![\"rick-hall-Issue-No42\"](\"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/rick-hall-Issue-No42.jpg\")
<\/h1>\n<\/h1>\nBy Michael Gallant<\/b><\/p>\n
Muscle Shoals was ground zero in the \u201960 and \u201970s for a wide range of artists\u2014Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett, Etta James and many more\u2014who recorded some of their biggest hits in this tiny town in northeastern Alabama. The potent, soulful vibe that emerged had such an impact that it became known as the Muscle Shoals sound.<\/p>\n
And the man at the center of it all was Rick Hall. The producer-engineer persevered through a hardscrabble life of poverty and tragedy\u2014his mother left the family when he was young, and he later lost his wife and father\u2014to set up a music publishing company in Florence, Ala., in 1959. Its name: Florence Alabama Music Enterprises, or FAME. The following year, Hall opened a studio in nearby Muscle Shoals, where he achieved early success recording Arthur Alexander\u2019s \u201cYou Better Move On.\u201d It was an auspicious start.<\/p>\n
Soon R&B artists were flocking to Muscle Shoals, as Hall pulled together an ace team of backing musicians and his reputation as a hit-maker grew. Wilson Pickett\u2019s \u201cMustang Sally,\u201d Aretha Franklin\u2019s \u201cI Never Loved a Man (The Way I Loved You),\u201d and Clarence Carter\u2019s \u201cSlip Away\u201d were just a few of the hits recorded at FAME.<\/p>\n
Hall\u2019s achievements in sharing African-American music with the world were even more remarkable considering racial tensions\u2014especially in the South\u2014were at a peak. \u201cWe were hell-bent on cutting hit records on black people because we loved black music and we loved black people,\u201d says Hall, 80.<\/p>\n
In the \u201970s, Hall focused on pop, producing hits for the Osmonds, Paul Anka, Tom Jones and others. Later he turned his attention to country and worked with Mac Davis, Bobbie Gentry, Jerry Reed and the Gatlin Brothers. Meanwhile, Hall\u2019s publishing company generated smash hits for country stars in the \u201980 and \u201990s. More recently indie artists including Drive-By Truckers, Jason Isbell and Band of Horses have recorded at FAME Recording Studios. Hall chronicles his amazing life in his new book, The Man From Muscle Shoals: My Journey From Shame to Fame<\/i>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
RICK HALL The creator of the Muscle Shoals sound reveals the secrets to his success By Michael Gallant Muscle Shoals was ground zero in the \u201960 and \u201970s for a wide range of artists\u2014Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett, Etta James and many more\u2014who recorded some of their biggest hits in this tiny town in northeastern Alabama. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3844],"tags":[7696,7697],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15150"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15150"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15150\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15470,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15150\/revisions\/15470"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}