that. I don't think Ted had objections to her support of Dr. King's cause, and he realized it would raise her visibility. But I do remember the time that there was a conflict between a big club gig and doing a benefit for Dr. King. Ted said, ‘Take the club gig. We need the money.' But Ree said, ‘Dr. King needs me more.' She defied her husband. Maybe that was the start of their marital trouble. Their thing was always troubled because it was based on each of them using the other. Whatever the case, my sister proved to be a strong soldier in the civil rights fight. That made me proud of her and it kept her relationship with Daddy from collapsing entirely." In part her increasing activism was because of her father's own increase in activity. The benefit that Cecil is talking about there is probably one in Chicago organised by Mahalia Jackson, where Aretha headlined on a bill that also included Jackson, Eartha Kitt, and the comedian Dick Gregory. That was less than a month before her father organised the Detroit Walk to Freedom, a trial run for the more famous March on Washington a few weeks later. The Detroit Walk to Freedom was run by the Detroit Council for Human Rights, which was formed by Rev. Franklin and Rev. Albert Cleage, a much more radical Black nationalist who often differed with Franklin's more moderate integrationist stance. They both worked together to organise the Walk to Freedom, but Franklin's stance predominated, as several white liberal politicians, like the Mayor of Detroit, Jerome Cavanagh, were included in the largely-Black March. It drew crowds of 125,000 people, and Dr. King called it "one of the most wonderful things that has happened in America", and it was the largest civil rights demonstration in American history up to that point. King's speech in Detroit was recorded and released on Motown Records: [Excerpt: Martin Luther King, "Original 'I Have a Dream' Speech”] He later returned to the same ideas in his more famous speech in Washington. During that civil rights spring and summer of 1963, Aretha also recorded what many think of as the best of her Columbia albums, a collection of jazz standards  called Laughing on the Outside, which included songs like "Solitude", "Ol' Man River" and "I Wanna Be Around": [Excerpt: Aretha Franklin, "I Wanna Be Around"] The opening track, "Skylark", was Etta James' favourite ever Aretha Franklin performance, and is regarded by many as the definitive take on the song: [Excerpt: Aretha Franklin, "Skylark"] Etta James later talked about discussing the track with the great jazz singer Sarah Vaughan, one of Aretha's early influences, who had recorded her own version of the song: "Sarah said, ‘Have you heard of this Aretha Franklin girl?' I said, ‘You heard her do “Skylark,” didn't you?' Sarah said, ‘Yes, I did, and I'm never singing that song again.” But while the album got noticed by other musicians, it didn't get much attention from the wider public. Mersey decided that a change in direction was needed, and they needed to get in someone with more of a jazz background to work with Aretha. He brought in pianist and arranger Bobby Scott, who had previously worked with people like Lester Young, and Scott said of their first meeting “My first memory of Aretha is that she wouldn't look at me when I spoke. She withdrew from the encounter in a way that intrigued me. At first I thought she was just shy—and she was—but I also felt her reading me...For all her deference to my experience and her reluctance to speak up, when she did look me in the eye, she did so with a quiet intensity before saying, ‘I like all your ideas, Mr. Scott, but please remember I do want hits.'” They started recording together, but the sides they cut wouldn't be released for a few years. Instead, Aretha and Mersey went in yet another direction. Dinah Washington died suddenly in December 1963, and given that Aretha was already being compared to Washington by almost everyone, and that Washington had been a huge influence on her, as well as having been close to both her father and her husband/manager, it made sense to go into the studio and quickly cut a tribute album, with Aretha singing Washington's hits: [Excerpt: Aretha Franklin, "Cold Cold Heart"] Unfortunately, while Washington had been wildly popular, and one of the most important figures in jazz and R&B in the forties and fifties, her style was out of date. The tribute album, titled Unforgettable, came out in February 1964, the same month that Beatlemania hit the US. Dinah Washington was the past, and trying to position Aretha as "the new Dinah Washington" would doom her to obscurity. John Hammond later said "I remember thinking that if Aretha never does another album she will be remembered for this one. No, the problem was timing. Dinah had died, and, outside the black community, interest in her had waned dramatically. Popular music was in a radical and revolutionary moment, and that moment had nothing to do with Dinah Washington, great as she was and will always be.” At this point, Columbia brought in Clyde Otis, an independent producer and songwriter who had worked with artists