'Music and Mystique in Muscle Shoals' by Christopher M. Reali
When Rod Stewart made his Atlantic Crossing album, his move to America and R&B, where else to record but at one of the studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama? Stewart was startled to see that the anonymous house band was white. Since the ‘60s, Muscle Shoals had become a factory town for music perceived by the public as “Black.” Hence, the “mystique” author Christopher M. Reali seeks to fathom.
During the ‘60s, most fans of the hits that poured from Muscle Shoals—great soul performances by Black singers such as Wilson Pickett and Aretha Franklin—had no idea that the accompanists were white musicians working in white-owned studios. And yet, to many ears, the music the produced was deemed more “authentically” Black than the pop productions of Black-owned Motown. Reali dives into the deep history of a region that had been lukewarm to the Confederacy, whose residents voted against Alabama’s 1901 segregationist constitution, and yet the town of Muscle Shoals remained segregated when the classic sounds associated with its studios was recorded.
The sonic magic was sensational. The studio atmosphere was a loose, collaborative environment, and the musicians were big-eared, open minded and hard working. For the longest time, most continued to play live gigs in the region to support themselves between recording sessions. Reali’s account is fascinating, essential reading for anyone interested in American music and cultural history.
