Muscle Shoals, Alabama "Muscle Shoals"
Muscle Shoals .
Muscle Shoals, Alabama Muscle Shoals is the biggest city in Colbert County, Alabama, United States.
As of the 2010 census, the populace of Muscle Shoals was 13,146. The estimated populace in 2015 was 13,706. Both the town/city and the Florence-Muscle Shoals Metropolitan Area (including four metros/cities in Colbert and Lauderdale counties) are generally called "the Shoals". Northwest Alabama Regional Airport serves the Shoals region, positioned in the northwest section of the state.
Due to its strategic locale along the Tennessee River, Muscle Shoals played a major part in historic territory disputes between Native Americans and Anglo-American pioneer in the late 1700s and early 1800s.
Since the 1960s, the town/city has been known for music developing the "Muscle Shoals Sound", as small-town recording studios (including FAME Studios in the late 1950s and Muscle Shoals Sound Studio in 1969) produced hit records that shaped the history of prominent music. One is that the town/city gets its name from a former natural feature of the Tennessee River, namely a shallow zone where mussels were gathered. When the region was first settled, the distinct spelling "mussel" to refer to a shellfish had not yet been fully adopted. Another is that the name comes from the bend of the Tennessee River around the area, the shape of which looks like someone flexing an arm muscle.
The town/city is one of four municipalities known as the Quad Cities, the the rest being Florence, Sheffield and Tuscumbia, all in Alabama.
Muscle Shoals was a part of the Cherokee hunting grounds dating to at least the early eighteenth century, if not earlier.
They claimed Muscle Shoals as part of their domain, and when Anglo-Americans attempted to settle the region in the 1780s and 1790s, the Chickamaugas bitterly resisted them. Upper Creeks, residing in what is now north and central Alabama, also resented any European or Euro-American existence in the region.
President George Washington sent an expedition under Major John Doughty in an attempt to establish a fort and trading post at Muscle Shoals.
The site was especially desirable, as it controlled access to fine cotton-producing territory immediately to its south. In 1797, John Sevier, the first governor of Tennessee, complained to Andrew Jackson that "The prevention of a settlement at or near the Muscle Shoals is a manifest injury done the whole country." Crawford refused to recognize the cession, and reconfirmed Cherokee ownership, dominant to personal enmity between him and Jackson, and causing a political struggle over the lands which Jackson and his backers eventually won. When Jackson, as President, implemented the policy of Indian Removal, Muscle Shoals was used as a site from which to ship Upper Creeks out to Oklahoma (then Indian Territory). During World War I President Wilson authorized a dam just downstream of Muscle Shoals to help power nitrate plants for munitions. The first plant started producing nitrates two weeks after the armistice, but the dam was not instead of until 1924.
Muscle Shoals is known for recording many hit music from the 1960s to today at two studios: FAME Studios, established by Rick Hall, where Arthur Alexander, Percy Sledge, Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett, Otis Redding and various the rest recorded; and Muscle Shoals Sound Studio, established by the musicians known as The Swampers, which advanced work for Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, the Rolling Stones and others.
While the music from the region is often referred to as the "Muscle Shoals Sound", all four of the Quad Cities have decidedly contributed to the area's musical history.
In addition to being home to nation music band Shenandoah, a number of artists have visited Muscle Shoals to write and record.
Both FAME Studios and Muscle Shoals Sound Studio are still in operation in the city.
While famous for classic recordings from Rod Stewart, Aretha Franklin, Eric Clapton, Lynyrd Skynyrd, the Rolling Stones, and The Allman Brothers, recent hit music such as "Before He Cheats" by Carrie Underwood and "I Loved Her First" by Heartland continue the city's musical legacy.
George Michael recorded an early, unreleased version of "Careless Whisper" with Jerry Wexler in Muscle Shoals in 1983.
Fans of Muscle Shoals music visit the small-town landmarks.
While most of the city's recording studios are still active, the majority will allow tours with an appointment. Further, a number of rock, R&B and nation music celebrities have homes in the region surrounding Muscle Shoals (Tuscumbia), or riverside estates along the Tennessee River, and often perform in region eveningclubs, typically rehearsing new material.
Unusual was the cross-pollination of musical styles that originated in Muscle Shoals.
Black artists from the region such as Arthur Alexander and James Carr used white nation music styles in their work, and white artists from the Shoals incessantly borrowed from the blues/gospel influences of their black contemporaries, creating a distinct sound.
Sam Phillips, founder of Sun Records, lived in the region and stated in his autobiography that Muscle Shoals (primarily airways broadcast WLAY (AM), which had both "white" and "black" music on its playlist) influenced his merging of these sounds at Sun Records with Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis and Johnny Cash.
Rolling Stone editor David Fricke wrote that if one wanted to play a single recording that would "epitomize and encapsulate the famed Muscle Shoals Sound", that record would be "I'll Take You There" by The Staple Singers in 1972. After hearing that very song, American songwriter Paul Simon phoned his manager and asked him to arrange a recording session with the musicians who had performed it.
Simon was surprised to be told that he would have to travel to Muscle Shoals to work with the artists.
After arriving in the small town, he was introduced to the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section ("The Swampers") who had recorded this song with Mavis Staples.
When Bob Dylan told his record label that he intended to record Christian music, the initially dismayed label executives insisted that if he prepared to pursue the project, he must, at least, record the work in Muscle Shoals, as they felt it would furnish the work "some much-needed credibility".
