![]() I had a wonderful afternoon getting the Fame Studios personal tour and I took these photos… the most striking thing was that the good folks at Fame had kept everything pretty much as it was – except for some technical upgrades. Will ended up as a studio session guy in Muscle Shoals, and played for everyone doing everything everywhere! When I ran into Will ten years ago in Carrboro, NC at The Music Loft – now Twin House Music – he had moved to The Piedmont and become a Preacher or a Minister-type person… good for him! Then I heard he was back in Muscle Shoals but whatever, if you run into him, don’t forget to use your best no-four-letter-words English.! Take the Tour… Amazing! I headed out to Central Square that evening and made friends with three guys rehearsing songs in a basement: Freebo, Will McFarland and I think it was Dick Waterman. When I was just starting out in Cambridge and Boston, I ran into some folks in Harvard Square who invited me to check out the back-up band for Bonnie Raitt, a local folk singer. Duane Allman had been working there as a session guy and things sort of came into orbit around him. It was the original home of the Allman Brothers Band, where they first came together as a band and had their first series of recordings. When I finished up, I swung back down to Muscle Shoals to take a look at Fame Studios, a legendary studio. ![]() I miss Tommy and Charles every day… A Look Inside Music History ![]() Norbert Putnam was the original bass player at FAME with Jerry Carrigan, David Briggs, and etc who left to go to Nashville and become Chet Atkins and RCA’s 1st call rhythm section for many years. David Hood was a Muscle Shoals institution, and one of the bass players who made Muscle Shoals what it became. While working with Tommy York, I was able to meet and cut three sessions with probably the greatest of the Muscle Shoals Bass players, the fabulous Charles Robinson. This original version of the studio will soon be open for sessions again though, although chances are that much sought-after swampy sound won’t be found without the players that made it happen.Fame Studios, Muscle Shoals Sound: Three years ago I was playing a series of shows thru Alabama, Nashville, and Mississippi and I had an opportunity to swing through Muscle Shoals, Alabama, do some recording at Tommy York Studios and then head up to Berkeley Bob’s in Culman, AL with The Spook House Saints to get a bit of E Pluribus Spookum… It was sold to Malaco Records in the mid 80s and remained in operation for another 20 years. Muscle Shoals Sound Studios was actually moved to a different larger location in town in 1978. ![]() Consisting basically of keyboardist Barry Becket, drummer Roger Hawkins, bassist David Hood, and guitarist Jimmy Johnson, the Rhythm Section backed up musical luminaries like Rod Stewart, Boz Scaggs, Joe Cocker, Glenn Frey, Bob Seger, Percy Sledge, the Staples Singers, Aretha Franklin, Alice in Chains, Joe Tex, Bobby Blue Bland, Eddie Floyd, Clarence Carter, Little Milton, Sawyer Brown, Tony Joe White, the Oak Ridge Boys and many more. The interesting thing about this is that the famous artists that worked there did so mostly because of the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, the studio band that owned the facility. Dre and the people at Beats Electronics probably would not have known that the studio in Sheffield was just sitting there waiting to be revived,” he said. “Without Steven Badger’s documentary, the ( Alabama) Music Hall of Fame would probably still be closed, and Dr. State tourism director Lee Sentell thinks that the documentary “Muscle Shoals” played a direct influence on the decision by Beats Electronics to restore the studio. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |