Back in the late 1960s, a record producer by the name of Rick Hall started his own recording studio in out-of-the-way Muscle Shoals, Alabama. Hall gathered together some incredible musicians and started turning out hit records. Eventually, Big Name singers and groups–like Aretha Franklin and the Rolling Stones–came to Muscles Shoals to record their classic records. If you’re a fan of Percy Sledge (“When I Man Loves a Woman”) or Clarence Carter (“Slip Away” and “Patches”) or Etta James (“Tell Mama”) you’ll hear the stories of their songs from their own lips. I loved every minute of Muscle Shoals. A great music documentary! GRADE: A
CAST:
Gregg Allman
Bono
Clarence Carter
Jimmy Cliff
Aretha Franklin
Donna Jean Godchaux
Rick Hall
Roger Hawkins
David Hood
Mick Jagger
Etta James
Jai Johanny Johanson
Jimmy Johnson
Alicia Keys
Ed King
Spooner Oldham
Dan Penn
Keith Richards
Percy Sledge
Candi Staton
John Paul White
Steve Winwood
Sounds good. A lot of great music came out of there.
Jeff, I really didn’t know the story behind MUSCLE SHOALS. This documentary presents a lot of classic music!
A nice list of top musicians!
Reminds me of one of my holidays in the USA:
After my first wife died I tried to GAFIA (Get away from it all) and when I read that Steve Winwood (my favourite musician since the 1960s) did a tour through Texas and I found a cheap flight to Houston I went on a tour through Texas to follow him from one concert to the next …
Visited the Space Center, the coast (Galveston, oh Galveston …),Austin (City of music and the bats), the Hill country (aka German corner) and Ft Worth …
And also came to Lufkin where I was really astonished to find a pine Forest – but no bar, because this was a dry city …
Music was my first love …
PS:
Almost saw Steve on our last holiday in Nashville – though he’s English, he lives there a part of the year.
Wolf, I’m a big Steve Winwood fan. I have all his CDs. Winwood and Eric Clapton toured the U.S. together a couple years ago.
We saw Steve Winwood open for Santana at Jones Beach in 2010. He was really good, though it was a weird mix with Santana’s audience. I’ve always been a big fan of his Traffic stuff too, and of course The Spencer Davis Group.
Jeff, I love Steve Winwood’s ARC OF THE DIVER where Winwood played all the instruments on the CD!
Some of the stuff recorded at Muscle Shoals:
Wild Horses (Rolling Stones), I’ll Take You There (Staple Singers), Kodachrome (Paul Simon), Night Moves and Old Time Rock & Roll (both Bob Seger).
Jeff, Wilson Pickett and Aretha Franklin recorded several of their hits at Muscle Shoals, too. They had an amazing run of great records.
I have almost watched this one many times. Now I will.
Patti, you’ll love the music and the artists in this documentary. It’s a compelling story.
Sounds like a great viewing opportunity. I’m with all those who love Winwood. IIRC, I got a CD of Spencer Davis Group at my first (hopefully not last) visit to the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame. I’m also a fan of the Allman Brothers.
I’m having to go thru my vinyl and sadly get rid of many records. Just not enough room.
Maggie, Art Scott is getting rid of some of his vinyl records, too. We all seem to be in the “de-clutter” mode.
At first I got rid of the albums but kept over 500 45s, but eventually succumbed to reality – I had no way to play them – and got rid of them too.
Sad.
Jeff, we might have about a dozen vinyl albums around here someplace. We sold the bulk of our record collection in the 1980s (at a buck an album!) when we were converting to CDs.
I saw this, as a three-part showing on PBS about 2 or 4 years ago, during a pledge drive. The story of the studio itself and the founding of it are fascinating.
Rick, I was astonished at the story of this recording studio. So many unlikely events!
That was supposed to be 2 or 3 years ago…
When i saw the title, I thought it was about weight lifters who went deep sea diving 🙂 Sounds great, thanks George
Sergio, if you love music, you’ll love this MUSCLE SHOALS documentary. So much great music was made there!
It’s on Netflix. We’re watching it now.
Jeff, you’re going to enjoy MUSCLE SHOALS! Glad it’s available on Netflix.
I had no idea the musicians were all local white guys. Fascinating.
Jeff, I was as surprised as you were that the musicians were local guys. And I’m still processing all the tragedy in Rick Hall’s life.