RIP Rick Hall

[Pippinwhite]

Rick Hall founded FAME Recording Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, and turned it into a recording Mecca. Glenn recorded "Smuggler's Blues" in the Shoals (although I think he went to Muscle Shoals Sound to do it), and Bob Seger has recorded many songs in the Shoals. Rick Hall started it all, though.

If you haven't seen the documentary "Muscle Shoals," I highly recommend it. Rick was a great guy and a beloved member of the Muscle Shoals community.

http://www.al.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2018/01/rick_hall_fame_muscle_shoals.html

[shunlvswx]

He also produced my other favorite group, The Osmonds. I think he had produced their no. 1 hit One Bad Apple.

I was looking on Wikipedia and he has produced so many artist albums.

RIP Rick Hall.

[Pippinwhite]

@shun -- Rick and the FAME Gang actually produced the first two or three Osmonds albums, as well as the Donny Osmond Album. "Flirtin'" from that album really showcases that sound: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kuz6CdDBOg

It's astounding how many hits have come out of FAME studios and Muscle Shoals Sound. My sister had classes at The University of North Alabama with Rick's sons, and with the kids of a couple of the Swampers.

I live about 40 miles east of the Shoals, but everybody knows someone who knows someone who worked there or something. LOL.

[shunlvswx]

Oh crap. I forgot he produced their first two albums. For all these years I've been an Osmond fan, I should had known that. I knew about Donny's album. Thanks for that info, Pippinwhite.

[Pippinwhite]

You're welcome! Phase III is on YouTube, and it really is a fine album.

[NightMistBlue]

I live about 40 miles east of the Shoals, but everybody knows someone who knows someone who worked there or something. LOL.

So have you tried going down to the river to get a song from her? That was a great documentary.

http://musictrail.una.edu/?p=137

[Pippinwhite]

If I were a songwriter, I would. River's too wide where I live to do much singing, though.

This is the Tennessee at Wilson Dam in Florence, with several spillways open. Muscle Shoals is on the south side of the river, and Florence on the north side.

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/piW4b2_0leA/maxresdefault.jpg

[NightMistBlue]

Dang, that's a huge river. You would have to go to a quieter, more natural part of it to hear the lady singing.

Pip, have you been able to tour either the FAME or Muscle Shoals studios? I don't even know if they offer that - probably not if they're still working studios.

[Pippinwhite]

@NMB-- No, I haven't been on a tour to either studio. I'd love to do that. Yes, they offer tours now; that hasn't always been the case, though. It's mostly been since the documentary was released. But it's on my to-do list, for sure.

The river is so wide there, obviously because of the dam. I think it's a little over a mile at that point. But go downstream about 50 miles or so and it gets much quieter.

Here's the river at Shiloh National Military Park, near Savannnah, Tennessee. Made this one myself. You might hear some singing here, although I suspect the reason they heard it back in the Florence area was because of the shoals. Before the dams were built, that part of the river was nearly impassable unless the water was high.


https://scontent-atl3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/1910199_18017180076_7086_n.jpg?oh=424a86d0ec0a7978 e807cfa04c7d0ad2&oe=5AB6BB0A

[Pippinwhite]

@Shun -- Alan Osmond had some very kind words about Rick on his Facebook page. It's public; you can just search for it.

[kperk014]

@shun -- Rick and the FAME Gang actually produced the first two or three Osmonds albums, as well as the Donny Osmond Album. "Flirtin'" from that album really showcases that sound: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kuz6CdDBOg

It's astounding how many hits have come out of FAME studios and Muscle Shoals Sound. My sister had classes at The University of North Alabama with Rick's sons, and with the kids of a couple of the Swampers.

I live about 40 miles east of the Shoals, but everybody knows someone who knows someone who worked there or something. LOL.

To date, the studio and its publishing company have been responsible for an estimated 350 million record sales, with songs by everyone from the Beatles to George Strait.

@JasonIsbell

Rick Hall and his family gave me my first job in the music business, and nobody in the industry ever worked harder than Rick. Nobody. American music wouldn’t be the same without his contributions. His death is a huge loss to those of us who knew him and those who didn’t.

