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Music and Mystique in Muscle Shoals
A No Depression Most Memorable Music Book of 2022
The forceful music that rolled out of Muscle Shoals in the 1960s and 1970s shaped hits by everyone from Wilson Pickett and Aretha Franklin to the Rolling Stones and Paul Simon. Christopher M. Reali's in-depth look at the fabled musical hotbed examines the events and factors that gave the Muscle Shoals sound such a potent cultural power. Many artists trekked to FAME Studios and Muscle Shoals Sound in search of the sound of authentic southern Black music—and at times expressed shock at the mostly white studio musicians waiting to play it for them. Others hoped to draw on the hitmaking production process that defined the scene. Reali also chronicles the overlooked history of Muscle Shoals's impact on country music and describes the region's recent transformation into a tourism destination. Multifaceted and informed, Music and Mystique in Muscle Shoals reveals the people, place, and events behind one of the most legendary recording scenes in American history.
The forceful music that rolled out of Muscle Shoals in the 1960s and 1970s shaped hits by everyone from Wilson Pickett and Aretha Franklin to the Rolling Stones and Paul Simon. Christopher M. Reali's in-depth look at the fabled musical hotbed examines the events and factors that gave the Muscle Shoals sound such a potent cultural power. Many artists trekked to FAME Studios and Muscle Shoals Sound in search of the sound of authentic southern Black music—and at times expressed shock at the mostly white studio musicians waiting to play it for them. Others hoped to draw on the hitmaking production process that defined the scene. Reali also chronicles the overlooked history of Muscle Shoals's impact on country music and describes the region's recent transformation into a tourism destination. Multifaceted and informed, Music and Mystique in Muscle Shoals reveals the people, place, and events behind one of the most legendary recording scenes in American history.
- GenresMusic
280 pages, Paperback
Published July 19, 2022
30 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
May 4, 2022
My thanks to both NetGalley and the University of Illinois Press for an advance copy of this musical and cultural study.
If music had a physical form of some kind than the music coming from the Muscle Shoals are would be large, full of swagger, full of love, and just full of. The music had power, grace, funk, soul and again love, so much love that musicians from around the country, and from around the world came just to record a few tracks, amazed by the power of the studio players, and the studios itself. So many bands, so many classic songs came from Fame Recording Studio or Muscle Shoals Sound Studios, made by people who could play and wanted to play anytime, anywhere. Christopher M. Reali in his book/ dissertation Music and Mystique in Muscle Shoals writes of both the history and cultural significance of this area, along with the beautiful music that was created and the influence they had on music history.
The author begins with a history of the area, touching on the settling, the Civil War and race relations. One thing that is repeated alot is that in the area of Muscle Shoals was not as bad as the rest of the state. The rest of the state being Alabama it must have been horrible even if it wasn't that bad. So that's an odd note. From there we get an overview of the music, the creation of Fame Studios and the chapters pretty much follow along historically what happened. The breaking off of certain musicians, and the establishing of the Muscle Shoals Sound Studios, the growth of the Muscle Shoals sound, that everyone wanted to capture and have on their album. There is information on recording and recording sessions, life in that area and about the studio musicians who played on what sessions. The end chapters are more on the influence and continuing legacy and some of the recent acts who have recorded their, and what music is like in that area of the United States.
The book is well researched and sourced, as it did start as a dissertation. The style is a little padded, but still full of information about the music and the recordings. The writing is not dull academic, instead written by a music fan who wants to do right by getting things right. Information is provided on big names and little names, from the Rolling Stones, Wilson Pickett even the Osmonds. I enjoyed the writing about the changes in music and the industry, which helped boost the Muscle Shoals sound, than made it just another studio tool. A very entertaining and educational book.
Recommended for music fans both amateur and long time fans. There is plenty of information to keep both sorts reading. I learned quite a bit while reading, and enjoyed the book immensely. For fans of Stanley Booth's Rhythm Oil, Deep Blues by Robert Palmer, or for musical and being sidemen in music The Wrecking Crew by Kent Hartman, and for life as a black sideman in the south Booker T. Jones biography Time is Tight.
If music had a physical form of some kind than the music coming from the Muscle Shoals are would be large, full of swagger, full of love, and just full of. The music had power, grace, funk, soul and again love, so much love that musicians from around the country, and from around the world came just to record a few tracks, amazed by the power of the studio players, and the studios itself. So many bands, so many classic songs came from Fame Recording Studio or Muscle Shoals Sound Studios, made by people who could play and wanted to play anytime, anywhere. Christopher M. Reali in his book/ dissertation Music and Mystique in Muscle Shoals writes of both the history and cultural significance of this area, along with the beautiful music that was created and the influence they had on music history.
