Beginnings of the Muscle Shoals Sound

". . down the highway in Muscle Shoals, music producer Rick Hall . . oversaw an earthy brand of soul music at his Fame Studio, played by a band of funky white guys and fronted by black singers steeped in the Baptist gospel tradition. In the spring of 1964, Rick's interracial soul blend went national in a big way via a former gospel singer, an Alabama man named Jimmy Hughes.

“Steal Away,” a song Jimmy wrote and the first recording made in Rick’s newly built studio, crystallized the sound the producer wanted. It was evocative of the soul-venting histrionics of the black Baptist church and the greasy blues of the juke joint. Whether it’s a religious or a secular context, the source of such an incandescent sound is the same."

FROM: "I Won't Tell Anybody Else: Jimmy Hughes Steals Away" by Rashod Ollison; October 16, 2013.