Muscle Shoals Record Shop

Muscle Shoals legend Eddie Hinton was born on this day. Eddie was an amazing songwriter and guitarist, and his voice was one for the ages.

Photo courtesy of Joey Flippen and James Counts. 1983 Sheffield, Alabama.

"Back then it was a little touchy for a black guy to go out with five or six white guys to eat. And Duane was in a precarious situation, he had long hair. And people that had long hair that went out with us got worse looks than the black guys.

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And so the two of them stayed back and that's when Duane talked him into doing 'Hey Jude.' That particular part that Duane played changed music. It changed music to the point that southern rock was introduced." Jimmy Johnson of the Swampers on Duane and Wilson Pickett, pictured here at Atlantic Studios in NYC. 📷Paley

What a moment at the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Thank you Jason Isbell and so many others over the years.

Before Charley Pride was a country star…

Charley Pride with the Memphis Red Sox of the Negro Leagues.

No smoking in the dugout.

The Swampers, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and the Muscle Shoals Sound Studio Softball team.

Who wants to bring it back?

That time Jimmy Buffett came to Birmingham’s Rickwood Field The "Margaritaville" singer-songwriter had a cameo role in director Ron Shelton's Ty Cobb movie "Cobb."

Lilly Hiatt at Yellowhammer Brewing next week.

These legendary musicians performed at Legion Field in Alabama: Were you there? The Birmingham stadium has been the site of some jaw-dropping concerts over the years, featuring huge stars in rock, pop and country.

Look for FAME STUDIOS on this evening news.

Thanks to News19’s Chief Meteorologist Danielle Dozier for visiting FAME for Weather Wednesday. Get the full story here: https://whnt.com/weather/valleywx-blog/weather-wednesday-certified-chief-meteorologist-visits-fame-recording-studios-in-muscle-shoals/

One of the greatest contributors to American music.

I had the pleasure of meeting Frankie and the Boys back in 1966 following their concert in Florence, Alabama.

Celebrating our 20th show at the incredible Mohegan Sun Arena! 🎉 Big thanks to Tom Cantone, President of Sports & Entertainment at Mohegan Sun, for making it possible. Here’s to many more!

Spooner!

Spooner Oldham Biography by Stephen Thomas Erlewine
The Muscle Shoals Sessions
A pivotal player in Southern soul in the late 1960s, Spooner Oldham regularly played with the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section at sessions held at FAME Studios, appearing on such seminal singles as Aretha Franklin's "I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)," Percy Sledge's "When a Man Loves a Woman," Clarence Carter's "Slip Away," and Wilson Pickett's "Mustang Sally" and "Funky Broadway." During this period, Oldham also struck up a partnership with guitarist Dan Penn that generated the soul standards "Cry Like a Baby," "I'm Your Puppet," and "It Tears Me Up." Once the golden age of soul faded, Oldham relocated to Los Angeles, taking a stab at a solo career but ultimately settling into a role as a session man, appearing on records by Linda Ronstadt, Jackson Browne, and Bob Seger in the '70s before forging a lasting relationship with Neil Young. Over the decades, Oldham continued to play with his peers but also accepted gigs with indie rockers like Cat Power, Frank Black, the Drive-By Truckers, and the Mountain Goats, while also returning to his roots on occasion, as on his collaboration with Scottish rockers Texas on their 2024 album The Muscle Shoals Sessions.

Born Dewey Lindon Oldham, Jr. in Sheffield, Alabama on June 14, 1943, Spooner Oldham grew up in the farming town of Center Star. His father helped foster an interest Oldham's interest in music, leading the young Dewey to sing in church and learn guitar. At the age of four, he suffered an accident when reaching for a pan on the stove; a spoon struck his eye, costing him his vision in his right eye and earning him the childhood nickname of "Spooner," an appellation that stuck.

While in junior high school, Oldham took piano lessons, setting him on the path that led to being the keyboardist in the local combo Hollis Dixon & the Keynotes. He attended State Teachers College between 1961 and 1962 but found himself more interested in playing R&B and rock & roll, connecting with such similar-minded fledgling musicians as Rick Hall and Billy Sherrill. Soon, he relocated to Florence and started playing on sessions at Spar Music and Hall's FAME Studios. He played on Jimmy Hughes' "Steal Away," the first single released by FAME Records, and "You Better Move On," a 1962 R&B hit from Arthur Alexander.

By the mid-'60s, Oldham had started writing songs with guitarist Dan Penn. The pair's first charting hit was "Let's Do It Over," a tune Joe Simon took to number 13 R&B in 1965. During this time, Oldham continued to play on sessions, playing churchy organ on Percy Sledge's 1966 smash "When a Man Loves a Woman." That hit opened the floodgates for Oldham: over the next year, he'd play on records by Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett, Etta James, Clarence Carter, James & Bobby Purify, and Sledge.

Oldham moved to Memphis in 1967, where he continued to work with Penn. The duo's biggest hit was "Cry Like a Baby," which the Alex Chilton-fronted Box Tops turned into a Top Ten hit on a record that also featured Spooner on organ. Oldham and Penn also wrote "Take Me (Just as I Am)," which became a hit for Solomon Burke, and "A Woman Left Lonely," which was cut by Charlie Rich and Janis Joplin.

Pot Luck
His time in Memphis was short: he moved to Los Angeles at the end of 1969. There, he worked regularly at the Producers Workshop Studios, cutting his own album, Pot Luck, in 1972. Oldham soon drifted into the singer/songwriter scene emerging in Southern California. He appeared on albums by Gram Parsons and the Flying Burrito Brothers, Linda Ronstadt, Rita Coolidge, Gene Clark, Jackson Browne, Stephen Stills, JJ Cale, and Harry Nilsson.

