Muscle Shoals Sound Studio
Colbert County, Alabama; Sheffield, Alabama; Muscle Shoals Sound Studio; Performing Arts; Music; National Register of Historic Places
The modest exterior of the one-story concrete structure at 3614 North Jackson Highway stands in deceptively stark contrast to the majesty of the music produced therein. The building once housed the legendary Muscle Shoals Sound Studio, where some of the most influential popular music of the 20th century was recorded and produced. Between 1969 and 1978, the studio and its versatile Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, affectionately known as "the Swampers," turned out "over 50 gold and platinum hits and hundreds of albums for pop, rock, blues, funk, soul, reggae, and even country music superstars," and in the process made the Shoals area famous the world over. <br /><br />Having played on some of the biggest pop, rock and soul hits of the 1960s as the house band for Rick Hall's FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, the four-man MSRS struck out on their own in 1969 and, with the financial backing of Atlantic Records president Jerry Wexler, opened their own studio in the neighboring town of Sheffield. After an inauspicious start, a number-one single recorded with R.B. Greaves ("Take a Letter Maria") and a visit from the Rolling Stones (immortalized in the documentary film <em>Gimme Shelter</em>) inaugurated the studio's decade-long gold and platinum winning streak. <br /><br />The Muscle Shoals Sound Studio was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2006.
Brian Corrigan, University of North Alabama
National Register of Historic Places, Muscle Shoals Sound Studio, Sheffield, Colbert County, Alabama, National Register #06000437.
Alabama Cultural Resource Survey
November 7, 2015
text, image
Jason Isbell
Lauderdale County, Alabama; Greenhill, Alabama; Jason Isbell; Alabama Musicians
(Michael) Jason Isbell, who was born on February 1st, 1979, in Greenhill, Alabama (two miles from the Alabama-Tennessee state line) is an Alabama musician and songwriter whose work very much embodies a distinctive sense of place.
He grew up in rural Alabama, attended Rogers (a school that serves kindergarten through grade twelve), and the University of Memphis.
Family members taught him to play musical instruments and he was playing professionally at the age of fourteen. Many local musicians, including David Hood, served as mentors to Isbell and he got a publishing deal with FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals when he was twenty-one years old.
He joined the Drive-by Truckers at the age of twenty-two and worked on their next three albums -- "Decoration Day" (2003), "The Dirty South," (2004), and "Blessing and Curse" (2006). Isbell was fired by the Drive-by Truckers in 2007. (The band members have remained friendly.)
Isbell formed a band, Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit. made up of musicians (for the most part) from the Muscle Shoals area in 2009. They recorded and released two albums -- "Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit" (2009) and "Here We Rest" (2011).
"Southeastern," a solo album, was released in 2013 and was a critical success. Isbell won the 2014 Americana Music Awards for Album of the Year, Artist of the Year, and the song, "Cover Me," from the album was named song of the year.
"Something More Than Free," released on July 17, 2015 debuted at number one on Billboard Magazine's rock, folk, and country record charts.
Pam Kingsbury, University of North Alabama
Doyle, Patrick, "Jason Isbell's New Morning," Rolling Stone, August 7, 2015.
"Jason Isbell on Success after Excess," CBS "Sunday Morning," August 9th, 2015.
1979 to the present.
Pam Kingsbury, University of North Alabama