(Dylan was not previously known for his overtly theological pronouncements, and some were worried that his accomplishments would be taken as satirical; recording in the Bible Belt, it was thought, might avert a disaster.) Dylan later recorded two Christian albums in The Shoals.
The resulting albums, Slow Train Coming (1979) and Saved (1980), were recorded at Muscle Shoals Sound Studios.
The members of the Muscle Shoals Sound Rhythm Section were Pete Carr (lead guitar), Jimmy Johnson (guitar), Roger Hawkins (drums), David Hood (bass guitar) and Barry Beckett (keyboards).
The top two finishing finalists on the 2007 season of country-music singing competition Nashville Star, siblings Zac Hacker (second place) and Angela Hacker (winner), are from Muscle Shoals.
In 2008, State Line Mob, a Southern modern duo group formed by singer and songwriters Phillip Crunk (Florence native) and Dana Crunk (Rogersville native), released their first CD, Ruckus, and won two Muscle Shoals Music Awards for 2008 for (Best New Artist) and Best New Country Album) of the year. Band of Horses recorded a portion of their massive hit album "Infinite Arms" at Muscle Shoals. Artists which are signed to the label in 2017 are: Holli Mosley, Dylan Le - Blanc, Jason Isbell, Angela Hacker, Gary Nichols, and James Le - Blanc. Although Muscle Shoals has receded somewhat from its 1960s and 1970s status as "Hit Recording Capital of the World" (as a sign near the airport once read), there is a group of young, small-town musicians that are making waves again in the musical world.
The initial Muscle Shoals Sound Studios were positioned at 3614 Jackson Highway in Sheffield but that site was closed when the company rel ocated to 1000 Alabama Avenue in Sheffield.
Muscle Shoals is also where The Black Keys filmed their music video for Lonely Boy.
FAME Recording Studios in Muscle Shoals (photograph by Carol M.
Handy Music Festival is held in the Florence/Sheffield/Muscle Shoals area, featuring blues, jazz, country, gospel, modern music and R&B.
On January 6, 2010, Muscle Shoals was added to the Mississippi Blues Trail. The initial locale of Muscle Shoals Sound Studios in Sheffield has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since June 2006. From the early 2000s to 2013, it had been partly restored and open for tours.
In 2013, the documentary Muscle Shoals (film) raised enhance interest in a primary restoration of the initial studio. In the same year, the Muscle Shoals Music Foundation was formed to raise funds to purchase the building and to complete primary renovations.
In June 2013, Noel Webster who was then the owner of 3614 Jackson Highway (since 1999), sold the property, without the historic recording equipment, to the Muscle Shoals Music Foundation.
State tourism director Lee Sentell told the media in August 2015 that the 2013 Muscle Shoals (film) had momentous influence. "The financial support from Beats is a direct result of their film." "The foundation was able to purchase the building through the generosity of private investors like Gene Hamby, who understand the importance of preserving the impact of Muscle Shoals music." Muscle Shoals Sound Studio reopened as a rather than tourist attraction on January 9, 2017.
Even before the Jackson Highway studio reopened, The Alabama Tourism Department titled Muscle Shoals Sound Studio as the state's top attraction in 2017. Muscle Shoals has got the Swampers.
Affectionately called The Swampers, The Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section was a small-town group of first-call studio musicians (initially working at FAME and then at Muscle Shoals Sound Studios) who were available for back-up.
When Lynyrd Skynyrd recorded at Muscle Shoals Sound Studios once early in their career, they saw the various gold and platinum records on the walls bearing the words "To The Swampers", and later encompassed it in the song as a tribute. Muscle Shoals is positioned on the south bank of the Tennessee River at 34 45 03 N 87 39 01 W. In the city, the populace was spread out with 23.6% under the age of 18, 8.1% from 18 to 24, 24.9% from 25 to 44, 27.3% from 45 to 64, and 16.0% who were 65 years of age or older.
In the city, the populace was spread out with 24.8% under the age of 18, 8.6% from 18 to 24, 29.6% from 25 to 44, 23.9% from 45 to 64, and 13.1% who were 65 years of age or older.
Muscle Shoals High School Muscle Shoals Center for Technology Muscle Shoals Middle Schoo - Official web site of the City of Muscle Shoals.
"Geographic Identifiers: 2010 Demographic Profile Data (G001): Muscle Shoals city, Alabama".
"The legendary Muscle Shoals sound".
"Mississippi to Alabama - Muscle Shoals".
"Muscle Shoals Sound Studio - Also known as: 3614 Jackson Highway".
"The Rolling Stones and Bono Celebrate 'Muscle Shoals' - Premiere; Rolling Stone Music".
"Alabama's top tourist attraction 2017: Muscle Shoals Sound Studio".
"Beats to renovate iconic Muscle Shoals Sound Studios".
"Muscle Shoals".
Muscle Shoals the Movie.
"Beats to renovate iconic Muscle Shoals Sound Studios".
"Alabama's top tourist attraction 2017: Muscle Shoals Sound Studio".
"Recording, tours resume at Muscle Shoals Sound Studio".
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"Alabama Music Hall of Fame :: Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section".
1759 Muscle Shoals, Colbert County.
Article about Muscle Shoals written by Ernest Hemingway City of Muscle Shoals official website Muscle Shoals City Schools Shoals Music Magazine, printed announcement dedicated to covering the Muscle Shoals Sound Radio stations serving the Florence Muscle Shoals, Alabama region Cities in Alabama - Cities in Colbert County, Alabama - Florence Muscle Shoals urbane region - Populated places established in 1918 - Muscle Shoals National Heritage Area - Populated places on the Tennessee River
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