like Washington and Sarah Vaughan, and indeed had written one of the songs on Unforgettable, but had also worked with people like Brook Benton, who had a much more R&B audience. For example, he'd written "Baby, You Got What It Takes" for Benton and Washington to do as a duet: [Excerpt: Brook Benton and Dinah Washington, "Baby, You Got What it Takes"] In 1962, when he was working at Mercury Records before going independent, Otis had produced thirty-three of the fifty-one singles the label put out that year that had charted. Columbia had decided that they were going to position Aretha firmly in the R&B market, and assigned Otis to do just that. At first, though, Otis had no more luck with getting Aretha to sing R&B than anyone else had. He later said "Aretha, though, couldn't be deterred from her determination to beat Barbra Streisand at Barbra's own game. I kept saying, ‘Ree, you can outsing Streisand any day of the week. That's not the point. The point is to find a hit.' But that summer she just wanted straight-up ballads. She insisted that she do ‘People,' Streisand's smash. Aretha sang the hell out of it, but no one's gonna beat Barbra at her own game." But after several months of this, eventually Aretha and White came round to the idea of making an R&B record. Otis produced an album of contemporary R&B, with covers of music from the more sophisticated end of the soul market, songs like "My Guy", "Every Little Bit Hurts", and "Walk on By", along with a few new originals brought in by Otis. The title track, "Runnin' Out of Fools", became her biggest hit in three years, making number fifty-seven on the pop charts and number thirty on the R&B charts: [Excerpt: Aretha Franklin, "Runnin' Out of Fools"] After that album, they recorded another album with Otis producing, a live-in-the-studio jazz album, but again nobody involved could agree on a style for her. By this time it was obvious that she was unhappy with Columbia and would be leaving the label soon, and they wanted to get as much material in the can as they could, so they could continue releasing material after she left. But her working relationship with Otis was deteriorating -- Otis and Ted White did not get on, Aretha and White were having their own problems, and Aretha had started just not showing up for some sessions, with nobody knowing where she was. Columbia passed her on to yet another producer, this time Bob Johnston, who had just had a hit with Patti Page, "Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte": [Excerpt: Patti Page, "Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte"] Johnston was just about to hit an incredible hot streak as a producer. At the same time as his sessions with Aretha, he was also producing Bob Dylan's Highway 61 Revisited, and just after the sessions finished he'd go on to produce Simon & Garfunkel's Sounds of Silence album. In the next few years he would produce a run of classic Dylan albums like Blonde on Blonde, John Wesley Harding, and New Morning, Simon & Garfunkel's follow up Parsley, Sage, Rosemary & Thyme, Leonard Cohen's first three albums, and Johnny Cash's comeback with the Live at Folsom Prison album and its follow up At San Quentin. He also produced records for Marty Robbins, Flatt & Scruggs, the Byrds, and Burl Ives during that time period. But you may notice that while that's as great a run of records as any producer was putting out at the time, it has little to do with the kind of music that Aretha Franklin was making then, or would become famous with. Johnston produced a string-heavy session in which Aretha once again tried to sing old standards by people like Oscar Hammerstein and Jerome Kern. She then just didn't turn up for some more sessions, until one final session in August, when she recorded songs like "Swanee" and "You Made Me Love You". For more than a year, she didn't go into a studio. She also missed many gigs and disappeared from her family's life for periods of time. Columbia kept putting out records of things she'd already recorded, but none of them had any success at all. Many of the records she'd made for Columbia had been genuinely great -- there's a popular perception that she was being held back by a record company that forced her to sing material she didn't like, but in fact she *loved* old standards, and jazz tunes, and contemporary pop at least as much as any other kind of music. Truly great musicians tend to have extremely eclectic tastes, and Aretha Franklin was a truly great musician if anyone was. Her Columbia albums are as good as any albums in those genres put out in that time period, and she remained proud of them for the rest of her life. But that very eclecticism had meant that she hadn't established a strong identity as a performer -- everyone who heard her records knew she was a great singer, but nobody knew what "an Aretha Franklin record" really meant -- and she hadn't had a single real hit, which was the thing she wanted more than anything. All that changed when in the early hours of the morning, Jerry Wexler was at FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals recording a Wilson