Muscle Shoals: The Movie

On September 27, the movie Muscle Shoals will open in theaters. It is a documentary film that tells the story of a tiny town in North Alabama that was the breeding ground for some of America’s most creative and defiant music.

Magpictures official site

Be sure to go to the above site for more information about the documentary

Sundance movie trailer

A group of unassuming, yet incredibly talented, locals came together and spawned some of the greatest music of all time: “Mustang Sally,” “I Never Loved a Man,” “Wild Horses,” and many more. During the most incendiary periods of racial hostility, white and black folks came together to create music that would last for generations and gave birth to the incomparable “Muscle Shoals sound.”

For more than a decade, beginning in the late 1960s,  the area – a seemingly unlikely breeding ground --  reigned as the “Hit Recording Capital of the World.” More hits per capita were produced here than any other music center, and there were scores of gold records from dozens of artists.

The critically acclaimed movie documentary captivated audiences at the Sundance Film Festival in January. It is an inspiring story told through interviews, archival film footage, still photos and music clips featuring the creative forces and eccentric talents who recorded some of the most enduring and influential music of all time

At its heart is Rick Hall who founded FAME Studios. Overcoming crushing poverty and staggering tragedies, Hall brought black and white together in Alabama's cauldron of racial hostility to create music for the generations. He is responsible for creating the "Muscle Shoals sound" and The Swampers, the house band at FAME that eventually left to start their own successful studio, known as Muscle Shoals Sound.

As the word spread about the electrifying musical chemistry in this unexpected place, the likes of Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones, the Staples Singers, the Allman Brothers Band, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and Simon and Garfunkel magnetically followed suit. Interviewing an incredible roster of musicians, director Greg Camalier unearths a rich history of this unheralded gold mine of American music.

Greg Allman, Bono, Clarence Carter, Mick Jagger, Etta James, Alicia Keys, Keith Richards, Percy Sledge and others bear witness to Muscle Shoals' magnetism, mystery and why it remains influential today.  

Rolling Stone editor David Fricke described the song "I'll Take You There" by the Staple Singers as the "epitome of the Muscle Shoals Sound."

 "I'll Take You There" was a number-one single by the soul/gospel family band The Staple Singers, released in February 1972. The song spent a total of fifteen weeks on the charts and reached number one on the Hot 100.