June 2, 2006

The Muscle Shoals Sound has played a prominent role in popular music the world over as Alabama-born session musicians backed stars, such as Cher, James Brown, Bob Dylan, Etta James, Willie Nelson, Rod Stewart and the Rolling Stones. On June 2, 2006, the building where so much happened in the past half-century was added to the National Register of Historic Places. In March 1969, Barry Beckett (keyboards), Roger Hawkins (drums), David Hood (bass) and Jimmy Johnson (guitar) left FAME Studios in Florence to open their own studio in Sheffield. They bought the building and an 8-track recording machine and joined forces with Atlantic Records vice president Jerry Wexler. The Muscle Shoals Sound Rhythm Section soon made its way into major recordings, such as Paul Simon’s “There Goes Rhymin’ Simon” and the Staple Singers’ “Respect Yourself.” The studio was recently refurbished and has been the source of recordings like The Black Keys’ “Brothers” album, which won a Grammy.

Read more at Encyclopedia of Alabama.

The Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section (MSRS) and Randy McCormick, second from right. McCormick was a songwriter at Muscle Shoals Sound and played with MSRS on Bob Seger’s “Old Time Rock and Roll.” (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, property of the Alabama Music Hall of Fame)

A 1974 session at Muscle Shoals Sound Studios in Sheffield, Alabama, during which Donnie Fritts recorded “Prone to Lean” for Atlantic Records. From left, front row: John Prine, Donnie Fritts, Jerry Wexler, Jerry Masters, Steve Melton, Tom Roadie, Mike O’Rear; from left, standing: David Hood, Jimmy Johnson, unidentified, Eddie Hinton, Tony Joe White, Mike Utley, Kris Kristofferson, Roger Hawkins, Barry Beckett, Sammy Creason, Pete Carr, Dan Penn, Billy Sharp, Laura Struzick, Carol Little, and Diane Butler. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, photograph by Dick Cooper)

The Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section (MSRS) at their 1995 induction into the Alabama Music Hall of Fame, from left, Jimmy Johnson, Roger Hawkins, Barry Beckett and David Hood. MSRS, also known as “The Swampers,” was a popular recording-studio “house band” in the the 1960s and ’70s. They recorded with such music legends as Aretha Franklin, Willie Nelson and Paul Simon. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, courtesy of Jimmy Johnson. Photograph by Dick Cooper)

The new Muscle Shoals Sound Studio, Muscle Shoals, 2010. (The George F. Landegger Collection of Alabama Photographs in Carol M. Highsmith’s America, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division)

For more on Alabama’s Bicentennial, visit Alabama 200.