Muscle Shoals: The Greatest Recording Studio in the World

0:00:02 > 0:00:05This programme contains some strong language.

0:00:36 > 0:00:40Magic is the word that comes to mind for me

0:00:40 > 0:00:43when I think of Muscle Shoals.

0:00:43 > 0:00:46It's about alchemy, it's about turning metal,

0:00:46 > 0:00:50the iron in the ground, the rust into gold.

0:00:50 > 0:00:56You just have to listen and you WILL be transported, you WILL be changed,

0:00:56 > 0:00:59you're going to hear some of the greatest voices that ever were.

0:01:00 > 0:01:02# One, two, three

0:01:04 > 0:01:05# One, two, three

0:01:12 > 0:01:13# All right

0:01:15 > 0:01:18# Gotta know how to pony

0:01:18 > 0:01:20# My bony moronie

0:01:20 > 0:01:23# Mash potato

0:01:23 > 0:01:26# Do the alligator

0:01:26 > 0:01:28# Put your hand on your hips, yeah

0:01:28 > 0:01:31# Let your backbone slip

0:01:31 > 0:01:34# Do the Watusi

0:01:34 > 0:01:37# Like my little Lucy

0:01:37 > 0:01:38# Ow!

0:01:38 > 0:01:39# Uh!

0:01:39 > 0:01:41# You know I feel all right

0:01:41 > 0:01:44# Huh! Feel pretty good, y'all

0:01:44 > 0:01:45# Uh!

0:01:45 > 0:01:49# Na na-na-na-na na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na

0:01:49 > 0:01:50# Na-na-na-na

0:01:50 > 0:01:51# Na na-na

0:01:51 > 0:01:54# C'mon, y'all Let's say it one more time

0:01:54 > 0:01:59# Na na-na-na-na na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na

0:01:59 > 0:02:02# Na na-na-na

0:02:02 > 0:02:04# Playing, it is a habit

0:02:04 > 0:02:07# With Long Tall Sally

0:02:07 > 0:02:10# Twistin' with Lucy

0:02:10 > 0:02:13# Doin' the Watusi

0:02:13 > 0:02:15# Roll over on your back

0:02:15 > 0:02:17# I like it like that... #

0:02:23 > 0:02:26We started to hear this sound coming out.

0:02:26 > 0:02:32There was an amazing feel, kind of, uh, magnetic, I suppose,

0:02:32 > 0:02:34in a way, sound-wise.

0:02:34 > 0:02:36And then, after a while,

0:02:36 > 0:02:40this word Muscle Shoals comes into the picture and you put

0:02:40 > 0:02:43two and two together and that was when I said,

0:02:43 > 0:02:47"If we get the chance, we've got to go down there," you know.

0:02:52 > 0:02:56People now still ask me, "What is it about Muscle Shoals?"

0:02:58 > 0:03:01It's just a little village on the Alabama border.

0:03:01 > 0:03:06Why does that music come out of there? It's an enigma.

0:03:08 > 0:03:13How did so much music take place

0:03:13 > 0:03:16in such an undescript little town?

0:03:18 > 0:03:20There was just something about that place,

0:03:20 > 0:03:24something that, still to this day, nobody can explain.

0:03:26 > 0:03:30At different points in time on this planet,

0:03:30 > 0:03:35there are certain places

0:03:35 > 0:03:38where there is a field of energy.

0:03:39 > 0:03:44At this certain point in time for this number of years,

0:03:44 > 0:03:46there was Muscle Shoals.

0:03:49 > 0:03:50It's a unique thing.

0:03:50 > 0:03:56Rooms and record making like that doesn't happen very often.

0:03:56 > 0:04:02There's usually somebody like Rick Hall, who's like a total maniac,

0:04:02 > 0:04:06you know, with the drive and the foresight to do it, you know.

0:04:07 > 0:04:09He's a tough guy, you know.

0:04:27 > 0:04:33This area here is where my roots are and it's helped me

0:04:33 > 0:04:35develop into whatever I am today.

0:04:36 > 0:04:43My father was a saw miller and we lived a way out in the Freedom Hills.

0:04:43 > 0:04:46No houses, no neighbours. No kids to play with.

0:04:48 > 0:04:51The floor in our house was dirt.

0:04:51 > 0:04:54The heater was made out of an oil drum.

0:04:54 > 0:04:57We slept on straw beds made out of straw

0:04:57 > 0:04:59that we pulled up in the fields.

0:05:02 > 0:05:06We had no bathing facilities, no toilets, nothing.

0:05:09 > 0:05:12And we just kind of grew up like animals.

0:05:19 > 0:05:24That made me a little bitter, somewhat driven.

0:05:26 > 0:05:32I wanted to be special and I wanted to be somebody.

0:05:45 > 0:05:48# Can you slip away

0:05:48 > 0:05:50# Slip away

0:05:50 > 0:05:53# Slip away, yeah

0:05:53 > 0:05:56# Oh, I need you so... #

0:05:59 > 0:06:03The first record I cut in this studio was a record called

0:06:03 > 0:06:05Steal Away by Jimmy Hughes.

0:06:05 > 0:06:09Brand-new building and I was hoping it had the magic.

0:06:09 > 0:06:10I didn't know.

0:06:10 > 0:06:14'So I brought my band in and I went up in the control room and sat down.'

0:06:14 > 0:06:16OK? All set?

0:06:16 > 0:06:18'I turned on the microphones

0:06:18 > 0:06:21'and nervously hit the talkback button to the musicians

0:06:21 > 0:06:24'and said with a slight crackle in my voice, "Rollin'".'

0:06:25 > 0:06:29One, two - one, two, three, four.

0:06:29 > 0:06:33BAND STARTS

0:06:33 > 0:06:38When they kicked off Steal Away, I sat behind the console and wept.

0:06:40 > 0:06:44I just had huge chill bumps come up on my arms

0:06:44 > 0:06:47and the hair on the back of my neck actually stood up.

0:06:48 > 0:06:54And of course, this was the birth of the Muscle Shoals sound.

0:06:54 > 0:06:58# I've got to see you

0:07:00 > 0:07:02# Somehow

0:07:04 > 0:07:08# Not tomorrow

0:07:08 > 0:07:11# Right now

0:07:11 > 0:07:16# I know it's late

0:07:16 > 0:07:18# I can't wait

0:07:18 > 0:07:22# So come on and steal away... #

0:07:22 > 0:07:25I have heard entertainers and producers say to me that

0:07:25 > 0:07:29we've got some kind of sound here that they can't get anywhere else.

0:07:29 > 0:07:31They have to come here.

0:07:31 > 0:07:35It's that old, deep-down into your stomach,

0:07:35 > 0:07:39coming up out of your gut, coming up out of your heart.

0:07:39 > 0:07:41That's that Muscle Shoals sound.

0:07:41 > 0:07:44# I won't tell

0:07:45 > 0:07:49# Anybody else

0:07:49 > 0:07:54# I'll keep it

0:07:54 > 0:07:58# To myself

0:07:58 > 0:08:01# I know it's late

0:08:01 > 0:08:05# Oh, I can't wait

0:08:05 > 0:08:08# Come on, and steal away. #

0:08:08 > 0:08:14That sound made it through to even Ireland and Britain

0:08:14 > 0:08:17and we felt the blood in that.

0:08:17 > 0:08:24We felt the sort of pulse of it, and we wanted some, you know.

0:08:29 > 0:08:32You've got to understand that Muscle Shoals had its own

0:08:32 > 0:08:36kind of R&B, different from Memphis, different from Detroit,

0:08:36 > 0:08:39different from New York, different from LA.

0:08:39 > 0:08:42How did it happen in this little town of 8,000 people?

0:08:42 > 0:08:44This starts this whole style of music.

0:08:48 > 0:08:51It always seems to come out of the river.

0:08:51 > 0:08:55You know, even in Liverpool, you know, the Mersey Sound.

0:08:55 > 0:09:02And then of course, Mississippi and here you have the Tennessee river.

0:09:02 > 0:09:05It's like the sound's come out of the mud.

0:09:30 > 0:09:31We're at a place called Ishatae.

0:09:33 > 0:09:35It means it's a special place, a holy place.

0:09:35 > 0:09:36It's a place of music.

0:09:38 > 0:09:43And it's a place of people. I've been working on it for 32 years.

0:09:43 > 0:09:47There's over eight million pounds of stones here.

0:09:49 > 0:09:52It's a memorial to my great-great-grandmother.

0:09:52 > 0:09:56She was an American Indian and her people were Yuchi.

0:09:56 > 0:09:58My grandmother's people call this river

0:09:58 > 0:10:00we call the Tennessee today,

0:10:00 > 0:10:03they called it Nu Na Se, the river that sings.

0:10:03 > 0:10:06They believe a young woman lived in the river sang songs to them

0:10:06 > 0:10:07and protected them.

0:10:13 > 0:10:16In the year 1839, my great-great-grandmother

0:10:16 > 0:10:19was removed from right here in Muscle Shoals.

0:10:19 > 0:10:21She was taken to the Indian nations,

0:10:21 > 0:10:23what is now present-day Muskogee, Oklahoma.

0:10:24 > 0:10:26When grandmother got out there to Oklahoma,

0:10:26 > 0:10:28she said there were no songs.

0:10:28 > 0:10:31She went and listened to all the streams she could find

0:10:31 > 0:10:33and there were no songs.

0:10:33 > 0:10:36They couldn't sing, they couldn't dance,

0:10:36 > 0:10:39they couldn't hold their ceremonies.

0:10:39 > 0:10:42And they got to be very sad people.

0:10:42 > 0:10:45So she started to come back home.

0:10:45 > 0:10:47She walked all the way back.

0:10:48 > 0:10:50It took her roughly five years.

0:10:55 > 0:10:59She had to come back to this river, the river that sings.

0:11:00 > 0:11:04The great dams have softened the woman in the river's songs.

0:11:04 > 0:11:06But if you go to very quiet places and listen,

0:11:06 > 0:11:08you can still hear her songs.

0:11:08 > 0:11:10I know, I hear her songs nearly every day.

0:11:16 > 0:11:20When I was a young man starting out in the music business,

0:11:20 > 0:11:24Billy Sherrill and I, who were writing partners, got a phone call

0:11:24 > 0:11:28from a guy that wanted to start a publishing company with us

0:11:28 > 0:11:36and had the sum of 500 to spend on us, which we thought was a gold mine.

0:11:36 > 0:11:38So Tom Stafford was a dream come true.

0:11:40 > 0:11:42We went in business

0:11:42 > 0:11:46and we had a little bitty studio over Tom's father's drugstore.

0:11:49 > 0:11:52We got a few cuts, made a few bucks,

0:11:52 > 0:11:54and one day I was called into a meeting with Billy and Tom

0:11:54 > 0:11:56and they advised me that they were not happy

0:11:56 > 0:11:59with the way things were going

0:11:59 > 0:12:01and thought that I was a little too much of a workaholic.

0:12:03 > 0:12:05And said that they wanted to have fun

0:12:05 > 0:12:07while they were having hit records

0:12:07 > 0:12:12and that I was just too adamant, and too strong-willed,

0:12:12 > 0:12:13and too pushy,

0:12:13 > 0:12:17so they decided to let me go.

0:12:18 > 0:12:25So I obviously went home, began to lick my wounds and was very bitter.

0:12:31 > 0:12:34During this time, I worked at a place called Reynolds Metals Company

0:12:34 > 0:12:41in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, and I met my first wife, Faye Marie, there.

0:12:41 > 0:12:43She and I had been married about 18 months

0:12:43 > 0:12:48and we went to Hamilton to see Benny Martin in concert.

0:12:49 > 0:12:54It was about sundown and I met a car who was travelling very fast.

0:12:54 > 0:12:57I swerved to go around that car and hit some loose gravels

0:12:57 > 0:13:02on the side of the road and went into a spin, a tailspin.

0:13:02 > 0:13:05The car turned round over end, a couple or three times

0:13:05 > 0:13:08and landed on its top and didn't know if she was out or in,

0:13:08 > 0:13:12but couldn't find her in the car. It was total darkness.

0:13:12 > 0:13:16I began to yell for her and couldn't hear any noise except I could

0:13:16 > 0:13:21hear gasoline running out of the gas tank into the car somewhere.

0:13:21 > 0:13:24And I thought, of course, it's going to be my death,

0:13:24 > 0:13:27because the car's going to catch fire and I can't get out.

0:13:30 > 0:13:34I got out of the car and searched around and kudzu vines up to here.

0:13:37 > 0:13:41Finally, some people stopped with a flashlight and we found her.

0:13:41 > 0:13:43I nursed her on the way to Hamilton hospital.

0:13:43 > 0:13:46About two o'clock in the morning, the doctor came to me

0:13:46 > 0:13:48and said to me, "Your wife has passed on."

0:13:51 > 0:13:54And, of course, I freaked out.

0:13:55 > 0:13:59I became a drunk, a vagabond, a tramp.

0:14:05 > 0:14:07That changed my whole life.

0:14:14 > 0:14:18It was hard times and all I had to cling to was my music.

0:14:18 > 0:14:22I slept in my car, I ate in my car

0:14:22 > 0:14:25and I wrote songs in my car.

0:14:25 > 0:14:28But I continued playing music and it was the only love I had

0:14:28 > 0:14:31that time and so,

0:14:31 > 0:14:37I joined a little local band in Hamilton.

0:14:37 > 0:14:42From that time on, for five years, I wrote songs,

0:14:42 > 0:14:45uh, played music,

0:14:45 > 0:14:48and...and chased the women.

0:14:48 > 0:14:55# Somebody loan me a dime

0:14:55 > 0:15:00# I need to call my old time used to be... #

0:15:02 > 0:15:07All this gravitated towards, "What am I going to do the rest of my life?"

0:15:07 > 0:15:10And I decided to come back to Muscle Shoals,

0:15:10 > 0:15:13but this time I came back with a vengeance.

0:15:13 > 0:15:16I came back with a determination that I was going to kick some ass

0:15:16 > 0:15:18and take some names.

0:15:18 > 0:15:21And I was going to make it in the music business.

0:15:24 > 0:15:28And so, I set up shop in a little candy and tobacco warehouse.

0:15:29 > 0:15:31I closed the doors, I hid my car.

0:15:31 > 0:15:33I didn't talk to girls, I didn't make dates,

0:15:33 > 0:15:37I didn't do anything except write songs.

