Last night PBS in NYC ran yet another fascinating music documentary: Freddy Camalier's Muscle Shoals. This small town in northwest Alabama, current population 12,000+, has produced a remarkable number of hits. It lies on the banks of the Tennessee River, which indians believed sang. Rick Hall, the son of a sharecropper, started the legendary FAME studio, where a diverse array of artists laid down tracks. Eventually, his house band went its own way and opened a rival studio. Here's a partial list of songs:
Percy Sledge - When A Man Loves A Woman
Jimmy Hughes - Steal Away
Etta James - Tell Mama
Arthur Alexander - You Better Move On (#1 UK hit for the Stones)
Aretha Franklin - I Never Loved a Man [The Way I Love You]
Jimmy Cliff - Sitting In Limbo
Wilson Pickett - Mustang Sally, Funky Broadway, Land Of 1000 Dances
Arthur Conley - Sweet Soul Music
The Staple Singers - I'll Take You There
Donny Osmond - Go Away Little Girl
Mac Davis - Baby Don't Get Hooked On Me
The Rolling Stones - Wild Horses, Brown Sugar
Otis Redding - Respect (Single/LP Version)
Taj Mahal - Statesboro Blues
Traffic - (Sometimes I Feel So) Uninspired
The Band - The Weight
Clarence Carter - Patches
Lynyrd Skynyrd - Sweet Home Alabama, Free Bird
Paul Simon - Kodachrome
Boz Scaggs - Loan Me A Dime
The Allman Brothers Band - Statesboro Blues
To the surprise of many inside and outside the industry, the house band, the Swampers, was comprised of whites, although black musicians also sat in on sessions. They are the musicians on Aretha Franklin's early hits, Respect, etc.. Paul Simon once asked if he could borrow the black guys who do the great Muscle Shoals sound. Play that funky music, white boys!
Nice work if you can get it -- Since March 30th, pro golfer Matt Kuchar has earned 2.35 million. He has finished in the top five in his last four starts, topped off by his win last weekend at the tournament in Hilton Head, where he holed out from a bunker on 18 to hold off Luke Donald by one. Take a week off, Matt. You've earned it.
Also in sports, kudos to Rick Adelman, 67, who announced his retirement after 23 seasons as an NBA head coach, going 1042-749 in stops at Portland, Golden State, Sacramento, Houston and Minnesota. He also played seven years in the league. He is a true "lifer."
My thanks to Michael, who donated a thriller in Russian. He looked at the nine volumes of Dostoevsky I had on display and scoffed. "Buy one, get one," he quipped. Gauging by today's results, it seems they will be a tough sell. My thanks also to those who bought and those who stopped to chat.
Vic's 4th Novel: http://tinyurl.com/bszwlxh
Vic's 3rd Novel: http://tinyurl.com/7e9jty3
Vic's Website: http://members.tripod.com/vic_fortezza/Literature/
Vic's Short Story Collection (Print or Kindle): http://www.tiny.cc/Oycgb
Vic's 2nd Novel: http://tinyurl.com/6b86st6
Vic's 1st Novel: http://tiny.cc/94t5h
Vic's Horror Screenplay on Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/cyckn3
Vic's Rom-Com Screenplay on Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/kny5llp
Vic’s Short Story on Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/k95k3nx
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