The Man from Muscle Shoals: My Journey from Shame to Fame

by Rick Hall, Peter Guralnick (Foreword by)

Overview

This is the story of legendary record producer Rick Hall and his historic role in the development of the world-famous “Muscle Shoals sound.”

Rick Hall made music history when he founded FAME Recording Studios, the first professional recording studio in the entire state of Alabama. After producing and engineering the area’s first national hit on Arthur Alexander’s Southern Soul classic “You Better Move On,” Rick went on to earn international fame and eventually a Grammy for a lifetime of achievements.

In the days when Martin Luther King Jr. was marching for freedom, Rick proved to be a civil rights pioneer through his music. His records helped introduce white audiences to the black music market and black audiences to the white music market.

From the moment “You Better Move On” hit the charts, record executives literally flocked to Muscle Shoals for Rick to produce and engineer a mind-boggling array of major artists, from Aretha Franklin to Bobbie Gentry, from the Osmonds to Alabama. His astonishing production abilities were matched by his incredible versatility.

Music fans, history buffs, and others delight to these fascinating tales of how Rick Hall launched the music careers of so many famous artists.

Award-winning DVD, Muscle Shoals, included with every book.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781941437537
Publisher:	Heritage Builders
Publication date:	03/17/2015
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	400
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Rick Hall was born to a family of sharecroppers in Tishomingo County, MS, and was raised in Franklin County, AL. He moved to Rockford, IL, as a teenager and began playing in local bar bands. He went on to become a record producer, songwriter, music publisher, and musician who is best known as the owner and proprietor of the legendary FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, AL. FAME is the oldest studio in the world still operating under the same owner.

Rick won a trustees Grammy Award for lifetime achievement with his documentary Muscle Shoals. He lives in Muscle Shoals, AL.

Peter Guralnick has been called "a national resource" by critic Nat Hentoff for work that has argued passionately and persuasively for the vitality of this country’s intertwined black and white musical traditions. His books include the prize-winning two-volume biography of Elvis Presley, Last Train to Memphis, Careless Love, Sweet Soul Music, and Dream Boogie: The Triumph of Sam Cooke. His biography of Sam Phillips is scheduled to be published in 2015.

Table of Contents

The Freedom Hills 1

A Wild and Dangerous Love Affair 3

Losing My Mother 9

Living with Grandma Hall 13

A Country Doctor and Grandma Hall's Death 19

Rock Creek and a New Life 23

The Thrill of Buying Groceries 29

Uncle Earl 31

Uncle Earl and His Straight 8 33

My Musical Roots 35

Country Remedies and Food for Po'Folks 39

Christmas in the Freedom Hills 45

Rock Creek School and Community 47

Rock Creek School 49

From a Shack to a Log House 51

Dad Almost Died 53

North to Cleveland 55

My Uncle George and Me 61

Country Characters and Adventure 65

Hog-Killin' Time 69

Saturdays in Town 73

Life and Love at Gravel Hill 75

Meeting My Mother 79

Moving Up North 83

Sweet Home Alabama 87

My Mother's Kin 91

Life at Liberty Hill 95

Bump, Bump in the Cemetery 99

Slap Her Down Again Paw 103

Getting to Know My Mother 107

My Ole Gibson Guitar 111

A Crashing Halt 113

Hitchhiking Home 115

Faye Marie, My First Wife 121

Our Marriage and a Terrible Accident 125

Another Tragic Death 131

The Country Pals 135

Arkansas Travelers 141

My First Recordings 147

A Double Dose of Genius 151

The Big Phone Call 157

A New Band and a New Life 161

The High Cost of Hard Work 165

The Skids Were Greased 169

Hustling with Hansel in Muscle Shoals 173

My First Taste of Fame 177

Giving Up on Music City 183

Producing My First Hit 185

My First Rhythm Section 189

Arthur Moves On 191

The Love of My Life, Linda Kay 193

Fortune and Fame 197

Birth of the Muscle Shoals Sound 201

The Great Vodka Tour 205

'Steal Away' - a Big Breakthrough 207

Mentors, Decisions and Transitions 213

Moving Up and Branching Out 215

Clarence and Calvin, on a Lazy Sunday Afternoon 225

Pitching Percy to Atlantic Records 229

The Main Man Arrives 235

Atlantic Records Looks South 239

The Wicked Pickett 241

Keeping the Streak Alive 247

Wexler Discovers Muscle Shoals 249

Aretha Franklin - The Queen of Soul 257

The Aretha Aftermath 265

Otis and Arthur: Sweet Soul Music 269

Etta James, the Real Thing 271

Clarence Carter-from 'Funky Fever' to 'Patches' 275

Duane Allman and The Allman Brothers Band 281

Farewell Forever 285

The Majors Come Calling 289

Brother Karl Engemann 293

Tragedies and Triumphs 299

My Mother Re-Enters My Life 305

Candi Staton - The Lady of Southern Soul 309

Bobbie Gentry Woos Muscle Shoals 317

The Osmonds 323

The Dark Side of the Music Business 333

Hooked on Mac Davis - Song Painter 337

Stop and Smell The Roses 343

Paul Anka 347

Back to My Roots 353

Sami Jo and Her Manager 357

Hits, Misses and Musical Idols 359

Hard Times Again 365

Answered Prayers 371

Mac is Back! 375

Going Country 379

The Best of Both Worlds 385

Shenandoah… and it Still Hurts 387

Alabama 393

The Profitable Power of Music Publishing 397

Next Chapter in My Musical Journey 401

What People are Saying About This

Randy Owen

“If anyone were ever meant to write a book about music, it would be Rick Hall. If anyone were meant to write a book about Muscle Shoals, Alabama music, that too would be Rick Hall. You can’t be a music fan without being touched by the sounds that Rick has influenced. He has few, if any, equals. The music that Rick has been a part of will live and be played and be heard as long as there are speakers and radios, and as long as the Tennessee River flows. He has cotton field genius. You can’t teach it; you can’t learn it, and you can’t copy it. You have to live it. I wanna congratulate Rick and his beautiful wife Linda and thank them for sharing one of the greatest musical stories. I’m proud to know you, Rick.”