Pickett track -- from the timeline, it was probably the session for "Mustang Sally", which coincidentally was published by Ted White's publishing company, as Sir Mack Rice, the writer, was a neighbour of White and Franklin, and to which Aretha had made an uncredited songwriting contribution: [Excerpt: Wilson Pickett, "Mustang Sally"] Whatever the session, it wasn't going well. Percy Sledge, another Atlantic artist who recorded at Muscle Shoals, had turned up and had started winding Pickett up, telling him he sounded just like James Brown. Pickett *hated* Brown -- it seems like almost every male soul singer of the sixties hated James Brown -- and went to physically attack Sledge. Wexler got between the two men to protect his investments in them -- both were the kind of men who could easily cause some serious damage to anyone they hit -- and Pickett threw him to one side and charged at Sledge. At that moment the phone went, and Wexler yelled at the two of them to calm down so he could talk on the phone. The call was telling him that Aretha Franklin was interested in recording for Atlantic. Rev. Louise Bishop, later a Democratic politician in Pennsylvania, was at this time a broadcaster, presenting a radio gospel programme, and she knew Aretha. She'd been to see her perform, and had been astonished by Aretha's performance of a recent Otis Redding single, "Respect": [Excerpt: Otis Redding, "Respect"] Redding will, by the way, be getting his own episode in a few months' time, which is why I've not covered the making of that record here. Bishop thought that Aretha did the song even better than Redding -- something Bishop hadn't thought possible. When she got talking to Aretha after the show, she discovered that her contract with Columbia was up, and Aretha didn't really know what she was going to do -- maybe she'd start her own label or something. She hadn't been into the studio in more than a year, but she did have some songs she'd been working on. Bishop was good friends with Jerry Wexler, and she knew that he was a big fan of Aretha's, and had been saying for a while that when her contract was up he'd like to sign her. Bishop offered to make the connection, and then went back home and phoned Wexler's wife, waking her up -- it was one in the morning by this point, but Bishop was accustomed to phoning Wexler late at night when it was something important. Wexler's wife then phoned him in Muscle Shoals, and he phoned Bishop back and made the arrangements to meet up. Initially, Wexler wasn't thinking about producing Aretha himself -- this was still the period when he and the Ertegun brothers were thinking of selling Atlantic and getting out of the music business, and so while he signed her to the label he was originally going to hand her over to Jim Stewart at Stax to record, as he had with Sam and Dave. But in a baffling turn of events, Jim Stewart didn't actually want to record her, and so Wexler determined that he had better do it himself. And he didn't want to do it with slick New York musicians -- he wanted to bring out the gospel sound in her voice, and he thought the best way to do that was with musicians from what Charles Hughes refers to as "the country-soul triangle" of Nashville, Memphis, and Muscle Shoals. So he booked a week's worth of sessions at FAME studios, and got in FAME's regular rhythm section, plus a couple of musicians from American Recordings in Memphis -- Chips Moman and Spooner Oldham. Oldham's friend and songwriting partner Dan Penn came along as well -- he wasn't officially part of the session, but he was a fan of Aretha's and wasn't going to miss this. Penn had been the first person that Rick Hall, the owner of FAME, had called when Wexler had booked the studio, because Hall hadn't actually heard of Aretha Franklin up to that point, but didn't want to let Wexler know that. Penn had assured him that Aretha was one of the all-time great talents, and that she just needed the right production to become massive. As Hall put it in his autobiography, "Dan tended in those days to hate anything he didn't write, so I figured if he felt that strongly about her, then she was probably going to be a big star." Charlie Chalmers, a horn player who regularly played with these musicians, was tasked with putting together a horn section. The first song they recorded that day was one that the musicians weren't that impressed with at first. "I Never Loved a Man (the Way I Love You)" was written by a songwriter named Ronnie Shannon, who had driven from Georgia to Detroit hoping to sell his songs to Motown. He'd popped into a barber's shop where Ted White was having his hair cut to ask for directions to Motown, and White had signed him to his own publishing company and got him to write songs for Aretha. On hearing the demo, the musicians thought that the song was mediocre and a bit shapeless: [Excerpt: Aretha Franklin "I Never Loved a Man (the Way I Love You) (demo)"] But everyone there was agreed that Aretha herself was spectacular. She didn't speak much to the musicians, just went to the piano and sat down and started playing, and Jerry Wexler later compared