0:15:37 > 0:15:41I was totally obsessed with the business and so, shortly after that,

0:15:41 > 0:15:44I ran into Arthur Alexander, who was a local bellhop at

0:15:44 > 0:15:49the Sheffield hotel and he played me a song and said, "What do you think?"

0:15:49 > 0:15:52And I said, "I think it's a hit."

0:15:52 > 0:15:55So he said, "What are we going to do about it?"

0:15:55 > 0:15:57And I said, "We're going to cut it,"

0:15:57 > 0:15:59and he said, "When?" and I said, "Tomorrow."

0:15:59 > 0:16:04I brought my band in, Norbert Putnam, David Briggs, Jerry Carrigan,

0:16:04 > 0:16:08Peanut Montgomery, and Terry Thompson were the first rhythm section

0:16:08 > 0:16:10to be in the studio and to cut a hit record.

0:16:10 > 0:16:13You've got to realise, Rick Hall is this older man.

0:16:13 > 0:16:17- We're all 18, 19 years old and Rick's, what, 28, 29?- 29.

0:16:17 > 0:16:20He had the vision for the recording.

0:16:20 > 0:16:25Rick made records with a group of teenage kids -

0:16:25 > 0:16:28OK, that became hit records, world-class records.

0:16:28 > 0:16:35# You asked me to give up the hand of the girl I loved

0:16:37 > 0:16:43# You tell me I'm not the man she's worthy of... #

0:16:43 > 0:16:46The very first record, You Better Move on by Arthur Alexander,

0:16:46 > 0:16:48that I produced, or had anything to do with, was a hit.

0:16:48 > 0:16:50Not the second or third,

0:16:50 > 0:16:52but the first session we cut was a hit record.

0:16:52 > 0:16:56I know Rick was determined to cut that hit and he did it.

0:16:56 > 0:17:00But if he hadn't, I'm of the opinion that none of this Muscle Shoals

0:17:00 > 0:17:02movement would have ever happened.

0:17:02 > 0:17:05# That's up to her

0:17:05 > 0:17:09# Yes, and the Lord above

0:17:09 > 0:17:13# You better move on. #

0:17:13 > 0:17:17The rest of the world started looking at Muscle Shoals.

0:17:17 > 0:17:20Thank you very much. We're going to do our slow one now.

0:17:20 > 0:17:22It's called You Better Move On.

0:17:22 > 0:17:24It was the only thing we did like that

0:17:24 > 0:17:27and the girls really adored this song.

0:17:27 > 0:17:31It was a big hit for us in England. It was like a number one record.

0:17:31 > 0:17:36# You asked me to give up the hand of the girl I love... #

0:17:36 > 0:17:38I think the Beatles beat us

0:17:38 > 0:17:42to Arthur Alexander by a couple of weeks, you know.

0:17:42 > 0:17:46They cut Anna and I think we cut Better Move On maybe a month later.

0:17:46 > 0:17:50It was...our love of Arthur Alexander.

0:17:50 > 0:17:57# You asked me to give up the only local I've ever had... #

0:17:57 > 0:18:01At that time, we had no idea where this was recorded.

0:18:01 > 0:18:04It's interesting to know that one of the first things that we cut

0:18:04 > 0:18:07was a Muscle Shoals production, you know.

0:18:09 > 0:18:10# You better move on. #

0:18:13 > 0:18:15This original Muscle Shoals rhythm section

0:18:15 > 0:18:20opened for the Beatles in 1964, their first American concert.

0:18:20 > 0:18:23And of course, a year later in '65, we're all going to Nashville.

0:18:23 > 0:18:27These guys went on to become great pickers and producers

0:18:27 > 0:18:31and learned from experience here at Fame.

0:18:31 > 0:18:32Man, we can do it.

0:18:32 > 0:18:35When they left, there was nobody else.

0:18:35 > 0:18:38We were the only game in town for him to get.

0:18:42 > 0:18:45They took the ball that we started rolling,

0:18:45 > 0:18:48and they rolled it and made it bigger.

0:18:48 > 0:18:51Individually, I never really thought we were great players,

0:18:51 > 0:18:54but together we were great players.

0:18:54 > 0:18:57We have the magic together.

0:19:01 > 0:19:03We liked playing funky.

0:19:03 > 0:19:07All funky was is that we didn't know how to make it smooth.

0:19:07 > 0:19:09We're a rock 'n' roll players, OK?

0:19:09 > 0:19:14We just didn't expect them to be as funky or as greasy as they were.

0:19:15 > 0:19:17# I know a place

0:19:19 > 0:19:22# Ain't nobody cryin'... #

0:19:22 > 0:19:25The groove that we set up came from rhythm and blues music.

0:19:25 > 0:19:29I remember when Paul Simon called Stax records

0:19:29 > 0:19:31to talk to Al Bell, and said,

0:19:31 > 0:19:33"Hey, man, I want those same black players

0:19:33 > 0:19:36"that played on I'll Take You There."

0:19:36 > 0:19:39He says, "That can happen, but these guys are mighty pale."

0:19:39 > 0:19:41# Let me take you there

0:19:41 > 0:19:43# I'll take you there... #

0:19:43 > 0:19:47# You got to, got to got to let me... #

0:19:47 > 0:19:49A lot of people could not believe

0:19:49 > 0:19:53that my whole band was white guys behind me.

0:19:53 > 0:19:58People have arrived at Muscle Shoals expecting to meet these black dudes.

0:19:58 > 0:20:01And they're a bunch of white guys that look like

0:20:01 > 0:20:03they worked in the supermarket round the corner.

0:20:03 > 0:20:08The Muscle Shoals rhythm section, David Hood bass player.

0:20:10 > 0:20:13Jimmy Johnson, guitar.

0:20:13 > 0:20:16Roger Hawkins, drums.

0:20:16 > 0:20:20Barry Beckett, keyboard player.

0:20:20 > 0:20:23# Play your... Play your piano now... #

0:20:23 > 0:20:26Later on they became known as The Swampers.

0:20:26 > 0:20:30# Oh, oh, oh, all right... #

0:20:30 > 0:20:32A strong rhythm section made the difference

0:20:32 > 0:20:36when you went to a studio every day with the same pickers and players,

0:20:36 > 0:20:40and they became a team, and it was hard to beat that.

0:20:40 > 0:20:45We begin to bring in song writers and musicians,

0:20:45 > 0:20:48anybody that wanted to be in the music business.

0:20:58 > 0:21:02SLOW BLUES WITH REVERB

0:21:10 > 0:21:14I guess during high school I started going over to FAME Studio.

0:21:14 > 0:21:19That was like a melting pot for songwriters, musicians...

0:21:19 > 0:21:24Plus, as a teenager, I was really impressed with all that.

0:21:24 > 0:21:27I came up here, and I'm just a kid really.

0:21:27 > 0:21:29And all these people here were kids too.

0:21:29 > 0:21:31Nobody knew anything.

0:21:38 > 0:21:42We're just doing our best to learn how to make records,

0:21:42 > 0:21:44and learn how to write songs,

0:21:44 > 0:21:47and learn how to play music.

0:22:02 > 0:22:05Most of these guys around here, including myself,

0:22:05 > 0:22:08are country people.

0:22:08 > 0:22:10We come from the country.

0:22:10 > 0:22:12Arthur Alexander, Jimmy Hughes -

0:22:12 > 0:22:15they were the pioneers, as far as the artists go down here.

0:22:15 > 0:22:16Percy Sledge...

0:22:16 > 0:22:18These are just local people.

0:22:20 > 0:22:23I'm from a small town called Leighton

0:22:23 > 0:22:26right outside Muscle Shoals.

0:22:26 > 0:22:29I was a little guy working in the field chopping cotton

0:22:29 > 0:22:33singing to the older people in the field that always said that,

0:22:33 > 0:22:36one day, my voice would be held all over the world,

0:22:36 > 0:22:38but I never thought that would happen!

0:22:40 > 0:22:43Percy worked at the local hospital.

0:22:44 > 0:22:47I was an orderly working with the sick people.

0:22:47 > 0:22:51I'd sing a song for 'em and they'd go to sleep.

0:22:51 > 0:22:54I got such a big kick out of that, you know.

0:22:54 > 0:23:00When I could see my patient lying there smiling and feeling better.

0:23:00 > 0:23:05So, one day, I was invited to sing at the Elks Club here in Sheffield.

0:23:06 > 0:23:11And it just so happened Quin Ivy was a disc jockey at the WLAY

0:23:11 > 0:23:13and he heard me sing this song

0:23:13 > 0:23:15and he loved the melody and the feel.

0:23:15 > 0:23:18He said, "Percy Sledge, have you ever been interested

0:23:18 > 0:23:21"in cutting a record?"

0:23:21 > 0:23:22I remember the day I got the call,

0:23:22 > 0:23:26"Will you come do keyboards on this recording session?"

0:23:26 > 0:23:29It'll be the first recording this artist has ever done.

0:23:29 > 0:23:34When I came into the studio, I was shaking like a leaf. I was scared.

0:23:34 > 0:23:39# When a man loves a woman

0:23:39 > 0:23:43# Can't keep his mind on nothing else

0:23:43 > 0:23:47# He'd change the world for the good thing he's found... #

0:23:47 > 0:23:50Every time he sang the song,

0:23:50 > 0:23:54he had different levels for different parts of the song.

0:23:54 > 0:23:56Everything had to be in your wrist,

0:23:56 > 0:23:59bringing the level up and down.

0:23:59 > 0:24:00All I hear was a voice.

0:24:00 > 0:24:03I didn't know anything about no singing, you know.

0:24:03 > 0:24:05Somehow, I got one down,

0:24:05 > 0:24:08and Percy was on time with me

0:24:08 > 0:24:10with a great vocal.

0:24:10 > 0:24:16# He'd give up all his comforts

0:24:16 > 0:24:20# And sleep out in the rain

0:24:20 > 0:24:25# If she said that was the way it ought to be... #

0:24:25 > 0:24:29All this was just so new to me, and these guys made me feel like,

0:24:29 > 0:24:31"Hey, man, you can do it. "You got it, you know ?"

0:24:31 > 0:24:35I used to call them my family. Donna Thatcher - all them, you know.

0:24:36 > 0:24:41My first wonderful experience was singing on

0:24:41 > 0:24:44When A Man Loves A Woman with Percy Sledge.

0:24:44 > 0:24:48You never know when you're making history.

0:24:48 > 0:24:53# Baby, please don't treat me bad... #

0:24:55 > 0:24:56PHONE RINGS

0:24:56 > 0:24:59Quin called me one Sunday afternoon and said,

0:24:59 > 0:25:02"Do you know of a place where we can get a deal?" I said, "I think so."

0:25:02 > 0:25:05I picked up the phone and called Jerry Wexler in New York.

0:25:05 > 0:25:08Jerry Wexler was probably the biggest record company guru

0:25:08 > 0:25:10in the world.

0:25:11 > 0:25:16It was a man named Rick Hall had a studio in Muscle Shoals.

0:25:16 > 0:25:18I said he'd told me that if I heard something

0:25:18 > 0:25:21I thought was a big hit, to call you, and I'm calling you.

0:25:23 > 0:25:25# If she is bad... #

0:25:25 > 0:25:29I heard some music coming from there, and it was fabulous.

0:25:29 > 0:25:32- # She can do no wrong # - What do you think?

0:25:32 > 0:25:35We pressed and distributed the record and it was a big hit.

0:25:35 > 0:25:40# When a man loves a woman... #

0:25:40 > 0:25:42That began a great relationship

0:25:42 > 0:25:45between Jerry Wexler, Atlantic Records and Rick Hall.

0:25:45 > 0:25:47And, of course, the record is still

0:25:47 > 0:25:50one of the most classic records in the business.

0:25:50 > 0:25:57# If she is playing him for a fool He's the last one to know... #

0:25:57 > 0:26:00It's the same melody I'd sing when I'd be in the field!

0:26:00 > 0:26:04It just wails out and in the woods and let the echo come back to me.

0:26:04 > 0:26:10# When a man loves a woman

0:26:10 > 0:26:13# He can do her no wrong... #

0:26:13 > 0:26:16I, George C Wallace, as Governor...

0:26:16 > 0:26:19During that era of recording... Basically, all black acts.

0:26:19 > 0:26:23You gotta remember George Wallace was standing in the schoolhouse door

0:26:23 > 0:26:26at the University of Alabama making sure no black people

0:26:26 > 0:26:28came to school there.

0:26:28 > 0:26:30And I say segregation now,

0:26:30 > 0:26:33segregation tomorrow,

0:26:33 > 0:26:35and segregation for ever!

0:26:38 > 0:26:42This was a politics that could not see past the colour of your skin.

0:26:46 > 0:26:48It's the kind of thing that,

0:26:48 > 0:26:50I know people of this era...

0:26:50 > 0:26:53They wouldn't want to believe what it used to be.

0:26:53 > 0:26:55I think of all the times

0:26:55 > 0:26:59when we take a break from the studio to go out and eat.

0:26:59 > 0:27:02I was somewhat frightened from time to time,

0:27:02 > 0:27:06when we'd go and buy dinner for half a dozen black people.

0:27:07 > 0:27:13That's where you saw, like, "What're y'all doin' sitting here?"

0:27:15 > 0:27:19Even though the civil rights movement was already in effect,

0:27:19 > 0:27:23it still hadn't dawned on people that this is the new era.

0:27:27 > 0:27:30I have a dream that one day

0:27:30 > 0:27:34down in Alabama

0:27:34 > 0:27:36with its vicious racists...

0:27:38 > 0:27:40One day right there in Alabama

0:27:40 > 0:27:42little black boys and black girls

0:27:42 > 0:27:46will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls

0:27:46 > 0:27:50as sisters and brothers. I have a dream today!

0:27:56 > 0:27:58When I was young boy, it was always,

0:27:58 > 0:28:00if I met a white boy

0:28:00 > 0:28:06I had to say, "This is Mr, er, Robert or Mr Jimmy."

0:28:08 > 0:28:11But, in the studio, we got away from that.

0:28:11 > 0:28:14It was Jimmy, Robert, Clarence..

0:28:20 > 0:28:22You just worked together.

0:28:22 > 0:28:25You never thought about who was white and who was black.

0:28:27 > 0:28:31You thought about the common thing and that was the music.

0:28:31 > 0:28:34HORN SECTION INTRO

0:28:34 > 0:28:36We were colour blind.

0:28:36 > 0:28:40There was never any situation came up in the studio here ever,

0:28:40 > 0:28:44about "your black and I'm white."

