Beyond Memphis and Motown: Alabama Soul
It is important to know there were other regions other than Memphis and Detroit contributing to the sound of soul music. These include Alabama, New Orleans, Chicago, and New York City. All these regions are briefly covered here.
Alabama Soul
Outside of Memphis, the most important region for recording Southern soul music was a cluster of four towns in northern Alabama collectively referred to as Muscle Shoals. Situated on either side of the Tennessee River in the dry counties of Colbert and Lauderdale, the four towns-Florence, Sheffield, Tuscumbia, and Muscle Shoals itself-had no music scene to speak of through the late 1950s. That was to change when an eccentric local visionary, Tom Stafford, joined forces with two songwriters from Hamilton, Alabama, Billy Sherrill and Rick Hall, to form FAME (Florence, Alabama Music Enterprises) Music in 1959. Quickly transforming a doctor's office located above Stafford's father's drugstore into a studio, FAME began to attract an array of aspiring White country, rock, and R & B musicians, including Donnie Fritts, Spooner Oldham, and Dan Penn.
The latter two were to write soul standards such as "Out of Left Field" for Percy Sledge and "I'm Your Puppet" for James and Bobby Purify, and later become essential elements of the Memphis music scene working with Chips Moman. In a documentary titled "Black White and Blue: The Muscle Shoals Sound", Rick Hall and others recount the company's success.
Black White and Blue: The Muscle Shoals Sound [ 00:00-00:00 ]
The FAME partnership ended in mid-1960, with Rick Hall retaining the name while building a new studio modeled on Nashville's RCA complex in an old tobacco and candy warehouse. In mid-1961, Hall produced "You Better Move On" (later covered by the Rolling Stones), backed with "A Shot of Rhythm and Blues" for local Black singer named Arthur Alexander. An all-White local rhythm section that included future Elvis Presley sidemen drummer Jerry Carrigan and pianist David Briggs provided the accompaniment. Over the next few years, Hall produced hits on a freelance basis for Tommy Roe and the Tams.
Then, in 1964 he produced "Steal Away" for local gospel singer Jimmy Hughes and issued it on his FAME label. Shortly after the record broke into the R & B Top 20, the FAME rhythm section quit and went to Nashville. Undeterred, Hall put together a second rhythm section, heavily influenced by Booker T. and the MG's, consisting of drummer Roger Hawkins, bassist David Hood, guitarist Jimmy Johnson, and keyboard player Spooner Oldham. In 1967, when the latter headed to Memphis, Barry Beckett joined what became known as the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section.
The first Alabama Southern soul record to reach no. 1 on the pop charts and the first hit recorded by Hall's new rhythm section was Percy Sledge's "When a Man Loves a Woman".
Percy Sledge - When A Man Loves A Woman (Live) [ 00:00-00:00 ]
A Change is Gonna Come
I was born by the river
In a little tent
Oh, and just like the river, I've been runnin'
Ever since
It's been a long
A long time comin', but I know
A change gon' come
Oh, yes it will
Long Walk to D.C.
It's a long walk to DC but I've got my walking shoes on
I can't take a plane, passer train, because my money ain't that long
America we believe, oh that you love us still
So people I'm gonna be under to wipe away my tears