her playing to Thelonius Monk (who was indeed one of the jazz musicians who had influenced her). While Spooner Oldham had been booked to play piano, it was quickly decided to switch him to electric piano and organ, leaving the acoustic piano for Aretha to play, and she would play piano on all the sessions Wexler produced for her in future. Although while Wexler is the credited producer (and on this initial session Rick Hall at FAME is a credited co-producer), everyone involved, including Wexler, said that the musicians were taking their cues from Aretha rather than anyone else. She would outline the arrangements at the piano, and everyone else would fit in with what she was doing, coming up with head arrangements directed by her. But Wexler played a vital role in mediating between her and the musicians and engineering staff, all of whom he knew and she didn't. As Rick Hall said "After her brief introduction by Wexler, she said very little to me or anyone else in the studio other than Jerry or her husband for the rest of the day. I don't think Aretha and I ever made eye contact after our introduction, simply because we were both so totally focused on our music and consumed by what we were doing." The musicians started working on "I Never Loved a Man (the Way I Love You)", and at first found it difficult to get the groove, but then Oldham came up with an electric piano lick which everyone involved thought of as the key that unlocked the song for them: [Excerpt: Aretha Franklin, "I Never Loved a Man (the Way I Love You)"] After that, they took a break. Most of them were pleased with the track, though Rick Hall wasn't especially happy. But then Rick Hall wasn't especially happy about anything at that point. He'd always used mono for his recordings until then, but had been basically forced to install at least a two-track system by Tom Dowd, Atlantic's chief engineer, and was resentful of this imposition. During the break, Dan Penn went off to finish a song he and Spooner Oldham had been writing, which he hoped Aretha would record at the session: [Excerpt: Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham, "Do Right Woman, Do Right Man"] They had the basic structure of the song down, but hadn't quite finished the middle eight, and both Jerry Wexler and Aretha Franklin chipped in uncredited lyrical contributions -- Aretha's line was "as long as we're together baby, you'd better show some respect to me". Penn, Oldham, Chips Moman, Roger Hawkins, and Tommy Cogbill started cutting a backing track for the song, with Penn singing lead initially with the idea that Aretha would overdub her vocal. But while they were doing this, things had been going wrong with the other participants. All the FAME and American rhythm section players were white, as were Wexler, Hall, and Dowd, and Wexler had been very aware of this, and of the fact that they were recording in Alabama, where Aretha and her husband might not feel totally safe, so he'd specifically requested that the horn section at least contain some Black musicians. But Charlie Chalmers hadn't been able to get any of the Black musicians he would normally call when putting together a horn section, and had ended up with an all-white horn section as well, including one player, a trumpet player called Ken Laxton, who had a reputation as a good player but had never worked with any of the other musicians there -- he was an outsider in a group of people who regularly worked together and had a pre-existing relationship. As the two outsiders, Laxton and Ted White had, at first, bonded, and indeed had started drinking vodka together, passing a bottle between themselves, in a way that Rick Hall would normally not allow in a session -- at the time, the county the studio was in was still a dry county. But as Wexler said, “A redneck patronizing a Black man is a dangerous camaraderie,” and White and Laxton soon had a major falling out. Everyone involved tells a different story about what it was that caused them to start rowing, though it seems to have been to do with Laxton not showing the proper respect for Aretha, or even actually sexually assaulting her -- Dan Penn later said “I always heard he patted her on the butt or somethin', and what would have been wrong with that anyway?”, which says an awful lot about the attitudes of these white Southern men who thought of themselves as very progressive, and were -- for white Southern men in early 1967. Either way, White got very, very annoyed, and insisted that Laxton get fired from the session, which he was, but that still didn't satisfy White, and he stormed off to the motel, drunk and angry. The rest of them finished cutting a basic track for "Do Right Woman", but nobody was very happy with it. Oldham said later “She liked the song but hadn't had time to practice it or settle into it I remember there was Roger playing the drums and Cogbill playing the bass. And I'm on these little simplistic chords on organ, just holding chords so the song would be understood. And that was sort of where it was left. Dan had to sing the vocal, because she didn't know the song, in the wrong key for him. That's what they left with—Dan singing the wrong-key vocal and this little simplistic organ and a bass and a drum. We had a whole week to do everything—we had plenty of time—so there was no hurry to do anything in particular.” Penn was less optimistic, saying "But as I rem

On this episode of Inside the Musician's Brain, Chris' guest is rock and soul powerhouse Maggie Rose. Maggie is an inspiration in so many ways, with an amazing story of perseverance and evolution through the different phases of her career. She discusses the obstacles that country music presented early on, and her transformation as an artist in the wake of those obstacles. Maggie also breaks down her latest album, Have A Seat, and the inspiration that world famous Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama brought to the table.Distributed by Osiris Media See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

We had the pleasure of interviewing Anderson East over Zoom video!GRAMMY® Award-nominated Alabama-born and Nashville-based singer, songwriter, and performer Anderson East has released his new album M.W.N.D. / F.A.M.E. The reimagined recording of his critically acclaimed studio album Maybe We Never Die is available to stream and download beginning today HERE via Elektra/Low Country Sound. Last year, East reimagined, recut, and re-recorded his fifth full-length offering, Maybe We Never Die, live in one day at the legendary FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, AL as M.W.N.D. / F.A.M.E. He was accompanied by his bandmates, GRAMMY® Award-winning producer Dave Cobb, and a handful of close friends including Natalie Hemby, Taylor Goldsmith of Dawes, and Foy Vance. Regarding M.W.N.D. / F.A.M.E., East shared, “It's amazing how easy it is to make a record after you've already made it once. This was fun, and it's a scrapbook of a moment. We're used to making records with everyone in the same room. It was nice to revert back to that. I just wanted to be around people and go play something. We decided to go to FAME for a day, because it's one of our favorite rooms and the people are incredible. It felt very natural to fully simplify Maybe We Never Die at a place we enjoy.”Maybe We Never Die initially captivated fans and critics last year. The album arrived to widespread acclaim from Forbes, NPR Music, Rolling Stone, Southern Living, American Songwriter, and more. East delivered unforgettable performances of the album's lead single “Madelyn” on Late Night with Seth Meyers, CBS Saturday Morning, and The Ellen DeGeneres Show, and celebrated the album's release with his 49-city Maybe We Never Die Tour of North America, which wrapped earlier this month. Now, M.W.N.D. / F.A.M.E. represents Anderson East at his most vulnerable, vibrant, and vital.ABOUT ANDERSON EAST:GRAMMY® Award-nominated Alabama-born and Nashville-based singer, songwriter, and performer Anderson East has always seamlessly trafficked between heritage soul, Americana, gospel, R&B, blues, roots, and rock. Following his independent debut Flowers of the Broken Hearted [2012], he continued to hone his voice and vision on Delilah [2015] and Encore [2018]. In addition to eclipsing 100 million streams, the latter yielded the single “All on My Mind,” which notably garnered a 2019 GRAMMY® Award nod in the category of “Best American Roots Performance.” In between sold out headline gigs in historic venues such as the Ryman, he delivered soaring and scorching performances on Jimmy Kimmel LIVE!, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, TODAY, Late Night with Seth Meyers, PBS' Austin City Limits, and more. Maybe We Never Die arrived to widespread tastemaker acclaim in 2021. Forbes raved, “Maybe We Never Die is fit for dancing through the end of the world,” NPR noted, “his hefty vocals seem only more urgent in this subdued setting,” and American Songwriter praised, “characterized by his gentle, We want to hear from you! Please email Tera@BringinitBackwards.com. www.BringinitBackwards.com #podcast #interview #bringinbackpod #AndersonEast #MaybeWeNeverDie #FAME #NewMusic #zoom Listen & Subscribe to BiB https://www.bringinitbackwards.com/follow/ Follow our podcast on Instagram and Twitter! https://www.facebook.com/groups/bringinbackpod

What do you do when you're Lynne Jackaman, British firecracker soul singer, but your love of your favorite music is based in America thousands of miles away from your London home? You record at the most iconic recording studio in America, Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, USA and produce your first solo project and release it to the world. Lynne Jackaman visits with The Trout and talks about her love of southern soul and rock music and how she grew up loving to sing. Jackaman's debut album, One Shot, was released to critical acclaim because of her outstanding vocal and songwriting talents. Jackaman opens up about her experience as the lead vocalist for the UK popular band, Saint Jude and why she decided to pursue a solo career. With her magnetic and effervescence personality it's no wonder why her fans adore her music and the artist herself.