Comes a Time
By the late '70s, Oldham had moved to Nashville and launched a lasting collaboration with Neil Young, who had the keyboardist play on 1978's Comes a Time. The keyboardist and singer/songwriter continued to regularly collaborate over the years; Oldham played on Old Ways, Harvest Moon, Silver & Gold, and Prairie Wind. He supported Bob Dylan during the last stages of his Christian era, touring with Dylan and appearing on Saved. He teamed up with John Prine for the 1984 album Aimless Love; the keyboardist also appeared on 1994's A John Prine Christmas.

Lonely Just Like Me
Oldham worked regularly as a sideman throughout the '80s, a period when Steve Wariner revived "Lonely Women Make Good Lovers" -- a Penn collaboration originally cut by Bob Luman in 1972 -- for the contemporary country charts. Oldham and Dan Penn reunited for a 1991 appearance at New York's Bottom Line, sparking a revival of their partnership. They both played on Lonely Just Like Me, the 1993 comeback from Arthur Alexander, then started to tour as their own act; one of their concerts was captured on the 1999 album Moments from This Theater.

Pieces of You
Active as a performer in his own right, Oldham continued to work as a sessionman. Jewel's smash Pieces of You was his biggest credit of the '90s but in the 2000s, he played with a diverse group of musicians. He appeared on a pair of Frank Black albums in the mid-2000s and joined the Drive-By Truckers for their 2007 The Dirt Underneath tour -- he also showed up on The Scene of the Crime, a Bettye LaVette album featuring the Truckers -- then played with Amos Lee and Cat Power in 2008.

Oldham was inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame in 2008 and into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as a sideman in 2009. The Alabama Music Hall of Fame made him a member in 2014.

Crosseyed Heart
Oldham played on Keith Richards' 2015 album Crosseyed Heart and Sheryl Crow's 2019 record Threads. He also appeared on Dark in Here, the 2021 album by the Mountain Goats. In 2024, he teamed with Texas for The Muscle Shoals Sessions, a collection of soul covers the Scottish band cut at FAME Studios.

‘Muscle Shoals taught me how to make music’ — Jason Isbell

Jason. Aretha. Etta. Wilson. Bobbie. Duane... Visit www.famestudios.com/tour to find out how you can tour legendary FAME Recording Studios and add your name to the legend.

No doubt about #1!

The 10 greatest bands of all-time from Alabama The state's standouts, from rock to country to R&B to gospel.

Please share.

Over there in Huntsville…

NEW SHOW: Drive-By Truckers bring the Southern Rock Opera Revisited Tour to The Artist Meadow at The Orion Amphitheater on Friday, November 22!

Tickets on sale this Friday, June 7 at 10 AM CST. Sign up for The Orion's email list to receive early ticket access and an exclusive presale code via theorionhuntsville.com 🚀

Lynyrd Skynyrd with the Atlanta Braves ground crew, 1977

Y’all,
I first met Rob Malone around the time I started college at the University of North Alabama in my hometown on Florence AL. He had grown up in Rogersville AL and was already a guitar prodigy. Not long after I met him, he attended the Guitar Institute of Technology in LA. He was always in various bands around the same time that Cooley
and I were in Adam’s House Cat (1985-1991). Rob and I became extra close in 1993 when I was living back home saving up money to move to Athens GA. Rob ended up moving to Athens a couple of years after I did and not long after that he ended up joining DBT, originally as a bass player. Rob played bass on our albums Pizza Deliverance and Alabama Ass Whuppin’ and touring all over the USA, playing over 200 shows a year in 1999 and 2000. When Earl Hicks joined the band as our bass player in summer 2000, Rob switched to guitar so we could do SRO with our three guitar attack. Three Guitars or a Life of Crime!

Rob played guitar on all of SRO, writing the songs Cassie’s Brother and Moved, plus singing the Devil’s part on my song Wallace. Rob left the band on November 3rd 2001 and was replaced by a very young and and generously talented guy named Jason Isbell. Rob was a super important part of our story and we would not have become the band we became without his musical and personal input. Rob currently lives in the Shoals and plays in the excellent Rob Aldridge Band.

📸: Jim Addams

Y’all,
In preparing for our upcoming Southern Rock Opera Revisited 2024 Tour we have been spending a lot of time digging through the past with an eye towards how to address a 23 year old album that is true to its original intents while also acknowledging the intervening years and all that has happened to us as a band as well as to our country as a whole (including the region that we all grew up in). It’s a lot, considering that the album Southern Rock Opera came out on 9/11/2001. That day changed everyone’s life in so many ways and the fact that the album that changed our lives so much came out that same day is a lot to wrap our heads around. - PH

DBT - Summer 2001 (L to R) Rob Malone, Brad Morgan, Earl Hicks, Patterson Hood & Mike Cooley (photo by David Wilds, Nashville TN).

"When I write an instrumental piece of music, I try to keep the audience firmly in mind. I like to imagine that they are right there in the room with me, listening to the piece of music as it progresses. This is one of my most valued considerations while I am developing a song; I'll be thinking, 'How will someone receive this? How will each element affect the person who is listening to it?'" Dickey Betts

https://www.longlivetheabb.com/p/the-instrumentals-of-dickey-betts

Happy 55th Birthday
RICH ROBINSON
May 24, 1969
Guitarist/Founding member
The Black Crowes

Rich formed the band with his older brother, Chris Robinson, in 1984 (originally called Mr. Crowe's Garden) while the two were attending Walton High School in Marietta, Georgia. At age 15, Rich wrote the music for "She Talks to Angels", which became one of the band's biggest hits. The Black Crowes have sold more than 30 million albums.