Editorial Reviews

08/03/2015
Hall changed the course of popular music history in the early 1960s when he opened his FAME Recording Studios in the tiny town of Muscle Shoals, Ala.—the first professional studio in the entire state. Hall's memoir is a fascinating tale of how he combined a love of country music and rhythm and blues with a band of talented local musicians ("The Swampers," immortalized in Lynyrd Skynyrd's hit "Sweet Home Alabama") to create "a safe haven where blacks and whites could work together in musical harmony," producing hits for many different musicians including Wilson Pickett, Joe Tex, Clarence Carter, Aretha Franklin, Paul Anka, and the Osmonds. The "Muscle Shoals Sound" created at FAME is often associated with the rival Muscle Shoals Sound Studio founded in 1969 by the Swampers after an acrimonious split with Hall. But the book firmly puts the spotlight on Hall's unique accomplishments, and provides a moving tale of Hall's rise from a poverty-stricken youth surrounded by "starvation, deaths, sickness, divorces, and tornadoes" to his nurturing of a regional sweet soul sound that exploded onto the national music scene. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

“If anyone were ever meant to write a book about music, it would be Rick Hall. If anyone were meant to write a book about Muscle Shoals, Alabama music, that too would be Rick Hall. You can’t be a music fan without being touched by the sounds that Rick has influenced. He has few, if any, equals. The music that Rick has been a part of will live and be played and be heard as long as there are speakers and radios, and as long as the Tennessee River flows. He has cotton field genius. You can’t teach it; you can’t learn it, and you can’t copy it. You have to live it. I wanna congratulate Rick and his beautiful wife Linda and thank them for sharing one of the greatest musical stories. I’m proud to know you, Rick.”
Randy Owen, Alabama

“I’m grateful for my association with Rick. He was the one who inspired the creation and magic of many of my career’s early records. It’s fascinating for me to read his perspective on how it all began. I’ll always be appreciative to Rick for taking a chance, not just on the Osmonds, but on me particularly. I doubt I would have had the career I enjoy today without the genius of Rick Hall.”
Donnie Osmond

“I’ve known Rick Hall for some fifty years now. It’s because of his indomitable spirit and old- fashioned work ethic that my biggest hits were recorded at his FAME studio in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. This wonderful book answers a lot of questions about the “ Muscle Shoals Mystique” and yes, there IS “ something in the water” down there…”
Mac Davis

“Rick Hall’s “The Man from Muscle Shoals” is a great read! The epitome of hard work, raw drive and belief in one’s self, Rick shows how he overcame personal tragedy, disappointment and powerful industry opposition to establish and transform the small country town of Muscle Shoals, Alabama into a world renown recording mecca.”
Larry King

“The moment I stepped into Rick Hall’s Fame Recording Studios, I felt a buzz! I was giddy like a little girl with excitement! The history, fellowship and talent of the artists who’d come before enveloped and surrounded me and it was powerful. I tasted it on my lips, it sank down to my heart. I wanted to absorb and revel in the ambiance where the beautiful music was created and has gone on to move generations.”
GRAMMY TRUSTEES AWARD By Alicia Keys

“There’s an unwritten mantra in the world and business of entertainment, which states that one never knows where and when extraordinary and unique talent may come from. Rick Hall is perhaps one of those who personifies that concept, coming from a town, and a time which never could have been predicted to yield such an iconic and game-changing creative force, who continues to influence creative musicians and please music-loving fans all around the globe. “
Neal Portnow, President, National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (Grammy’s).

“I looked at him and said, so this is Rick Hall, this is FAME recording studios, and I’m in Alabama and I’m gonna get some of this Alabama mud. Rick Hall was the 1st white man I had seen that had that kind of soul; he was an engineer that was soulful. I would be so hard headed and say, don’t tell me nothing, but I finally realized that
everything he used to badger me about, he was always right.”
Etta James

“I was there to make it work period. We would sit there and make that record together, I was singing along, Rick Hall stuck there every minute; we would all work it out together. Rick Hall was his own engineer; he built the studio he knew all the electric wiring in there. After my 1st night in that studio I was convinced that this could be my recording home. Rick Hall and I were the real nitty gritty right down in the cold nitty gritty.”
Wilson Pickett

“Rick Hall is a classic American hero who denied being defeated or overcome by tragedy. Despite heart wrenching odds, he triumphed to birth the quintessential ‘Muscle Shoals Sound’ known and revered by musicians while also helping to craft some of the world’s greatest rock, pop, country, and soul music ever.”
Stephen Badger, Producer, & Greg ‘Freddy’ Camalier, Producer & Director, Muscle Shoals

From the Publisher