0:28:44 > 0:28:46And when you think about the South -

0:28:46 > 0:28:49they didn't believe that black and white people could live together.

0:28:49 > 0:28:52And here are vinyl records that prove

0:28:52 > 0:28:56that not only can they live together,

0:28:56 > 0:28:58you mightn't know who's black and who's white.

0:29:00 > 0:29:04At the time, this was revolutionary stuff.

0:29:08 > 0:29:13Music played a big part in changing the thoughts of people,

0:29:13 > 0:29:15especially in the South, about race.

0:29:18 > 0:29:24By us being in Muscle Shoals and puttin' music together,

0:29:24 > 0:29:28I think it went a long ways to help people understand that we all

0:29:28 > 0:29:30were just humans.

0:29:31 > 0:29:35My stock went sky-high with Wexler after the Percy Sledge single

0:29:35 > 0:29:38went number one worldwide, and he said,

0:29:38 > 0:29:42"Rick, I've a little bit of a dispute with Jim Stewart at Stax,

0:29:42 > 0:29:45"and he don't want me to cut any more records over at his studio."

0:29:45 > 0:29:49The welcoming mat for me at Memphis was cold.

0:29:49 > 0:29:52So I got the idea of calling Rick Hall and saying,

0:29:52 > 0:29:55"Hey, can I bring Wilson Pickett down here

0:29:55 > 0:29:58"and, uh, make some records with you guys?" Which we did.

0:30:05 > 0:30:07I gets off the plane, Southern Airlines,

0:30:07 > 0:30:12and here's this long, tall... white man - we call 'em peckerwoods.

0:30:12 > 0:30:16I met Wilson Pickett. Picked him up at the airport.

0:30:16 > 0:30:19He looked like, to me, a dangerous man.

0:30:19 > 0:30:22He walked up like he'd known me for 500 years.

0:30:22 > 0:30:26"Hey, Wilson, come on, come on. We gon' cut some fuckin' records."

0:30:26 > 0:30:28Boy, we really gon' cut some records. Come on, Wilson!

0:30:28 > 0:30:31I said, "Wait, wait..." I'm nervous, you know what I mean?

0:30:31 > 0:30:34What this white man know about producin' a Wilson Pickett?

0:30:35 > 0:30:39And on the way to the studio, I'd a look at him

0:30:39 > 0:30:41and he'd a look at me - and I could see in his eyes, he was thinkin',

0:30:41 > 0:30:44"What am I doin' with this cracker down here in Alabama?"

0:30:44 > 0:30:47We went through the cotton patch -

0:30:47 > 0:30:49people still pickin' cotton.

0:30:49 > 0:30:51I said, "Is that what I think it is?"

0:30:51 > 0:30:54"Yeah, Wilson, they're still picking cotton down here."

0:30:54 > 0:30:57You can see his studio from the cotton patch.

0:31:01 > 0:31:04Pickett had a very quick temper.

0:31:04 > 0:31:07I was there to make it work, period. You know what I mean?

0:31:09 > 0:31:11On a session, if he didn't like what was goin' on

0:31:11 > 0:31:15and didn't like the attitude, he's just liable to whup the drummer.

0:31:15 > 0:31:18Say, "Come outside, I'm gonna beat your ass."

0:31:18 > 0:31:21I was nervous, I was sittin' behind the drums and I was gettin'

0:31:21 > 0:31:24things together, like drummers do, checkin' things.

0:31:24 > 0:31:30Our band was super nervous the first time we worked for Jerry Wexler.

0:31:30 > 0:31:32We had this feeling that, if we couldn't play

0:31:32 > 0:31:36what he asked us to play, we'd probably be fired on the spot.

0:31:36 > 0:31:41I was apprehensive, very leery, because it was entirely different

0:31:41 > 0:31:44from what we had been doing in New York,

0:31:44 > 0:31:48which was recording with written arrangements, arrangers,

0:31:48 > 0:31:51and studio players who read the charts.

0:31:51 > 0:31:53We would get in the studio and we'd add a little bit of this,

0:31:53 > 0:31:56a little bit of that, and then we'd go to lunch, come back,

0:31:56 > 0:31:59and if we didn't like that, take it away... All that kind of stuff!

0:31:59 > 0:32:02We would sit there and we'd make that record together.

0:32:06 > 0:32:09Those guys are sittin' there in the studio,

0:32:09 > 0:32:11and just find the groove, you know?

0:32:11 > 0:32:14And I'd be right there with 'em, singing along

0:32:14 > 0:32:16and we'd all work it out together.

0:32:16 > 0:32:18Rick Hall, stuck there every minute.

0:32:18 > 0:32:21Rick Hall was his own engineer. He built the studio.

0:32:21 > 0:32:24He knew all the electrical wiring in there.

0:32:24 > 0:32:27And that drummer they had was fantastic.

0:32:27 > 0:32:29He was a funky drummer,

0:32:29 > 0:32:32but he wasn't wearing himself out all over the place.

0:32:32 > 0:32:34He was... He was just there.

0:32:38 > 0:32:41We was cookin' away on the thing and Wexler was in the control room.

0:32:41 > 0:32:43He said, "Baby, it's working."

0:32:43 > 0:32:45"Hey, baby, it's funky."

0:32:52 > 0:32:56Rick Hall had a rhythm section of exceptional players.

0:32:59 > 0:33:01# You know I feel all right! #

0:33:01 > 0:33:04This was very inspirational to me.

0:33:04 > 0:33:07Jerry came out at the end of the first day.

0:33:07 > 0:33:11We'd just cut Land of 1,000 Dances

0:33:11 > 0:33:13and he walks out in front of Roger,

0:33:13 > 0:33:17and Roger's ears had never heard anything like this.

0:33:17 > 0:33:19He said, "Roger."

0:33:19 > 0:33:21I said, "Yes, sir?"

0:33:21 > 0:33:24He said, "Roger, you're a great drummer."

0:33:24 > 0:33:26And all of a sudden, it just...

0:33:26 > 0:33:28I just kinda... relaxed

0:33:28 > 0:33:32and became the great drummer, just like he said I was!

0:33:34 > 0:33:36After my first night in that studio with them,

0:33:36 > 0:33:40I was convinced that that could be a recording home for me.

0:33:40 > 0:33:43# Mustang Sally... #

0:33:43 > 0:33:47We cut Mustang Sally all that Funky Broadway,

0:33:47 > 0:33:49The Land of 1,000 Whole Dances!

0:33:49 > 0:33:52Boy, he's there stood up chewin' the...

0:33:52 > 0:33:55- MIMICS:- "How you like that, Wil?"

0:33:55 > 0:33:58Pickett and I were soul brothers, we were.

0:33:58 > 0:34:02We was nitty gritty. Right down in the cold nitty gritty.

0:34:02 > 0:34:07# Oh, guess I have to put your flat feet on the ground now... #

0:34:07 > 0:34:11Everything was just roses with me, with Jerry Wexler.

0:34:11 > 0:34:16Jerry took a liking to us from the very beginning.

0:34:16 > 0:34:18# All you wanna do is ride around, Sally... #

0:34:18 > 0:34:20There's something that leaps out of a record,

0:34:20 > 0:34:23I call it the sonority of the record.

0:34:24 > 0:34:29It's the way the sound of the record impacts on the ear, instantly.

0:34:29 > 0:34:32And to me, that's the magic ingredient in a phonograph record.

0:34:32 > 0:34:34# OOOH!

0:34:34 > 0:34:37# Got to put your flat feet on the ground... #

0:34:37 > 0:34:40The Rolling Stones had it, The Beatles had it,

0:34:40 > 0:34:44and they had it, and so, from then on,

0:34:44 > 0:34:48Muscle Shoals became the place that I preferred to go, and loved to go.

0:34:56 > 0:34:58I grew up north of Florence.

0:35:01 > 0:35:04It really wasn't a town, just a dirt road.

0:35:08 > 0:35:12The only way to get to Florence - at that time, we had no car -

0:35:12 > 0:35:17my mom and I would walk from the dirt road down to the highway

0:35:17 > 0:35:21to catch a bus to go into Florence, which was just five miles away.

0:35:24 > 0:35:26I was born in Sheffield, Alabama,

0:35:26 > 0:35:29and graduated from Sheffield High School.

0:35:29 > 0:35:34While in high school, I would see Hollis Dixon and the Keynotes.

0:35:34 > 0:35:36It was the first rock 'n' roll band around here,

0:35:36 > 0:35:38and I just fell in love with that.

0:35:38 > 0:35:41I thought, "I've gotta learn how to do that."

0:35:43 > 0:35:46You got Roger Hawkins in a group called The Del Rays.

0:35:46 > 0:35:48Jimmy Johnson was playing guitar.

0:35:48 > 0:35:50I remember hearing The Del Rays

0:35:50 > 0:35:51when I was going to University of Alabama.

0:35:51 > 0:35:54And I remember, I could not get into the fraternity house.

0:35:54 > 0:35:57So I had to stay outside and listen to it.

0:35:57 > 0:36:01I mean, the ground was rumbling, OK? It was such a great band.

0:36:03 > 0:36:05We met each other when we started

0:36:05 > 0:36:10playing at the Tuscumbia National Guard Armory at the square dance.

0:36:10 > 0:36:13Half the night was rock 'n' roll,

0:36:13 > 0:36:16and then, after that, it was all square dance.

0:36:16 > 0:36:18We made 10 each for that.

0:36:26 > 0:36:30After Wilson Pickett, I became Jerry's right hand man.

0:36:32 > 0:36:35And so he said, "I'm thinkin' about signing a new act",

0:36:35 > 0:36:37her name is Aretha Franklin.

0:36:37 > 0:36:39She's on CBS Records and it's not happening,

0:36:39 > 0:36:42they can't sell records on her.

0:36:42 > 0:36:46# I'm only one step ahead of...

0:36:46 > 0:36:48# heartbreak... #

0:36:48 > 0:36:52I had heard her real smooth records on Columbia.

0:36:52 > 0:36:54You couldn't really get your teeth into 'em.

0:36:54 > 0:36:56# One step is all I have to take... #

0:36:58 > 0:37:01These lush arrangements that she was doing at CBS,

0:37:01 > 0:37:04which weren't successful either.

0:37:04 > 0:37:06No-one knew what to do with her, she had this great voice,

0:37:06 > 0:37:09but lots of people have got a great voice.

0:37:09 > 0:37:13I've still got to find out who and what I really am.

0:37:13 > 0:37:15I don't know yet.

0:37:15 > 0:37:17I'm trying to find the answer.

0:37:17 > 0:37:21I wasn't exactly hoping she wouldn't have any hits on Columbia Records,

0:37:21 > 0:37:24but the way it went, they dropped her after five years.

0:37:24 > 0:37:27A week later, we were in my office in New York - we signed her up.

0:37:27 > 0:37:30He said, "You know, I've got this great little studio

0:37:30 > 0:37:34"down in Muscle Shoals, and these cats...

0:37:34 > 0:37:37"These cats are really greasy. You gonna love it!"

0:37:40 > 0:37:43She walks in.

0:37:43 > 0:37:44Right over there.

0:37:46 > 0:37:49And she's got this aura around her pretty thick.

0:37:50 > 0:37:52I mean, the girl was special.

0:37:54 > 0:37:57I remember watchin' the guys...

0:37:57 > 0:38:00Bein' good Southern boys, they'd carry on with anything

0:38:00 > 0:38:02except looking or dealing with her.

0:38:05 > 0:38:09So she went over to the piano. She sat there a moment.

0:38:11 > 0:38:15And then, she just hit this unknown chord, I would say.

0:38:18 > 0:38:20Didn't anybody have to say, "We're about to cut."

0:38:23 > 0:38:26We did what we called head sessions at that time,

0:38:26 > 0:38:29and there was no real music written for it.

0:38:29 > 0:38:33The musicians would just listen to what it was I was doing,

0:38:33 > 0:38:37and then they would decide what they were going to do around that.

0:38:37 > 0:38:41I think we heard a little demo of this song,

0:38:41 > 0:38:43Never Loved a Man The Way I Love You.

0:38:43 > 0:38:45To me it sounded pretty much like junk.

0:38:45 > 0:38:49I'm thinking, "That's the song they're going to cut?!"

0:38:49 > 0:38:52There was discussions, Jerry Wexler and Rick.

0:38:52 > 0:38:55There was a little confusion and there was a little turmoil.

0:38:55 > 0:38:57Everybody was a little uptight.

0:38:57 > 0:39:02We can't find a groove, a beat, a place to start.

0:39:02 > 0:39:05They just had all these gears working,

0:39:05 > 0:39:06but finally it just came to a...

0:39:06 > 0:39:08HE CROAKS

0:39:09 > 0:39:11And suddenly it was really quiet.

0:39:13 > 0:39:17They had a song, they had an artist, but nobody knew what to do.

0:39:17 > 0:39:18Not even all these geniuses.

0:39:20 > 0:39:23But out of that quietness came Spooner with...

0:39:23 > 0:39:25SOULFUL ORGAN MUSIC

0:39:27 > 0:39:30And I said, "Hey, Spooner's got it! That's it."

0:39:30 > 0:39:33Aretha jumped right on it.

0:39:33 > 0:39:34# You're a no good

0:39:34 > 0:39:36# Heartbreaker

0:39:37 > 0:39:41# You're a liar and you're a cheat... #

0:39:41 > 0:39:44It was cut within 15-20 minutes.

0:39:44 > 0:39:46You didn't have to ask, "What do you think?"

0:39:46 > 0:39:48Everybody knew it was a hit.

0:39:48 > 0:39:52I think everything came together for Aretha in Muscle Shoals.

0:39:52 > 0:39:56They got Aretha to record a much more funky kind of style

0:39:56 > 0:39:57in Muscle Shoals.

0:39:57 > 0:39:59It was really the essence of her.

0:40:00 > 0:40:02# Cos I ain't never

0:40:03 > 0:40:05# I ain't never

0:40:05 > 0:40:08# I ain't never, no, no

0:40:08 > 0:40:12# Loved a man the way that I

0:40:12 > 0:40:14# I love you... #

0:40:14 > 0:40:17Coming to Muscle Shoals was the turning point.

0:40:17 > 0:40:20That's where I recorded I Never Loved A Man,

0:40:20 > 0:40:23which became my first million-selling record.

0:40:23 > 0:40:29So, absolutely, it was a milestone and THE turning point in my career.