The author begins with a history of the area, touching on the settling, the Civil War and race relations. One thing that is repeated alot is that in the area of Muscle Shoals was not as bad as the rest of the state. The rest of the state being Alabama it must have been horrible even if it wasn't that bad. So that's an odd note. From there we get an overview of the music, the creation of Fame Studios and the chapters pretty much follow along historically what happened. The breaking off of certain musicians, and the establishing of the Muscle Shoals Sound Studios, the growth of the Muscle Shoals sound, that everyone wanted to capture and have on their album. There is information on recording and recording sessions, life in that area and about the studio musicians who played on what sessions. The end chapters are more on the influence and continuing legacy and some of the recent acts who have recorded their, and what music is like in that area of the United States.
The book is well researched and sourced, as it did start as a dissertation. The style is a little padded, but still full of information about the music and the recordings. The writing is not dull academic, instead written by a music fan who wants to do right by getting things right. Information is provided on big names and little names, from the Rolling Stones, Wilson Pickett even the Osmonds. I enjoyed the writing about the changes in music and the industry, which helped boost the Muscle Shoals sound, than made it just another studio tool. A very entertaining and educational book.
Recommended for music fans both amateur and long time fans. There is plenty of information to keep both sorts reading. I learned quite a bit while reading, and enjoyed the book immensely. For fans of Stanley Booth's Rhythm Oil, Deep Blues by Robert Palmer, or for musical and being sidemen in music The Wrecking Crew by Kent Hartman, and for life as a black sideman in the south Booker T. Jones biography Time is Tight.
May 10, 2025
I'm of an age that when I first got interested in music in the 1970s, the so-called "Muscle Shoals Sound" was at its peak, and I quickly learned to recognize it as something special; even if I didn't know quite what it was!
That being the case, I was quite interested in reading this monograph, as the author takes you through how a cadre of musicians, mostly with "Nashville" ambitions, created a cultural complex, basically out of thin air. Whatever else the greater Muscle Shoals area was, it was a boundary zone, and musicians with interests in county & western, R&B, and rock were talking to each other, and coalesced into the on-site cadre of the local music studios, which initially existed mostly to service folks trying to break into the greater music scenes in Nashville and Memphis.
Predictably, Jerry Wexler of Atlantic Records fame was the one who really made use of the Muscle Shoals complex as an instrument of mass-culture production, as the "sound" of that community was a real cross-over phenomena, in terms of being desired by Black and White, American and British musicians alike. Think Wilson Pickett's "Land of a 1000 Dances" as an early illustration of the paradigm.
Anyway, even if this book is a little dry, I appreciate a narrative that cuts through the mythology to give one a dispassionate history (and there is a lot of local history in this book), that takes you up to the current day.
I'm not quite sure how I tripped over this book, the University of Illinois Press not being that familiar to me, but they have an amazing backlist of books dealing with the history of American music (200-plus monographs).
Actual rating: 3.5.
That being the case, I was quite interested in reading this monograph, as the author takes you through how a cadre of musicians, mostly with "Nashville" ambitions, created a cultural complex, basically out of thin air. Whatever else the greater Muscle Shoals area was, it was a boundary zone, and musicians with interests in county & western, R&B, and rock were talking to each other, and coalesced into the on-site cadre of the local music studios, which initially existed mostly to service folks trying to break into the greater music scenes in Nashville and Memphis.
Predictably, Jerry Wexler of Atlantic Records fame was the one who really made use of the Muscle Shoals complex as an instrument of mass-culture production, as the "sound" of that community was a real cross-over phenomena, in terms of being desired by Black and White, American and British musicians alike. Think Wilson Pickett's "Land of a 1000 Dances" as an early illustration of the paradigm.
Anyway, even if this book is a little dry, I appreciate a narrative that cuts through the mythology to give one a dispassionate history (and there is a lot of local history in this book), that takes you up to the current day.
I'm not quite sure how I tripped over this book, the University of Illinois Press not being that familiar to me, but they have an amazing backlist of books dealing with the history of American music (200-plus monographs).
Actual rating: 3.5.
January 28, 2023
Music and Mystique in Muscle Shoals by Professor Christopher Reali is a mixed product, and not in a good gumbo sort of way, but in a muddled - needed more focus and editing - sort of way. Reali’s labor of love (ten years in the making per his introductory comments) is neither music history, exploration of cultural tourism (and the sometimes failings thereof) nor a solid analysis of the economics of the music industry. It is some of each but overall repetitious and poorly integrated that reads like the academic publication it is.
August 1, 2022
This was a very interesting book. I liked learning about some of the early days of rock, blues, and R&B recording. I was amazed by the artists that these musicians worked with. This book is great for anyone looking to understand some of the backing groups that supported various early music stars.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews