Muscle Shoals Sound Music Analysis

The “Muscle Shoals Sound” has been recognizable from the years of W.C. Handy, a Florence man that was among the first to ever popularize the blues sound more than seventy years ago to recent Grammy winner Jason Isbell; as well as everyone in between who adds or has added to the area’s prestigious “sound.” Muscle Shoals National Heritage Area (2016) states that more than a dozen record companies have opened in the Shoals area since Tune Records opened in the 1950’s and became the first record company in Alabama, but the majority of the music attention is due to Rick Hall, founder of FAME studios in Florence in 1959. According to FAME (2016) and the city of Muscle Shoals (2016), the studio moved to Muscle Shoals in 1961 and quickly Muscle Shoals became known as “The hit recording capital of the world.” Artists such as Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding, The Rolling Stones, and Lynyrd Skynryd are among the shortlists that have recorded in the Shoals area. FAME’s website (2016), states that FAME record company has been involved in the recording or publishing for over 350 million copies worldwide over the past 50 years. According to the United States census in 2015, that is more than one copy per person in America.

FAME (2016) still produces and publishes artists to this day, and the studio also holds a yearly contest that allows submissions of local artists’ original work to the studio’s Facebook page and website in hopes to be recognized and developed. However, The Shoals is not limited to just the records the area has produced. Throughout the year, one can find a live band playing at a local bar, or at a restaurant in town, as there is more than one band playing nightly in the