0:40:31 > 0:40:33# Oh, oh, oh

0:40:33 > 0:40:35# Yeah

0:40:35 > 0:40:37# Yeah

0:40:38 > 0:40:40# I ain't never loved a man... #

0:40:40 > 0:40:45We cut I Never Loved A Man, which people to this day still regard

0:40:45 > 0:40:48as being maybe her most soulful and, really, funkiest record.

0:40:48 > 0:40:51# Well, this is what I'm gonna do about it... #

0:40:51 > 0:40:54That's one of those songs,

0:40:54 > 0:40:56the ones that give you the chills,

0:40:56 > 0:40:58the ones that give you the goose bumps,

0:40:58 > 0:41:02the ones that you're like, "I wish I sang a record like that."

0:41:06 > 0:41:10We had a whole week planned to cut tracks, a whole week,

0:41:10 > 0:41:15but at the end of the session, we found out that there was a problem.

0:41:15 > 0:41:17There was a ruckus.

0:41:17 > 0:41:21One of the horn players, and Aretha's then husband, Ted White,

0:41:21 > 0:41:22got into it.

0:41:24 > 0:41:29This new horn player started saying things like, "Aretha, baby,"

0:41:29 > 0:41:30and it was just enough

0:41:30 > 0:41:33that Ted White got offended.

0:41:33 > 0:41:37They'd been drinking from the same jug and now this camaraderie

0:41:37 > 0:41:42and great palship turned into some kind of alcoholic hostility.

0:41:43 > 0:41:46Ted comes into the control room with Wexler and I and says,

0:41:46 > 0:41:48"I want the trumpet player fired."

0:41:49 > 0:41:51I looked at Wexler and I said, "What do you think?"

0:41:51 > 0:41:53He said, "Go fire him."

0:41:53 > 0:41:54So I went and fired him.

0:41:55 > 0:41:59That later caused a big argument and caused the session to end.

0:42:01 > 0:42:04I got a hold of the bottle of vodka and I took a couple...

0:42:04 > 0:42:05three drinks of it.

0:42:05 > 0:42:07And I said, "Wexler, I'm going to go over to the hotel"

0:42:07 > 0:42:09"and get with Ted and them...

0:42:10 > 0:42:12"..and we'll work this thing out."

0:42:13 > 0:42:15He said, "No, I don't want you to go."

0:42:15 > 0:42:17And I said, "Yeah, well, I'm not going to start any trouble,"

0:42:17 > 0:42:19I said, "I'll go over and work it out.

0:42:19 > 0:42:22"We'll become buddies and I'll work everything out."

0:42:22 > 0:42:24He said, "No, Rick, don't go, please, don't go."

0:42:26 > 0:42:27So anyhow,

0:42:27 > 0:42:30I had had a couple more drinks and I went over to them.

0:42:37 > 0:42:40Banged on Ted and Aretha's door and Ted came to the door.

0:42:40 > 0:42:43He started pointing his finger in my face and so forth.

0:42:43 > 0:42:45We fought and fought and fought.

0:42:45 > 0:42:47He was trying to throw me over the balcony

0:42:47 > 0:42:48and I was trying to throw him.

0:42:48 > 0:42:50It was downtown and we was up on about the fourth floor.

0:42:54 > 0:42:58My former husband never came back that night

0:42:58 > 0:43:01and I decided that I was leaving.

0:43:01 > 0:43:03I had never been to Muscle Shoals before,

0:43:03 > 0:43:06or away from home, really, by myself,

0:43:06 > 0:43:08so I just said, "I'm going to the airport."

0:43:08 > 0:43:12And when I got to the airport, I saw him with the bell captain.

0:43:13 > 0:43:16I said, "Whoa, this son of a gun was going to leave me down here.

0:43:16 > 0:43:17"Unbelievable."

0:43:21 > 0:43:24They left town the next day, early.

0:43:24 > 0:43:26So Wexler came and said to me,

0:43:26 > 0:43:30"I will never set foot in this studio as long as I live again.

0:43:30 > 0:43:31"I will bury you."

0:43:31 > 0:43:33And I said, "You can't bury me."

0:43:33 > 0:43:36He said, "Why can't I?" I said, "Because you're too old.

0:43:36 > 0:43:38"I'll be around after you're gone."

0:43:43 > 0:43:46So the next day I showed up and on the board it says,

0:43:46 > 0:43:49"Session Cancelled."

0:43:49 > 0:43:51And I thought, "Oh, man, it's over, we've had it."

0:43:53 > 0:43:57But a few days later, Jerry Wexler calls and asks

0:43:57 > 0:44:01if we can go to New York and finish the album there.

0:44:01 > 0:44:03He didn't have to ask us twice.

0:44:03 > 0:44:06MUSIC: "Respect" by Aretha Franklin

0:44:07 > 0:44:12On that album was R-E-S-P-E-C-T, Respect.

0:44:12 > 0:44:14# What you want

0:44:14 > 0:44:16# Baby, I got... #

0:44:16 > 0:44:20To be a part of something like that is unbelievable.

0:44:20 > 0:44:23It was milestone stuff.

0:44:23 > 0:44:24# Is for a little respect

0:44:24 > 0:44:25# Just a little bit

0:44:25 > 0:44:29- # Hey, baby - Just a little bit

0:44:29 > 0:44:31- # Just a little bit - Mister

0:44:31 > 0:44:33# Just a little bit... #

0:44:33 > 0:44:37The Swampers went on and recorded with Aretha on many hit records.

0:44:37 > 0:44:40Sweet, Sweet Baby, Natural Woman, Think,

0:44:40 > 0:44:42The House that Jack Built, Call Me,

0:44:42 > 0:44:44Do Right Woman, Do Right Man,

0:44:44 > 0:44:47Chain of Fools, and so many, many others.

0:44:49 > 0:44:51Of course. it worked out incredibly.

0:44:51 > 0:44:55And it's been one of the anomalies, I think, of the era

0:44:55 > 0:45:00that Aretha's greatest work came with a studio full of Caucasian musicians.

0:45:00 > 0:45:03How do you figure it? This is the Queen of Soul acknowledged.

0:45:03 > 0:45:05Here we have Roger Hawkins,

0:45:05 > 0:45:10and David Hood, Jimmy Johnson, Barry Beckett, Spooner Oldham

0:45:10 > 0:45:14coming out with probably the deepest and most intense R&B of the era.

0:45:14 > 0:45:16# R-E-S-P-E-C-T

0:45:16 > 0:45:18# Find out what it means to me

0:45:18 > 0:45:20# R-E-S-P-E-C-T

0:45:20 > 0:45:22# Take care, T-C-B

0:45:22 > 0:45:24# Sock it to me, sock it to me sock it to me

0:45:24 > 0:45:25# A little respect

0:45:26 > 0:45:28- # Whoa, babe - Just a little bit

0:45:28 > 0:45:30- # A little respect - Just a little bit

0:45:30 > 0:45:32- # I get tired - Just a little bit

0:45:32 > 0:45:34- # Keep on trying - Just a little bit

0:45:34 > 0:45:37# You're running out of fools... #

0:45:37 > 0:45:41So after my dispute with Wexler, he took Aretha away.

0:45:42 > 0:45:46And on my part, I felt like I had really screwed up,

0:45:46 > 0:45:50so I went to Chicago and I spoke to Leonard Chess,

0:45:50 > 0:45:52cos he said, "I wonder what I got to do

0:45:52 > 0:45:55"to get you to do some sides for Chess Records."

0:45:55 > 0:45:57I said, "Who do you want me to do?"

0:45:57 > 0:45:59He said, "I'd like you to do Etta James."

0:45:59 > 0:46:03MUSIC: "Tell Mama" by Etta James

0:46:04 > 0:46:06When I looked at him, I says, "God, Rick Hall."

0:46:06 > 0:46:11"So this is fame, recording studios, and I'm in Alabama

0:46:11 > 0:46:14"and now this is going to be, you know, the real thing here.

0:46:14 > 0:46:17"I'm going to get some of the Alabama mud," you know,

0:46:17 > 0:46:18all of that kind of stuff.

0:46:18 > 0:46:23Etta James is probably one of my favourite chicks of all time.

0:46:23 > 0:46:27Leonard said, "You know, Rick, I built my company on her back.

0:46:27 > 0:46:31"When you think she's singing as good as she can sing,

0:46:31 > 0:46:34"if you'll kick her ass and wind her up..."

0:46:36 > 0:46:39..he said, "She can rattle the shingles on this studio."

0:46:40 > 0:46:44# You thought you hadn't found a good girl

0:46:44 > 0:46:47# One to love you and give you the world... #

0:46:47 > 0:46:52Rick Hall was actually the first white man that I had seen

0:46:52 > 0:46:56that had that kind of soul, that was an engineer

0:46:56 > 0:46:58and was soulful, you know?

0:46:58 > 0:47:01We recorded a Clarence Carter song.

0:47:01 > 0:47:03With Clarence it was, Tell Daddy,

0:47:03 > 0:47:05but with Etta it was, Tell Mama.

0:47:05 > 0:47:10She didn't want to do the song, because I think she had a problem

0:47:10 > 0:47:12with somebody suggesting to her

0:47:12 > 0:47:15that she was going to take care of some man.

0:47:15 > 0:47:17I would be so hard-headed and, you know, just,

0:47:17 > 0:47:19"Don't tell me nothin'," you know?

0:47:19 > 0:47:23She had a temper like a lion.

0:47:23 > 0:47:26I said, "If you'll do it for an hour, and it's not happening,

0:47:26 > 0:47:28"we'll garbage it, we'll throw it in the garbage."

0:47:28 > 0:47:34I finally realised everything that he used to badger me about,

0:47:34 > 0:47:36he was always right.

0:47:36 > 0:47:38# Tell mama

0:47:38 > 0:47:40# All about it

0:47:40 > 0:47:42# Tell mama

0:47:42 > 0:47:44# What you need

0:47:44 > 0:47:46# Tell mama... #

0:47:46 > 0:47:50And, of course, the record was to become a big, big hit on her.

0:47:50 > 0:47:54Everybody said that that song raised her from the grave, you know,

0:47:54 > 0:47:57and brought her back to prominence.

0:47:57 > 0:48:00Each time a person went to Muscle Shoals,

0:48:00 > 0:48:02they came out of there with a hit record.

0:48:02 > 0:48:06You had to know that there was something magic in Muscle Shoals.

0:48:29 > 0:48:32The spirit of Muscle Shoals permeates

0:48:32 > 0:48:36not only the city itself, physically...

0:48:38 > 0:48:40..but, I think, the people who came through there.

0:48:43 > 0:48:45The place has a soul.

0:48:54 > 0:48:57WC Handy was from the Muscle Shoals area

0:48:57 > 0:49:01and everyone that knows about the blues

0:49:01 > 0:49:04is familiar with WC Handy.

0:49:09 > 0:49:13Well, he's one of the great popularisers of the blues.

0:49:13 > 0:49:16Before it was a kind of gutbucket music

0:49:16 > 0:49:18that didn't have a lot of respect.

0:49:18 > 0:49:22He kind of legitimised the music.

0:49:24 > 0:49:26All the bands were playing the same thing,

0:49:26 > 0:49:29but no-one had written it down.

0:49:29 > 0:49:32Well, he was the first one to write it down.

0:49:32 > 0:49:36That made him Father of the Blues and made this area famous.

0:49:40 > 0:49:44Sam Phillips was also from the Muscle Shoals area

0:49:44 > 0:49:47and Sam was kind of my tutor and I kind of looked upon him

0:49:47 > 0:49:50as being the guy I wanted to be.

0:49:53 > 0:49:55Sam Phillips came out of there.

0:49:55 > 0:49:57I mean, didn't he invent rock'n'roll or something?

0:49:57 > 0:49:58My dad, Sam Phillips,

0:49:58 > 0:50:03was the first to record Elvis, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis,

0:50:03 > 0:50:04Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison,

0:50:04 > 0:50:06but a lot of people don't realise

0:50:06 > 0:50:10that he only worked specifically with black artists in the very beginning.

0:50:10 > 0:50:14Well, the basic feeling I had for black artists, of course,

0:50:14 > 0:50:17originated when I was very young on a farm in Alabama.

0:50:19 > 0:50:23I felt a certain spirituality about the black man's music.

0:50:23 > 0:50:25And hearing it in the cotton fields,

0:50:25 > 0:50:28that made one hell of an impression on me.

0:50:30 > 0:50:33Mr Phillips heard people singing in the fields

0:50:33 > 0:50:36and heard trains rumbling through

0:50:36 > 0:50:40and the river roaring around the bend down here in the shoals.

0:50:40 > 0:50:44It's a subconscious rhythm that gets in your head.

0:50:44 > 0:50:49There's like a groove, there's a pocket that sticks in your gut.

0:50:49 > 0:50:51It's connected all of us.

0:50:55 > 0:50:59Helen Keller was from Muscle Shoals,

0:50:59 > 0:51:01and it was just always amazing to me

0:51:01 > 0:51:05the things she was able to accomplish

0:51:05 > 0:51:07being blind and deaf.

0:51:10 > 0:51:15Helen Keller was deaf, completely mute, completely blind.

0:51:15 > 0:51:19And her only way of communicating with the world is with gestures.

0:51:22 > 0:51:24You can still go to her house

0:51:24 > 0:51:28and see the well where she learned her first word,

0:51:28 > 0:51:29which was "water."

0:51:30 > 0:51:34There's obviously an incredible connection to water here.

0:51:35 > 0:51:39So you can see why that would be the first word

0:51:39 > 0:51:42that Helen Keller learned, "water."

0:51:43 > 0:51:44There's such a power...

0:51:46 > 0:51:48..in this place,

0:51:48 > 0:51:51and you feel it whether you can hear it and see it or not.

0:51:58 > 0:52:02MUSIC: "I'd Rather Go Blind" by Etta James

0:52:05 > 0:52:12I'm a great believer that landscape is always very important in music,

0:52:12 > 0:52:15and, somehow, music can reflect landscapes.

0:52:17 > 0:52:23# Something told me it was over

0:52:23 > 0:52:26# Yeah

0:52:26 > 0:52:31# When I saw you and her talking... #

0:52:31 > 0:52:34People ask me always, "What is the Muscle Shoals sound?"

0:52:34 > 0:52:36You had a lot of black musicians

0:52:36 > 0:52:38playing with a lot of white musicians,

0:52:38 > 0:52:40and we all got a different way of playing,

0:52:40 > 0:52:42but it blends so well together.