I had a few ties. My grandmother babysat Roger Hawkins, the drummer for the Swampers. My cousin was married to Steve Melton who was the main engineer at Muscle Shoals Sound. In 1982 he engineered Glenn's No Fun Aloud album and most of Bob Seger's big hits.
https://www.allmusic.com/artist/steve-melton-mn0000036007

The girl who cut my hair in the early 80s was "seeing" Glenn during that time.

Donna Jean Thatcher Godchaux who sang background on Suspicious Minds and In the Ghetto for Elvis before joining the Grateful Dead was a long-time customer of my business. See if you can spot some legendary rockers in this VERY rare picture... https://www.eaglesonlinecentral.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=1649&stc=1&d=1515394141

[NightMistBlue]

I see the Lynyrd Skynyrd members in that photo!

P.S. kperk, you made me smile by putting "seeing" in quotes like that 8)

[shunlvswx]

@Shun -- Alan Osmond had some very kind words about Rick on his Facebook page. It's public; you can just search for it.

Yeah. I saw that. I follow all of the singing Osmonds on Facebook. I met a few of them.

Thanks.

[Pippinwhite]

@NMB -- The "seeing" just made me LOL. I said, "Yeah. I'll bet." then I said, "Lucky woman." Hehehe. :p

[kperk014]

I see the Lynyrd Skynyrd members in that photo!

P.S. kperk, you made me smile by putting "seeing" in quotes like that 8)

The Honketts are in the pic too along with Jimmy Johnson of the Swampers. Since Cassie Gaines is in the pic but her brother Steve isn't, this picture was probably taken in late April of 1976, just a few months before their legendary performance at the Knebworth Festival in England where they blew the Rolling Stones away!

[kperk014]

Yeah. I saw that. I follow all of the singing Osmonds on Facebook. I met a few of them.

Thanks.

Marie and I are about the same age. When my sources let me know she was in town recording "This Is The Way That I Feel" I was a 16 year old trying to figure out how to bluff my way into the studio. If I had gotten in I probably wouldn't have been able to speak. :ack:

[Pippinwhite]

@kperk014 -- And unless I'm mistaken, the lady in the sleeveless top sitting next to the trophy is JoJo Billingsley, one of the Honketts. Now, I could be wrong about whether that's her, but I did know JoJo as Deborah Jo White years later after she settled down and married. She had two children and passed away from breast cancer in 2010 or 2011. She lived in Cullman. She did local Christian concerts and I had the privilege and blessing of hearing her sing and having some wonderful conversations with her.

Rolling Stone interviewed her about the Skynyrd plane crash some years later. I heard her tell about the dream she had about the plane crashing a couple of days before it happened. It would make your blood run cold. She was home with her mom in Mississippi and had the dream. She said she'd never dreamed anything that was so vivid.

What a voice. At one of her concerts, her accompaniment tape just quit, but all she did was shrug and finish the song a cappella and note-perfect. Such a pro.

Thanks so much for that photo!

[kperk014]

@kperk014 -- And unless I'm mistaken, the lady in the sleeveless top sitting next to the trophy is JoJo Billingsley, one of the Honketts. Now, I could be wrong about whether that's her, but I did know JoJo as Deborah Jo White years later after she settled down and married. She had two children and passed away from breast cancer in 2010 or 2011. She lived in Cullman. She did local Christian concerts and I had the privilege and blessing of hearing her sing and having some wonderful conversations with her.

Rolling Stone interviewed her about the Skynyrd plane crash some years later. I heard her tell about the dream she had about the plane crashing a couple of days before it happened. It would make your blood run cold. She was home with her mom in Mississippi and had the dream. She said she'd never dreamed anything that was so vivid.

What a voice. At one of her concerts, her accompaniment tape just quit, but all she did was shrug and finish the song a cappella and note-perfect. Such a pro.

Thanks so much for that photo!


Yes, that is Jo Jo. I hate father time and plane crashes!