Thrown into the Nashville music machine as a teenager, singer/songwriter Maggie Rose came to realize that her creative aspirations had outgrown the rigid confines of the Music Row scene. Rebranding both herself and her musical style, Maggie has evolved an independent style and an open mindset that transcends artistic boundaries, resulting in the genre-blending songs on her incredible forthcoming album "Have A Seat". Join Nick as he and Maggie discuss recording in Muscle Shoals, the joys of meeting new artists through podcasting, and fighting for equality and recognition in the traditionally conservative country music scene. HIGHLIGHTS: [01:36] Maggie's new record "Have A Seat" was ready to go when the pandemic hit, so she's been sitting on a lot of great music that will finally see the light of day [02:28] Over the last five years, Maggie has discovered just what she can do with her voice thanks to her producer urging her to record live [03:42] Maggie felt the pressure of music history when she recorded at the storied Muscle Shoals studio [06:04] The tense and uncertain nature of the world over the last few years informed Maggie's songwriting, bringing both defiance and understanding to the music she created [09:45] Maggie was up for the challenge of making this record, with the big sound and the complex production she was aiming for [11:55] Maggie was able to shoot videos during the pandemic, including a three-part series for the song "What Are We Fighting For?" in which she plays five different characters [14:14] After performing at Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals for a radio concert, Maggie tailored her songwriting towards the goal of actually recording her next album at the legendary studio [18:22] Being part of the Nashville music scene since she was a teen, Maggie realized she needed to redefine herself and become her an independent artist in order to break free of the confines of Music Row [22:35] Maggie recognizes that the marginalized groups in the music industry are locking arms and demanding equality [24:38] Maggie launched her podcast "Salute To The Songbird" to feature and celebrate the work and artistry of female musicians, making many new friends in the process [29:13] In doing her podcast, Maggie was surprised by the different responses when her guests were asked how their perspective as a woman shaped their careers [32:26] Maggie is excited to have finally have fifty concert dates on her schedule, as a chance to connect with fans and get honest feedback on her new songs [34:06] Many of Maggie's upcoming shows are headlining gigs, but she's also hosting her own outdoor camping music festival in Missouri in July [35:14] Maggie is enjoying a lot of new music from artists as diverse as Katie Pruitt to Vampire Weekend to Aaron Lee Tasjan   Thanks for listening! Tune in next week and don't forget to take a minute to review the podcast. In this incredibly competitive podcasting world, every piece of feedback helps. Follow our social media channels for last-minute announcements and guest reveals @theradicalpod on Instagram and Facebook. Find out more about today's guest, Maggie Rose. Find out more about your host, Nick Terzo   MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE: @SingleLock [Single Lock Records, run by Maggie's producer Ben Tanner] @them_vibes [Them Vibes, band of Maggie's musicians Alex Haddad and Larry "Brother Love" Florman] @whissellmusic [Lauren Whissell, songwriter] @Wilmac50  @JonSantanaMusic [songwriter] @charlottesands [songwriter] @BrettTruitt [songwriter]   @BrigettaA [Brigetta Truitt, songwriter] @sarahtomekdrummer @brothersosborne [T.J. Osborne] @MickeyGuyton @mirandalambert @RubyAmanfu @ladycouchmusic @goesbydylan [Dylan Hartigan, musician] @kellyclarkson @KPmusik [musician Katie Pruitt] @amythystkiah @vampireweekend @aaronleetasjan1 @Elizabeth_Cook @billwithers @DevonGilfillian @JilletteJohnson @SummerCampFest @Bonnaroo @Fame_Music [Fame Music Studios in Muscle Shoals] @osirispod  @fordfairchild [Maggie's video director]    

Don Was On Producing Gregg Allman's Final Recording Southern Blood. Southern Blood is the final studio album from rock and roll legend, Gregg Allman. Produced by Don Was and recorded in Muscle Shoals, AL at the renowned Fame Studios. With contributions from Gregg's friends and compatriots, including The McCrary Sisters, Buddy Miller, and Jackson Browne, Southern Blood is a true testament to a legendary career.Don Was gives personal insights into working with Gregg and how many years this project took to finally complete,  not knowing this would be Gregg's final studio recording. Gregg Allman made his transition May 27, 2017 and Southern Blood was released posthumouslya few months later.  Don Was, is an American musician, record producer and record executive. Primarily a bass player, Was co-founded the funk-rock band Was (Not Was). In later years he produced songs and albums for many popular recording artists. In 2012, he became president of jazz music label Blue Note Records.This episode is from an archive from the KPFK program Rock Profiles adapted for podcast. Host Maggie LePique, a radio veteran since the 1980's at NPR in Kansas City Mo. She began her radio career in Los Angeles in the early 1990's and has worked for Pacifica station KPFK Radio in Los Angeles since 1994.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maggie_LePiqueLink to purchase Southern Blood: https://greggallman.com/music/southern-blood/Support the show