0:52:42 > 0:52:45There was this coming together of styles.

0:52:45 > 0:52:48And there was some hillbilly background there,

0:52:48 > 0:52:50there's some black music.

0:52:50 > 0:52:53We were open-minded to be any genre.

0:52:54 > 0:52:56# Ooh

0:52:56 > 0:52:58# I would rather

0:52:58 > 0:53:01# I would rather go blind, boy

0:53:05 > 0:53:10# Than to see you walk away from me, child

0:53:12 > 0:53:14# Hoo... #

0:53:14 > 0:53:19The Muscle Shoals sound, I think, has a very heavy bass and drum

0:53:19 > 0:53:21featured in the sound.

0:53:21 > 0:53:24That was what sounded right to us.

0:53:24 > 0:53:26"Turn up the bass, turn up the drums."

0:53:26 > 0:53:29This was, at the time, cutting edge technology.

0:53:29 > 0:53:33The fact that a drum kit could be close-mic'd

0:53:33 > 0:53:36meant that they could turn up the bass drum.

0:53:36 > 0:53:40That's what created that blacker sound, that African sound,

0:53:40 > 0:53:43that allowed you to be sweet on the topsoil

0:53:43 > 0:53:47but knowing that, deep down in the ground, there was some fierceness.

0:53:47 > 0:53:51# Ooh, I was just

0:53:51 > 0:53:53# I was just

0:53:53 > 0:53:57# I was just sitting here thinking

0:53:57 > 0:53:58# Ooh

0:53:58 > 0:54:03# Of your kiss and your warm embrace, yeah... #

0:54:03 > 0:54:05Woo, come on, there.

0:54:07 > 0:54:08CAR HORN HONKS

0:54:08 > 0:54:11Woo! Woo!

0:54:16 > 0:54:17When I was a young boy,

0:54:17 > 0:54:22my mother was washing clothes out in the yard with a wash pot.

0:54:23 > 0:54:26And the pot had boiling hot water in it.

0:54:28 > 0:54:31My brother, who was three years old, was playing in the back yard

0:54:31 > 0:54:33with my first cousin,

0:54:33 > 0:54:36and they were pulling on a stick.

0:54:36 > 0:54:39My brother ran backwards and fell into the pot of scalding water.

0:54:43 > 0:54:46So my mother took him in her arms

0:54:46 > 0:54:49and went screaming across the field, hunting my father.

0:54:51 > 0:54:55He came running and they took him to the doctor in Red Bay, Alabama.

0:54:56 > 0:54:58And they took his clothes off

0:54:58 > 0:55:01and all of his skin came off inside of his clothes.

0:55:07 > 0:55:08He died three days later.

0:55:12 > 0:55:13That was the start of the decline

0:55:13 > 0:55:16between my father's and my mother's relationship.

0:55:20 > 0:55:23He kind of blamed her for the accident,

0:55:23 > 0:55:26and she probably blamed him for not being at home.

0:55:29 > 0:55:33She left us and said, "I'll never live with you again,"

0:55:33 > 0:55:35and, "Forget about me."

0:55:37 > 0:55:43She moved in with Aunt Ess who ran a red-light district.

0:55:47 > 0:55:51So my father asked people what she was doing up here.

0:55:52 > 0:55:54And...

0:55:54 > 0:55:56they said, "Well, Herman",

0:55:56 > 0:55:58"do you know what the other girls are doing?"

0:55:59 > 0:56:01And he said, "Yes, I do."

0:56:02 > 0:56:04And they said,

0:56:04 > 0:56:06"Dolly is doing the same thing."

0:56:10 > 0:56:12It was earth-shattering for me.

0:56:18 > 0:56:21Even after all these years and being away from her

0:56:21 > 0:56:25and not spending much time with her in my life,

0:56:25 > 0:56:27not a day goes by that I don't really miss my mother.

0:56:37 > 0:56:39More acoustic guitar.

0:56:47 > 0:56:50# I ain't easy to love

0:56:53 > 0:56:56# Scars have made me black and blue

0:56:59 > 0:57:02# But I feel a lot less broken... #

0:57:02 > 0:57:03OK, all right, hold on.

0:57:03 > 0:57:05There's too much happening.

0:57:05 > 0:57:08I just need the intro and everybody needs to cool it a little bit

0:57:08 > 0:57:10and back off.

0:57:10 > 0:57:11If everybody comes in from the top,

0:57:11 > 0:57:13where are you going to go from there?

0:57:13 > 0:57:17If you get a chance or two to cut a record, produce a record

0:57:17 > 0:57:19and get a budget to do it with and you don't have a hit,

0:57:19 > 0:57:21you will never get another call.

0:57:21 > 0:57:23So I was always aware of that.

0:57:23 > 0:57:27I always felt that every record...

0:57:28 > 0:57:30..my life depended on it.

0:57:30 > 0:57:32- Time is like... - WHISPERING:- "time."

0:57:32 > 0:57:34It's like you're whispering that part.

0:57:34 > 0:57:37All right, you know, I can always do mine over.

0:57:37 > 0:57:39I know we can, honey, but I'd like to do it this way.

0:57:39 > 0:57:40All right.

0:57:40 > 0:57:42Rick is so meticulous.

0:57:42 > 0:57:46Oh, it's just a joy and pain to work with Rick.

0:57:46 > 0:57:49Cos he won't stop until he gets what he wants.

0:57:49 > 0:57:52If it takes three days on one song,

0:57:52 > 0:57:54Rick's going to get what he wants.

0:57:54 > 0:57:57We're doing just what we just got through doing.

0:57:57 > 0:57:59We're doing the same thing over again,

0:57:59 > 0:58:01and I just want to perfect it a little better.

0:58:01 > 0:58:04We've changed a couple of things, so you got to listen.

0:58:04 > 0:58:06Rick was a very demanding boss.

0:58:06 > 0:58:10He would take a thousand takes

0:58:10 > 0:58:12of something till he was satisfied.

0:58:12 > 0:58:15And sometimes he would not know what he was looking for,

0:58:15 > 0:58:17but he would keep working until he got it.

0:58:17 > 0:58:19I'm talking about... It's too bright.

0:58:19 > 0:58:21Oh, OK, I thought you wanted it to be bright.

0:58:21 > 0:58:23Well, I did want it bright until I heard it.

0:58:23 > 0:58:25When you hear it with the track, it's a whole different thing.

0:58:25 > 0:58:27You got to listen to it in perspective.

0:58:27 > 0:58:30That was very frustrating and hard on the musicians,

0:58:30 > 0:58:32because you think, "Well, I already did that!"

0:58:32 > 0:58:34Nobody ever worked in the music business

0:58:34 > 0:58:36without getting their ass kicked.

0:58:36 > 0:58:38If they did, they're out on the street somewhere

0:58:38 > 0:58:41pushing a wheelbarrow of concrete.

0:58:41 > 0:58:43He was kind of like a task master,

0:58:43 > 0:58:45and I don't fault him for that,

0:58:45 > 0:58:49because he is an imperfect perfectionist.

0:58:49 > 0:58:51That's what made him great, though.

0:58:51 > 0:58:54# Oh, please forgive me, darling

0:58:57 > 0:59:01# I ain't easy to love. #

0:59:03 > 0:59:07SLIDE GUITAR

0:59:12 > 0:59:16Duane Allman, of course, came into Muscle Shoals and wanted a gig.

0:59:16 > 0:59:20So he put up his pup tent on my parking lot at the studio

0:59:20 > 0:59:22and found me. I gave him his shot.

0:59:24 > 0:59:27When Duane showed up, he was probably one of the first guys

0:59:27 > 0:59:29with long hair and kind of the hippie look,

0:59:29 > 0:59:31but what really made him stand out

0:59:31 > 0:59:33was that he was a wonderful guitar player.

0:59:43 > 0:59:45I had never heard a slide guitar

0:59:45 > 0:59:47played like Duane Allman could play it.

0:59:49 > 0:59:54Duane had been in Los Angeles, had a group called The Hourglass

0:59:54 > 0:59:55with his brother, Gregg.

0:59:55 > 0:59:58They signed us on this big contract

0:59:58 > 1:00:00and they wouldn't let us play anywhere.

1:00:00 > 1:00:03The first year we were there, we played, like, three concerts.

1:00:03 > 1:00:07So he finally said, "Hey, I've had it with this place. I'm leaving,"

1:00:07 > 1:00:09and he wound up in Muscle Shoals.

1:00:09 > 1:00:13But right before he left, I talked him

1:00:13 > 1:00:16into going horseback riding with me, cos we weren't doing anything.

1:00:16 > 1:00:18Finally went out there and I said,

1:00:18 > 1:00:22"Listen, we go from the barn out to the field, we got to cross

1:00:22 > 1:00:26"a paved road." I said, "The horse is shod." "It's what?"

1:00:26 > 1:00:28"It's got shoes on, you know?

1:00:28 > 1:00:30"And if he slips, he'll bust both of you's butts,

1:00:30 > 1:00:34"so don't give him any reins." And guess what happened.

1:00:34 > 1:00:38And he hit right here. He couldn't play.

1:00:38 > 1:00:41And he wouldn't let me in his house for about six weeks,

1:00:41 > 1:00:44and, I mean, that was terrible, cos, you know,

1:00:44 > 1:00:47growing up without a father, he was somewhat of a father figure

1:00:47 > 1:00:51to me, even though he was only a year and 18 days older.

1:00:51 > 1:00:55So it came his birthday, November 20th, and I went out and bought

1:00:55 > 1:00:59the first Taj Mahal record and a bottle of Coricidin pills.

1:00:59 > 1:01:02He had his cold, he had his arm in a sling,

1:01:02 > 1:01:06he was pissed off at the world, and I did what I could do.

1:01:06 > 1:01:09I put it down in front of his door, I had it wrapped up

1:01:09 > 1:01:12and everything, and I knocked on the door and ran.

1:01:12 > 1:01:13BLUES MUSIC

1:01:19 > 1:01:23I guess about two and a half hours later, my phone rings and it's him.

1:01:23 > 1:01:26He says, "Get over here, baybra, quick!"

1:01:26 > 1:01:30Baybra, he called me, baby brother,

1:01:30 > 1:01:35an endearing handle he had for me.

1:01:35 > 1:01:36BLUES MUSIC

1:01:38 > 1:01:41He said, "Man, check this out." He'd been listening to

1:01:41 > 1:01:45Jesse Ed Davis playing with Taj Mahal and he was playing the slide.

1:01:45 > 1:01:46BLUES MUSIC

1:01:50 > 1:01:53He said, "Man, I dumped out all them pills

1:01:53 > 1:01:56"and I washed the label off the bottle."

1:01:56 > 1:01:57He said, "Check this out."

1:01:57 > 1:02:01He's got his hand still in a sling and he's going, "Do-un-do-un-doon",

1:02:01 > 1:02:04you know, and he's just already killing it, you know?

1:02:04 > 1:02:05BLUES MUSIC

1:02:12 > 1:02:15I've still got that bottle, by the way.

1:02:15 > 1:02:16Somehow.

1:02:18 > 1:02:23When Duane came here, he was on the Wilson Pickett session that we did.

1:02:23 > 1:02:26There was always a slight problem when we would go out, all of us

1:02:26 > 1:02:32white boys with a black artist, that we'd get looks, OK?

1:02:32 > 1:02:36But there was nothing as bad as going out with a long-haired hippie

1:02:36 > 1:02:38with us white boys.

1:02:38 > 1:02:41They couldn't stand that, right?

1:02:42 > 1:02:45And so both of them stayed back.

1:02:45 > 1:02:48So, they went on lunch break and my brother went up to Wilson

1:02:48 > 1:02:52and he said, "Man, why don't you cut Hey Jude,

1:02:52 > 1:02:54"the Beatles song?"

1:02:54 > 1:02:58And at that point, I was mostly trying to create an original career

1:02:58 > 1:03:00Wilson Pickett, right? My songs.

1:03:00 > 1:03:04Pickett and I, in unison, both said, "Look, are you crazy?

1:03:04 > 1:03:06"We're going to cover the Beatles?!"

1:03:06 > 1:03:09And, of course, Duane said, "Exactly."

1:03:09 > 1:03:13While we were gone, Duane changed our whole session.

1:03:13 > 1:03:15# Just remember

1:03:15 > 1:03:18# To let her under your skin... #

1:03:18 > 1:03:19When you get to the vamp,

1:03:19 > 1:03:24it goes into just an unbelievable groove.

1:03:24 > 1:03:26# Ow!

1:03:26 > 1:03:27# Ah!

1:03:27 > 1:03:29# Ahhh

1:03:29 > 1:03:31# Oh, oh, ooh!

1:03:33 > 1:03:36# Hey Jude!

1:03:36 > 1:03:38# Ahh! #

1:03:38 > 1:03:39Duane Allman was playing such

1:03:39 > 1:03:47great guitar fields that something happened in that vamp.

1:03:47 > 1:03:50# Ahh, hey! #

1:03:50 > 1:03:52And, all of a sudden, there was southern rock.

1:03:53 > 1:03:55# Going to be all right... #

1:03:58 > 1:04:01That was the beginnings of The Allman Brothers Band.

1:04:03 > 1:04:07Jaimoe met my brother first. The two of them got together.

1:04:07 > 1:04:09When I met Duane,

1:04:09 > 1:04:13he had a cabin, he lived in down on the river in Muscle Shoals.

1:04:13 > 1:04:17And it was like... It was a nice place down there.

1:04:17 > 1:04:20In his spare time, he would do a lot of fishing.

1:04:20 > 1:04:25Muscle Shoals seemed to be the place for him to be at that time.

1:04:25 > 1:04:29He would do sessions. I would sit over with them at practice,

1:04:29 > 1:04:31and when he would get through the session,

1:04:31 > 1:04:34he'd roll his amplifier over there and the two of us would play.

1:04:34 > 1:04:38And then when Berry Oakley came down...

1:04:38 > 1:04:40HE WHISTLES

1:04:40 > 1:04:45Boy, the three of us had never played music like that.

1:04:45 > 1:04:48But that was pretty much the base of what turned out to be

1:04:48 > 1:04:49The Allman Brothers Band.

1:04:49 > 1:04:50ROCK MUSIC

1:04:55 > 1:04:57Duane said, "Well, Rick, this is the kind of music

1:04:57 > 1:04:59"that's coming in, going to be big again.

1:04:59 > 1:05:01"The kids are liking this." And I said, "Yeah, yeah.

1:05:01 > 1:05:04"Don't breathe on me, Duane, back off."

1:05:04 > 1:05:05ROCK MUSIC

1:05:08 > 1:05:10I never believed him and I told Phil Walden,

1:05:10 > 1:05:13"I don't understand this. They're sleeping in the studio all day

1:05:13 > 1:05:16"under quilts and things," and I wake up Duane and he says,

1:05:16 > 1:05:20"Man, you know, the stars and the moon are not quite lined up right."

1:05:20 > 1:05:21I'm not into all that.

1:05:21 > 1:05:24He said, "Well, hang in there, man. Turn on the machines and let

1:05:24 > 1:05:27"them run, and eventually you're going to make a billion dollars."

1:05:27 > 1:05:28ROCK MUSIC

1:05:31 > 1:05:33I said, "Ah, I can't do that, it's not me."

1:05:33 > 1:05:35So I missed the boat on that one.

1:05:36 > 1:05:37# Oh! #

1:05:39 > 1:05:40DRUM FILLS

1:05:42 > 1:05:43CHEERING

1:05:43 > 1:05:45HORN BLARES

1:05:52 > 1:05:53SOUL MUSIC

1:05:57 > 1:05:59Time, old time.

1:06:04 > 1:06:06Things change it, you know.

1:06:08 > 1:06:09I never will forget

1:06:09 > 1:06:14when Jimi Hendrix played behind me on Broadway.

1:06:14 > 1:06:16He was playing the band with King Curtis.

1:06:16 > 1:06:20I told King, "I think I'm going to steal that guitar player you got."

1:06:20 > 1:06:23He said, "Percy Sledge, that guy there is going to be

1:06:23 > 1:06:26"so big in the next year or two," he said, "I can't keep him

1:06:26 > 1:06:28"and you won't be able to keep him either."

1:06:28 > 1:06:30When Jimi came out

1:06:30 > 1:06:35with his style of music, well, our style of music kind of slacked back.

1:06:40 > 1:06:42Time always changes organisations

1:06:42 > 1:06:44and things that you're doing in life.

1:06:51 > 1:06:56Things happened in our world that changed everything.

1:06:56 > 1:07:01We decided to become entrepreneurs and become studio owners.

1:07:01 > 1:07:05So we had to tell Rick, who was our mentor and friend

1:07:05 > 1:07:07and who had gave us our chance.

1:07:07 > 1:07:11We elected Roger to go break the news to him.

1:07:11 > 1:07:15I had gone to LA to try to make a new deal with Capitol Records.

1:07:15 > 1:07:18We made a great deal and things were really exciting,

1:07:18 > 1:07:22and I came back and had a meeting with the Swampers.

1:07:22 > 1:07:25We were supposed to come up and sign the contract

1:07:25 > 1:07:26and be exclusive to Rick.

1:07:26 > 1:07:28Rick's office is upstairs

1:07:28 > 1:07:31and we're just kind of looking at each other, like,

1:07:31 > 1:07:34- "Oh, my God, we got to go up those stairs."- That'll do it.

1:07:35 > 1:07:39Up the stairs we go, knock on the door.

1:07:40 > 1:07:42Everybody's quiet.

1:07:43 > 1:07:48I began to tell them of this great new deal we've made with Capitol.

1:07:48 > 1:07:50I'm looking at them like, "Come on, guys, help me."

1:07:50 > 1:07:52And they're just like...

1:07:52 > 1:07:55One of the guys stopped me and said, "We've already made a deal

1:07:55 > 1:08:00"with Jerry Wexler and he is going to build us a studio across town.

1:08:00 > 1:08:02"We'll be leaving here, going with him."

1:08:06 > 1:08:09And when Roger dropped that bomb in that office,

1:08:09 > 1:08:12we were expecting a huge explosion.

1:08:14 > 1:08:17I felt like the whole bottom of my life had fell out.

1:08:18 > 1:08:22It's like we have thrown shit on his dreams.

1:08:22 > 1:08:24Do you remember what he said?

1:08:24 > 1:08:26He said, "You're never going to make it."

1:08:28 > 1:08:30It was war.

1:08:30 > 1:08:32Total war.

1:08:34 > 1:08:37# Oh, ooh, oh, baby

1:08:39 > 1:08:42# There's going to be judgment in the morning... #

1:08:42 > 1:08:44When we bought the studio,

1:08:44 > 1:08:47we were very nervous about whether or not we would have any hits,

1:08:47 > 1:08:50and you have to have to hits to keep recording.

1:08:50 > 1:08:53Jerry came to record at our place, and he brought Cher in,

1:08:53 > 1:08:56and that was our first client.

1:08:56 > 1:08:58Nothing happened, it wasn't any good.

1:09:01 > 1:09:05Six months went by, seven months, almost eight months.

1:09:05 > 1:09:09I think we would have killed for the hit record.

1:09:09 > 1:09:11We always wanted to own a studio and it was like,

1:09:11 > 1:09:14"What the hell have we done?!"

1:09:16 > 1:09:21And then all of a sudden, the English rock'n'roll guys started wanting

1:09:21 > 1:09:23to come to Muscle Shoals.

1:09:23 > 1:09:25When we went to record in Muscle Shoals,

1:09:25 > 1:09:26it was a really lightning visit.

1:09:26 > 1:09:28We just went in there, set up, and...

1:09:28 > 1:09:31you know, played our stuff for a couple of days.

1:09:31 > 1:09:34The sound was in my head before I even got there.

1:09:34 > 1:09:38And then, of course, when that actually lives up to it

1:09:38 > 1:09:42and beyond, you know, then you're in rock'n'roll heaven, man.

1:09:43 > 1:09:45# You got to move

1:09:47 > 1:09:49# You got to move

1:09:51 > 1:09:54# You got to move, child

1:09:54 > 1:09:56# You got to move

1:09:58 > 1:10:00# Oh, when the Lord

1:10:02 > 1:10:03# Gets ready

1:10:05 > 1:10:06# You got to move... #

1:10:08 > 1:10:12The first tune we did was a blues tune, You Got to Move.

1:10:12 > 1:10:15We're down in Alabama, you know, in Muscle Shoals,

1:10:15 > 1:10:18and we've got to cut some Fred McDowell stuff.

1:10:18 > 1:10:21If ever I'm going to do it, it's got to be here, you know,

1:10:21 > 1:10:24and we're probably soaking up a little Indian maiden too, you know?

1:10:24 > 1:10:26HE LAUGHS

1:10:26 > 1:10:28# Get ready

1:10:30 > 1:10:33# You got to move, ah... #

1:10:33 > 1:10:37We don't come from here, but we know quite a bit about the Deep South.

1:10:37 > 1:10:40From here.

1:10:40 > 1:10:43Their producer did not show.

1:10:43 > 1:10:46And it wound up I became the engineer. And I was thinking,

1:10:46 > 1:10:49"Oh, man, can you believe this?" You know?

1:10:49 > 1:10:51Because, like, when they come in, you're "shtuh-boom".

1:10:51 > 1:10:54- But that's there, it doesn't come in till the solo.- I know, I know.

1:10:54 > 1:10:58But I must point something out here, that nobody was drinking

1:10:58 > 1:10:59and nobody was drugging.

1:11:02 > 1:11:03Well...

1:11:05 > 1:11:06# You got to move... #

1:11:11 > 1:11:14I think we were drinking quite a lot.

1:11:14 > 1:11:17I'm sure there were lots of drinking and smoking marijuana and so on.

1:11:17 > 1:11:22Well, you know, I mean, you put it on a scale of what, you know?

1:11:22 > 1:11:25That was recording in those days, that was part of it.

1:11:25 > 1:11:29But otherwise, it was a lot of serious work as well.

1:11:29 > 1:11:32And once we knew the room was tuned to us

1:11:32 > 1:11:35and we were tuned to the room, then it became, you know,

1:11:35 > 1:11:40"Right, let's get as much done here as we possibly can," you know?

1:11:40 > 1:11:42Keith had this tune Wild Horses,

1:11:42 > 1:11:44but I don't think that was really finished.

1:11:44 > 1:11:47He had the chorus, but that was about it.

1:11:47 > 1:11:48So that was all written on the spot.

1:11:48 > 1:11:51It was just an idea, and it had to go to the bathroom

1:11:51 > 1:11:55for a little while just to sort of figure it out.

1:11:55 > 1:11:59And then say, "OK, I'm ready," back in, and then take, you know?

1:12:00 > 1:12:03# Childhood living

1:12:08 > 1:12:11# Is easy to do

1:12:15 > 1:12:19# The things you wanted... #

1:12:21 > 1:12:25Muscle Shoals Studio is in this rather interesting place.

1:12:25 > 1:12:28Being there does inspire you to do it slightly differently.

1:12:28 > 1:12:31Wild Horses is a sort of country song,

1:12:31 > 1:12:36and I remember we used Jim Dickinson, he played tack piano.

1:12:36 > 1:12:39# A sin and a lie

1:12:43 > 1:12:47# I have my freedom

1:12:49 > 1:12:53# But I don't have much time

1:12:56 > 1:13:00# Wild horses

1:13:01 > 1:13:07# Couldn't drag me away

1:13:09 > 1:13:12# Wild, wild horses

1:13:14 > 1:13:18# We'll ride them someday... #

1:13:28 > 1:13:32I thought it was one of the easiest and rockingest sessions

1:13:32 > 1:13:33that we'd ever done.

1:13:33 > 1:13:36I don't think we'd been quite so prolific ever.

1:13:36 > 1:13:39I mean, we cut three or four tracks in two days,

1:13:39 > 1:13:43and that, for the Stones, is going some...

1:13:43 > 1:13:45HE MUMBLES

1:13:45 > 1:13:48MUSIC: "Brown Sugar" by The Rolling Stones

1:13:48 > 1:13:51We left on a high with Brown Sugar.

1:13:51 > 1:13:55We knew we had one of the best things we'd ever done.

1:13:55 > 1:13:56The thing about Brown Sugar,

1:13:56 > 1:13:59it had this sound, it was quite distorted.

1:13:59 > 1:14:02It was pretty funky, you know. That was the whole idea of it.

1:14:04 > 1:14:09I always wanted to go back there and cut more, then shit happened,

1:14:09 > 1:14:12so we ended up in France in a basement doing Exile on Main St

1:14:12 > 1:14:15there, but otherwise, Exile would probably have been

1:14:15 > 1:14:18cut in Muscle Shoals, but politically, it wasn't possible.

1:14:18 > 1:14:21I wasn't allowed in the country at the time.

1:14:21 > 1:14:22So, there's that, you know.

1:14:23 > 1:14:25# Brown sugar

1:14:25 > 1:14:28# How come you taste so good?

1:14:31 > 1:14:33# Brown sugar

1:14:33 > 1:14:36# Just like a young girl should... #

1:14:36 > 1:14:40Those sessions were as vital to me as any I ever done.

1:14:40 > 1:14:45I mean, all this other stuff, Beggars Banquet and the other

1:14:45 > 1:14:48stuff we did, Gimme Shelter, Street Fighting Man,

1:14:48 > 1:14:54Jumping Jack Flash, you know, but I've always wondered that if we'd

1:14:54 > 1:14:56have cut them in Muscle Shoals,

1:14:56 > 1:14:59if they might not have been a little bit funkier.

1:15:06 > 1:15:10# Drums beating Cold English blood runs hot

1:15:10 > 1:15:14# Lady of the house wondering where it's going to stop

1:15:14 > 1:15:17# House boy knows that he's doing all right

1:15:17 > 1:15:21# You should have heard him just around midnight... #

1:15:35 > 1:15:38So, I got this great new deal with Capitol Records,

1:15:38 > 1:15:41but I've had this feud with Wexler, and he's taking my musicians

1:15:41 > 1:15:45and going across town and going to put me out of business, so he says.

1:15:45 > 1:15:47I imagine Rick was pissed.

1:15:47 > 1:15:51"Hey, I got this deal, and I don't have a rhythm section."

1:15:51 > 1:15:55But if Jerry thinks these are the only guys left in the world

1:15:55 > 1:15:57that you can cut hit records on then he's mistaken, because

1:15:57 > 1:16:01I believed that I could cut hit records with any group of musicians.

1:16:04 > 1:16:07We began to call every musician we knew and put 'em under contract.

1:16:13 > 1:16:15So that's why he calls me, get me up there real quick, and he said,

1:16:15 > 1:16:19"You know a bass player?" I said, "I know a great bass player."

1:16:19 > 1:16:21So I started playing, he said,

1:16:21 > 1:16:23"Do you know any other rhythm guys?"

1:16:23 > 1:16:25I said, "Yeah, Freeman Brown..."

1:16:26 > 1:16:29..who became one of the best fat-back drummers for Muscle Shoals.

1:16:32 > 1:16:34He said, "And I also need a horn section,"

1:16:34 > 1:16:39and I said, "Yeah, there's some guys that I met out of Nashville."

1:16:39 > 1:16:41Rick Hall wanted to put a band together

1:16:41 > 1:16:44and call it the Fame Gang, and I ended up being part of that.

1:16:46 > 1:16:50For me to surround myself with the strongest people I could

1:16:50 > 1:16:52made me a better producer.

1:16:53 > 1:16:55Here's what we're going to do, we're going to, er, let him

1:16:55 > 1:16:58play back the tape four or five times in succession.

1:16:58 > 1:16:59I want to work with the horns.

1:16:59 > 1:17:01This is a sad song.

1:17:01 > 1:17:03You know, so don't jive it up too much,

1:17:03 > 1:17:06ba-da-be-be-bu-be-dep, and take away from the lyrics,

1:17:06 > 1:17:09so it sounds like a dance record...

1:17:09 > 1:17:11The truth is, after Barry Beckett, Jimmy Johnson, Roger Hawkins

1:17:11 > 1:17:14and David Hood left and bought their own studio,

1:17:14 > 1:17:16we come in here with this new rhythm section, who was not really

1:17:16 > 1:17:20a studio band yet, but in 1971, Rick Hall's Producer of the Year.

1:17:20 > 1:17:23He didn't have that with the other guys.

1:17:23 > 1:17:26I started over again, and I believed I was as good as anybody.

1:17:26 > 1:17:30Here's Candi Staton to sing her big, big hit on Fame.

1:17:30 > 1:17:33At Fame, we experienced a lot of great artists,

1:17:33 > 1:17:35starting with Candi Staton.

1:17:36 > 1:17:39- Pretty mama.- We started to explode.

1:17:39 > 1:17:41The world was coming to Muscle Shoals.

1:17:41 > 1:17:43# You may think I'm silly

1:17:43 > 1:17:46# To love a man twice my age

1:17:46 > 1:17:48# But I know from experience, girls

1:17:48 > 1:17:49# Sometime it pays... #

1:17:49 > 1:17:52I did Bobbie Gentry for Capitol Records.

1:17:52 > 1:17:55I did King Curtis, I did Lou Rawls.

1:17:55 > 1:17:59Little Richard, Willie Hightower, Mac Davis, Joe Tex.

1:17:59 > 1:18:02# I'd rather be an old man's sweetheart

1:18:02 > 1:18:04# Than to be a young man's fool... #

1:18:04 > 1:18:07Then we cut all those records on Donnie Osmond,

1:18:07 > 1:18:09the Osmond Brothers, in 1971.

1:18:09 > 1:18:11I think they sold something in the neighbourhood of

1:18:11 > 1:18:1323 million records that one year.

1:18:13 > 1:18:17Joe Simon, the group Alabama, Paul Anka and Tom Jones.

1:18:17 > 1:18:20Clarence Carter, Wilson Pickett, Bobby Womack.

1:18:20 > 1:18:23I had one of the biggest record companies in the world behind me.

1:18:23 > 1:18:25I was getting twice the royalty rate

1:18:25 > 1:18:28that I was getting from Atlantic and Chess.

1:18:30 > 1:18:32So I was shitting in high cotton!

1:18:34 > 1:18:36# I'd rather be an old man's sweetheart

1:18:36 > 1:18:39# Than to be a young man's fool... #

1:18:41 > 1:18:46We were forming a production company in about '69 or '70,

1:18:46 > 1:18:48and our friend

1:18:48 > 1:18:53Alan Walden found this band in Jacksonville called Lynyrd Skynyrd.

1:18:53 > 1:18:57I was a sucker to want to cut that band immediately.

1:18:57 > 1:18:59So we signed them.

1:19:00 > 1:19:02When I first joined Lynyrd Skynyrd,

1:19:02 > 1:19:05Ronnie had always talked about the guys in Muscle Shoals.

1:19:05 > 1:19:07Apparently they had gone up there

1:19:07 > 1:19:12and recorded an entire album with Jimmy Johnson producing.

1:19:12 > 1:19:16They had no money, and I remember they would come up here, and they'd

1:19:16 > 1:19:21check in a truck stop where they'd get in fights with the truckers

1:19:21 > 1:19:23cos of their long hair.

1:19:23 > 1:19:26And, basically, all they had to eat was peanut butter sandwiches.

1:19:26 > 1:19:28The whole time.

1:19:29 > 1:19:32But I loved this band.

1:19:32 > 1:19:33I didn't know if it'd be a hit,

1:19:33 > 1:19:37but I'll tell you one thing, if you listen to those songs,

1:19:37 > 1:19:40some of the best rock'n'roll songs I've ever heard.

1:19:41 > 1:19:42Especially one.

1:19:45 > 1:19:48At the time we were cutting Freebird,

1:19:48 > 1:19:50we took a little lunch break.

1:19:50 > 1:19:54We walk in, the engineer had started playing the tape.

1:19:54 > 1:19:58Billy Powell, who was the roadie, he was sitting in there playing

1:19:58 > 1:20:01this concert piano that was so unbelievable

1:20:01 > 1:20:05that we walked in just in, like, awe,

1:20:05 > 1:20:06with our mouth open.

1:20:08 > 1:20:09And I look at Ronnie and he looks at me,

1:20:09 > 1:20:13and I said, "I gotta go and record with that, I don't know about you."

1:20:13 > 1:20:14And he said, "You got it."

1:20:14 > 1:20:16We put him on the record,

1:20:16 > 1:20:20and then he became a band member within a few months.

1:20:20 > 1:20:22He was a concert pianist.

1:20:22 > 1:20:24And nobody knew it, not anybody.

1:20:29 > 1:20:32I think he thought they wouldn't like that, you know,

1:20:32 > 1:20:33that he had studied, you know.

1:20:33 > 1:20:36But what a great thing he added to that record.

1:20:43 > 1:20:46But there was something different about this band.

1:20:46 > 1:20:49I mean, on this album, I had a nine-minute single,

1:20:49 > 1:20:53and I'm going to go and try to sell it to a record company that's

1:20:53 > 1:20:56never had a single over three and a half minutes.

1:20:56 > 1:20:58I mean, I got a problem.

1:20:58 > 1:21:03# If I leave here tomorrow

1:21:06 > 1:21:09# Would you still remember me? #

1:21:09 > 1:21:12But there started to be a lot of interest.

1:21:12 > 1:21:16They said, "We want you to cut it down to 3.45 on this one."

1:21:16 > 1:21:18I said, "No, can't do it."

1:21:18 > 1:21:23And I knew that if I did that, I'd destroy the integrity of the band.

1:21:23 > 1:21:29I said, "Go listen to 'em live and then you'll know what to do."

1:21:29 > 1:21:34# But if I stayed here with you, girl

1:21:37 > 1:21:40# Things just wouldn't be the same... #

1:21:40 > 1:21:44Not one A&R department would go listen to 'em.

1:21:44 > 1:21:47So, it wound up, I lost the band.

1:21:56 > 1:21:58And here I had all these great cuts.

1:21:58 > 1:22:02I cut the first Freebird, Simple Man, I mean, all this stuff, you know?

1:22:06 > 1:22:09And I wasted almost two years of my life.

1:22:10 > 1:22:14And it was very depressing for me, and I'm sure it was for them.

1:22:16 > 1:22:21# And this bird you cannot change

1:22:21 > 1:22:24# Whoa-whoa-whoa-whoa... #

1:22:24 > 1:22:27But the Skynyrd boys had one thing in their favour going for 'em.

1:22:27 > 1:22:29That guy, Alan Walden, that I talked to you about,

1:22:29 > 1:22:31he got 'em on The Who tour.

1:22:32 > 1:22:34World tour with The Who.

1:22:34 > 1:22:37When they came off of that Who tour, they were a hit band.

1:22:40 > 1:22:43# No, I can't change

1:22:44 > 1:22:48# Won't you fly high

1:22:48 > 1:22:51# Little freebird, yeah! #

1:23:35 > 1:23:37THUNDER CRACKS

1:23:39 > 1:23:41And then the crash happened.

1:23:48 > 1:23:53And Gary and Alan got well enough from the crash, they come to me

1:23:53 > 1:23:58and said, "We want 11 songs of your 17 to be the next album."

1:23:58 > 1:24:00And it was called the First and the Last.

1:24:08 > 1:24:10TRACTOR ENGINE STARTS AND GROWLS

1:24:27 > 1:24:32My father raised me, he cooked the meals, he got us off to school.

1:24:32 > 1:24:37I spent hours and hours in the woods with him cutting timber.

1:24:37 > 1:24:39He preached to me constantly,

1:24:39 > 1:24:41"You've got to be the best at whatever you do,

1:24:41 > 1:24:44"and good is not good enough, you've got to be the best in the world,

1:24:44 > 1:24:46"not just the best in this county."

1:24:47 > 1:24:51He had worked hard and I'd worked hard with him all of our lives,

1:24:51 > 1:24:54and so I wanted to do something to make life easier for him,

1:24:54 > 1:24:58so I bought him a new John Deere tractor.

1:24:59 > 1:25:03He'd always wanted a tractor. We never could afford a tractor.

1:25:12 > 1:25:15During this time, my dad was plying on the little tractor

1:25:15 > 1:25:19about a quarter of a mile from our house.

1:25:19 > 1:25:22My stepmother went out to look for my father

1:25:22 > 1:25:25and she saw the tractor wheels turned up in the air.

1:25:25 > 1:25:28And she knew something bad had happened.

1:25:28 > 1:25:30He was pinned under the tractor.

1:25:30 > 1:25:32He had tried to get away

1:25:32 > 1:25:35and had pawed in the ground trying to free himself.

1:25:35 > 1:25:41Of course, after his death, I went into a deep stupor.

1:25:41 > 1:25:43I mean, it's just overwhelming.

1:25:45 > 1:25:49I was playing in, uh, Texas.

1:25:49 > 1:25:51And Rick Hall called me

1:25:51 > 1:25:54and told me he had a song he wanted me to come up there and do.

1:25:54 > 1:25:57# I was born and raised down in Alabama

1:25:57 > 1:25:59# On a farm way back up in the woods

1:25:59 > 1:26:02# I was so ragged Folks used to call me Patches

1:26:02 > 1:26:04# Papa used to tease me about it

1:26:04 > 1:26:07# Of course, deep down inside he was hurt, cos he'd done all he could... #

1:26:08 > 1:26:11When Rick played the song to me, I said,

1:26:11 > 1:26:13"We going in the wrong direction."

1:26:13 > 1:26:15He didn't like the song,

1:26:15 > 1:26:18because he thought it was a downer for his people, the black people.

1:26:18 > 1:26:21# My papa was a great old man... #

1:26:21 > 1:26:25My papa was a great old man, I can see him with a shovel in his hand.

1:26:26 > 1:26:31Education he never had, but he did wonders when times got bad.

1:26:32 > 1:26:36It was my story about me and my father.

1:26:36 > 1:26:39# Oh, life had kicked him down to the ground

1:26:39 > 1:26:42# When he tried to get up Life would kick him back down

1:26:42 > 1:26:44# One day Papa called me to his dying bed

1:26:44 > 1:26:47# Put his hands on my shoulders Then in tears he said

1:26:47 > 1:26:52# He said, Patches I'm depending on you, son

1:26:52 > 1:26:55# To pull the family through

1:26:55 > 1:27:00# My son It's all left up to you... #

1:27:04 > 1:27:06All the things went through my mind of,

1:27:06 > 1:27:09he killed himself, you know, working for his son,

1:27:09 > 1:27:11and had lived vicariously through me

1:27:11 > 1:27:14thinking, "I couldn't make it, but maybe my son Rick can make it."

1:27:14 > 1:27:18# Sometimes I felt that I couldn't go on

1:27:18 > 1:27:21# I wanted to leave Just run away from home

1:27:21 > 1:27:23# But I would remember what my daddy said

1:27:23 > 1:27:26# With tears in his eyes on his dying bed

1:27:26 > 1:27:27# He said, Patches... #

1:27:27 > 1:27:30See, I was so taken by the story

1:27:30 > 1:27:33that I wanted to do a special production on it with strings

1:27:33 > 1:27:35and I wanted to go to LA and do it, and I did.

1:27:39 > 1:27:43I was a believer in Rick Hall knowing what to do,

1:27:43 > 1:27:46and if he said that was a good song, OK.

1:27:46 > 1:27:48Let's sing the song.

1:27:48 > 1:27:52# Patches, I'm depending on you, son

1:27:52 > 1:27:55# To pull the family through... #

1:27:55 > 1:28:00When it came out, it was going up the charts in a hurry.

1:28:00 > 1:28:02That was a number one record.

1:28:02 > 1:28:07# Patches, I'm depending on you, son

1:28:07 > 1:28:10# I've tried to do my best

1:28:10 > 1:28:13# It's up to you to do the rest... #

1:28:23 > 1:28:27The artists who come here, they come to get away from it all.

1:28:27 > 1:28:32Er, they can rest, stay away from the telephone,

1:28:32 > 1:28:34the hustle and bustle

1:28:34 > 1:28:37and people buggin' 'em regarding autographs or what have you.

1:28:37 > 1:28:39Nobody knows 'em here, in other words.

1:28:43 > 1:28:45People like to go to places

1:28:45 > 1:28:49that had a kind of magical kind of vibe about them,

1:28:49 > 1:28:53but they also like to get out of New York, out of LA or out of London

1:28:53 > 1:28:55sometimes to do these sessions.

1:28:59 > 1:29:01I mean, that was really the first of its kind,

1:29:01 > 1:29:03that attracted music people from all over the world.

1:29:03 > 1:29:05Sure, people go to New York to record.

1:29:05 > 1:29:08Big deal. Go to Muscle Shoals, where you can actually get lunch

1:29:08 > 1:29:12at a Meat and Three and really experience the Southern way of life.

1:29:12 > 1:29:14I mean, there's nothing like it.

1:29:17 > 1:29:20When I went to Muscle Shoals to record, for me it was more like

1:29:20 > 1:29:25going to my village in Summerton... in Jamaica.

1:29:25 > 1:29:29I did actually feel at home.

1:29:29 > 1:29:32# Sitting here in limbo

1:29:32 > 1:29:36# But I know it won't be long... #

1:29:36 > 1:29:40Jimmy had a very definite Jamaican songwriting style, and this was

1:29:40 > 1:29:45pre-Bob Marley, so nobody was really hip to the Jamaican sound that much.

1:29:45 > 1:29:49Here I am, going there with a different brand of feeling.

1:29:49 > 1:29:53They were readily adaptable to it.

1:29:53 > 1:29:56When an artist would come in, what our job was, to us,

1:29:56 > 1:29:59is to become their band.

1:29:59 > 1:30:01They were able to change who they were

1:30:01 > 1:30:03depending on the artist that walked in the door.

1:30:03 > 1:30:06That was the true genius of it.

1:30:06 > 1:30:09# I can't say what life will show me

1:30:09 > 1:30:12# But I know what I've seen

1:30:12 > 1:30:15# I can't say where life will leave me

1:30:15 > 1:30:18# But I know where I've been

1:30:18 > 1:30:21# Tried my hand at love and friendship

1:30:21 > 1:30:23# But all that is past and gone

1:30:25 > 1:30:28# This little boy is moving on... #

1:30:30 > 1:30:36The song Sitting In Limbo was such a fresh piece of music that you

1:30:36 > 1:30:38couldn't help but notice it.

1:30:38 > 1:30:41# Sitting in limbo... #

1:30:41 > 1:30:44And so definitely the Swampers, all white guys,

1:30:44 > 1:30:50played their role in bringing reggae to the forefront of the public.

1:30:50 > 1:30:53# Sitting in limbo, limbo, limbo... #

1:30:53 > 1:30:58It was after those sessions that Chris Blackwell had the idea

1:30:58 > 1:31:01to link them up with Steve Winwood.

1:31:01 > 1:31:03When we were going through our formative years,

1:31:03 > 1:31:06I started hearing this Southern soul music.

1:31:06 > 1:31:12And, of course, I didn't really have any concept of Muscle Shoals

1:31:12 > 1:31:18or the musicians or their background when I was first hearing this music.

1:31:18 > 1:31:22I just knew that the music had something very special for me,

1:31:22 > 1:31:24so when we actually got to work with them,

1:31:24 > 1:31:27it was an amazing experience for us.

1:31:27 > 1:31:32# Sometimes I feel so uninspired... #

1:31:32 > 1:31:35Recording with Traffic was a very strange thing.

1:31:35 > 1:31:39It was, erm... To me, it was strange.

1:31:39 > 1:31:43Of course, Traffic weren't a mainstream band at all.

1:31:43 > 1:31:47We would try and take elements of

1:31:47 > 1:31:50rock, jazz, folk music,

1:31:50 > 1:31:53all sorts of different ethnic folk music.

1:31:53 > 1:31:56Our own particular name for it was "headless horsemen music".

1:31:58 > 1:32:01# But don't let it get you down... #

1:32:01 > 1:32:06They didn't go about recording the way that we were used to.

1:32:06 > 1:32:09At that time, I was trying to be real precise.

1:32:09 > 1:32:10Traffic was the exact opposite.

1:32:10 > 1:32:13"It sounds terrible, let's play it anyway.

1:32:13 > 1:32:15"It might not ever sound good, but let's play it."

1:32:15 > 1:32:19It wasn't an immediate easy marriage.

1:32:19 > 1:32:21But as time went on, I started, I guess you might say,

1:32:21 > 1:32:23opening up a little bit.

1:32:23 > 1:32:25I was forced to learn how to jam again.

1:32:31 > 1:32:35The song that stands out for me off that album is

1:32:35 > 1:32:37Sometimes I Feel So Uninspired.

1:32:37 > 1:32:43What Muscle Shoals did to that song was truly spectacular.

1:32:43 > 1:32:45They brought these rhythmic elements

1:32:45 > 1:32:48and harmonic elements that we could never have reached.

1:32:57 > 1:33:00And then Chris Blackwell says,

1:33:00 > 1:33:03"Well, we'd like for you guys to go on the road with us."

1:33:03 > 1:33:07And so we go out and play with Traffic at these big venues

1:33:07 > 1:33:12- and 20,000 people.- We were just thrilled that they agreed.

1:33:12 > 1:33:16But, of course, they'd actually never been on the road with anyone.

1:33:16 > 1:33:20There were times when Jim and I and Chris would get together

1:33:20 > 1:33:22and sort of worry, say,

1:33:22 > 1:33:26"Are we corrupting these guys' minds in that their music

1:33:26 > 1:33:30"possibly came out of some sort of innocence?"

1:33:30 > 1:33:33We suffered a certain amount of guilt for that.

1:33:38 > 1:33:43Musicians are pretty noted for the gypsy life, moving around and playing

1:33:43 > 1:33:47a different venue every night, but we really liked our family life.

1:33:53 > 1:33:55When I first started in music,

1:33:55 > 1:34:00I had visions of New York and Los Angeles and travel different places.

1:34:00 > 1:34:01And the more I've done that,

1:34:01 > 1:34:04the more I've realised that this is the best place.

1:34:04 > 1:34:06It is my home and I love it here.

1:34:08 > 1:34:11We had many opportunities to move our operation,

1:34:11 > 1:34:13but we thought people would come to us.

1:34:13 > 1:34:15Why would we have to go to them when they would come to us?

1:34:16 > 1:34:21# Sometimes even now When I'm feeling lonely and beat

1:34:23 > 1:34:29# I drift back in time and I find my feet

1:34:29 > 1:34:31# Down on Main Street... #

1:34:33 > 1:34:35I'm going to tell you, working with Bob Seger

1:34:35 > 1:34:37was just magnificent, really was.

1:34:37 > 1:34:41He was the kind of guy that he had no ego.

1:34:43 > 1:34:45# Down on Main Street... #

1:34:45 > 1:34:48And Main Street's one of my really favourite cuts.

1:34:48 > 1:34:50Seger really put his heart in that one.

1:34:50 > 1:34:53Most of the people in Detroit and the Muscle Shoals people

1:34:53 > 1:34:57thought they were talking about the Main Street of their town.

1:34:58 > 1:35:00We had a ten-year run with it,

1:35:00 > 1:35:05that we were at least doing half the album each time we put out an album.

1:35:13 > 1:35:17The studio just started taking a life of its own.

1:35:19 > 1:35:22Stars fell on Alabama,

1:35:22 > 1:35:26and everybody who was anybody came to record at that studio.

1:35:26 > 1:35:32# When I think back on all the crap I learned in high school

1:35:35 > 1:35:38# It's a wonder I can think at all... #

1:35:38 > 1:35:41When we really got moving in the '70s, we were doing,

1:35:41 > 1:35:43like, 50 albums a year.

1:35:43 > 1:35:45It was one of the best rooms I've ever worked in.

1:35:45 > 1:35:48The sound was like the perfect sound, it was the sound that

1:35:48 > 1:35:52you'd been going for everywhere else but couldn't get.

1:35:52 > 1:35:56That's why it became the place where everybody wanted to record.

1:35:56 > 1:36:00# I got a Nikon camera

1:36:00 > 1:36:03# I love to take a photograph

1:36:03 > 1:36:09# So, Mama Don't take my Kodachrome away... #

1:36:09 > 1:36:13We were very fortunate to get to work with a lot of the big stars.

1:36:13 > 1:36:17Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, Boz Scaggs, Staple Singers.

1:36:17 > 1:36:21Rod Stewart, Joe Cocker, I mean, I can just name you a list.

1:36:21 > 1:36:25- Johnny Taylor.- Glenn Frey. - Leon Russell.- Willie Nelson.

1:36:25 > 1:36:27- Levon Helm.- Donnie Fritts.

1:36:27 > 1:36:30- Carlos Santana, John Prine. - Millie Jackson.

1:36:30 > 1:36:32RB Greaves, JJ Cale.

1:36:32 > 1:36:36Dire Straits, Simon & Garfunkel.

1:36:36 > 1:36:38# Mama, don't take my Kodachrome

1:36:38 > 1:36:40# Mama, don't take my Kodachrome

1:36:40 > 1:36:42# Mama, don't take my Kodachrome away... #

1:36:44 > 1:36:49Still amazes me today that all that music was played by us guys,

1:36:49 > 1:36:52a lot of that music was hits.

1:36:52 > 1:36:54You look back and you see the discography,

1:36:54 > 1:36:56we're as amazed as anybody.

1:37:56 > 1:38:01My whole life has been based on, er, a lot of it rejection.

1:38:03 > 1:38:04And, to be honest with you, I think

1:38:04 > 1:38:09rejection played a big role in my life, because...

1:38:11 > 1:38:12..I thrived on it.

1:38:14 > 1:38:17I wanted to prove the world was wrong and I was right.

1:38:19 > 1:38:21I was rejected by my mother.

1:38:22 > 1:38:26I was rejected by schoolmates because I was poverty-stricken.

1:38:28 > 1:38:32As I grew older, I was rejected by Atlantic Records with Jerry Wexler.

1:38:34 > 1:38:39I don't think I've ever been more angry than I was at Jerry Wexler

1:38:39 > 1:38:42and the Swampers who left me at that time.

1:38:43 > 1:38:45It was bitter.

1:38:51 > 1:38:55But that all passes with time. Those things change.

1:39:10 > 1:39:13Our respect for Rick Hall is never-ending.

1:39:14 > 1:39:15He was our mentor.

1:39:17 > 1:39:19He gave all of us an opportunity

1:39:19 > 1:39:22that we would never have gotten without him.

1:39:26 > 1:39:29We all got our start working with Rick Hall.

1:39:30 > 1:39:33Rick is really the founder of the music business in Muscle Shoals.

1:39:35 > 1:39:38These are guys that I love with all my heart, and we've worked together

1:39:38 > 1:39:43for years, who wanted, like I did, to become special in the music business.

1:39:53 > 1:39:58Because they've played on so many of these wonderful hit records,

1:39:58 > 1:40:01they will take their place in the history of American music.

1:40:01 > 1:40:03That's the great thing about recording.

1:40:03 > 1:40:07From thereon you're immortal because it's in the grooves, right.

1:40:07 > 1:40:12Everything that everybody done here, it came from their heart,

1:40:12 > 1:40:15and that's what made Muscle Shoals so powerful.

1:40:15 > 1:40:17What music built there

1:40:17 > 1:40:20is not something that you can see with your eye.

1:40:20 > 1:40:23In fact, if you look at the recording studios,

1:40:23 > 1:40:25they were humble shells.

1:40:25 > 1:40:28But what they contained was an empire

1:40:28 > 1:40:33that crossed race and creed, ethnicity.

1:40:33 > 1:40:34It was revolutionary.

1:40:35 > 1:40:41I'm honoured to step in the place of people who I wish I could have met.

1:40:41 > 1:40:44There's still a piece of Etta here, a piece of Aretha here,

1:40:44 > 1:40:47there's a piece of everybody who walked through these doors.

1:40:47 > 1:40:50There's a perfect storm here.

1:40:50 > 1:40:53Everybody needs to know all the different nuances that

1:40:53 > 1:40:58went into making this thing happen and all the stars aligning

1:40:58 > 1:41:00and it exploding the way it did.

1:41:00 > 1:41:06I'm just so proud to be from this area and to see everything

1:41:06 > 1:41:10that is to come out of this incredible singing river.

1:41:10 > 1:41:12I am honoured.

1:41:26 > 1:41:29# Well, I'm pressing on

1:41:33 > 1:41:37# And I'm pressing on

1:41:40 > 1:41:43# And I'm pressing on

1:41:43 > 1:41:50# To the higher calling of my Lord

1:41:53 > 1:41:56# Can't you see that I'm pressing on?

1:41:59 > 1:42:04# I'm pressing on

1:42:07 > 1:42:10- # Pressing on - I'm pressing on

1:42:10 > 1:42:15# To the higher calling of my Lord

1:42:15 > 1:42:17# Lord

1:42:22 > 1:42:23# Shake the dust off your feet

1:42:23 > 1:42:29# Hey, don't look back

1:42:29 > 1:42:31# Nothing gonna hold you down

1:42:31 > 1:42:35# There's nothing you lack

1:42:35 > 1:42:38# Temptation's not an easy thing

1:42:38 > 1:42:41# Adam gave the Devil reins

1:42:41 > 1:42:45# And because he sinned I've got no choice

1:42:45 > 1:42:47# It runs in my veins

1:42:47 > 1:42:51# But I gotta keep pressing on

1:42:51 > 1:42:54# On and on and on and on

1:42:54 > 1:42:58# I gotta keep pressing on

1:43:00 > 1:43:04# I'm gonna keep pressing Pressing on

1:43:04 > 1:43:07# To the higher

1:43:07 > 1:43:11# Higher calling of my Lord

1:43:13 > 1:43:14# Yeah

1:43:15 > 1:43:18# I gotta go higher

1:43:21 > 1:43:25# I gotta go higher

1:43:28 > 1:43:30# I'm gonna go higher

1:43:33 > 1:43:38# To the higher calling of my Lord

1:43:39 > 1:43:45# I know somebody Somebody feels what I'm saying

1:43:45 > 1:43:47# Somebody knows what I'm going through

1:43:47 > 1:43:52# Oh, don't you wanna go higher?

1:43:54 > 1:43:58# I know you wanna keep pressing on Yeah

1:43:58 > 1:44:04# To the highest calling of the Lord... #

1:44:09 > 1:44:12MUSIC: "Sweet Home Alabama" by Lynyrd Skynyrd

1:44:19 > 1:44:22Ronnie had always talked about the guys at Muscle Shoals,

1:44:22 > 1:44:24then when we wrote Sweet Home Alabama,

1:44:24 > 1:44:28the last verse says, "Muscle Shoals has got the Swampers."

1:44:28 > 1:44:30I went, "Ronnie, what is that, Swampers?"

1:44:30 > 1:44:34He goes, "Oh, that's Jimmy and Roger and the guys in Muscle Shoals."

1:44:34 > 1:44:37# Now, Muscle Shoals has got the Swampers

1:44:39 > 1:44:42# And they've been known to pick a song or two

1:44:42 > 1:44:43# Yes, they do! #

1:44:43 > 1:44:46We were given that name by Denny Cordell,

1:44:46 > 1:44:49who was the producer with Leon Russell.

1:44:49 > 1:44:51I think he just thought it sounded good, you know,

1:44:51 > 1:44:54cos Muscle Shoals, there's a lot of water here.

1:44:54 > 1:44:58You gotta have a name, and Swampers is a good nickname.

1:44:58 > 1:45:01# Sweet home Alabama

1:45:03 > 1:45:07# Lord, I'm coming home to you... #

1:45:07 > 1:45:10There's two guitar solos in that song, one short one,

1:45:10 > 1:45:12one very long one, and they both came to me in a dream,

1:45:12 > 1:45:14absolutely note for note.

1:45:14 > 1:45:17All the transition points, the fingering, the chord voicings.

1:45:17 > 1:45:21I woke up out of the dream, picked up the guitar and it was done.

1:46:12 > 1:46:16# Now, Muscle Shoals has got the Swampers

1:46:17 > 1:46:20# And they've been known to pick a song or two

1:46:20 > 1:46:22# Yes, they do

1:46:22 > 1:46:25# Lord, they get me off so much

1:46:27 > 1:46:29# They pick me up when I'm feeling blue

1:46:29 > 1:46:30# Now, how 'bout you?

1:46:31 > 1:46:37# Sweet home Alabama Oh, sweet home, baby

1:46:37 > 1:46:40# Where the skies are so blue And the guv'nor's true... #

1:46:40 > 1:46:46When you hear musicians, five or six of 'em in a room,

1:46:46 > 1:46:49and you hear the imperfections, that's the human element.

1:46:50 > 1:46:53If a guy falls off of the stool who's playing the drums,

1:46:53 > 1:46:58I really don't give a shit, as long as he don't miss a beat.

1:46:58 > 1:47:01He can get back up and climb back up, and most people,

1:47:01 > 1:47:04including myself, think that's great.

1:47:04 > 1:47:07That's the human element, there's faults.

1:47:07 > 1:47:09So, the imperfections gives it the human element,

1:47:09 > 1:47:13which I believe is what we need today more.

1:47:13 > 1:47:17And that's how you make magic and great records. Amen.

1:47:19 > 1:47:21That's my sermon for the day, by the way.