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Celebrating 55 Years of #MusicHistory @ Alabama’s Iconic Muscle Shoals Sound.

  “Muscle Shoals has got the Swampers” -and a great sounding studio. The building located at 3614 Jackson Highway in Sheffield, Alabama was established as a recording studio in 1969. The site quickly became the backdrop for the creation of countless jukebox hits from a variety of notable artists and their collaboration with the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section known as “the Swampers.” The Rolling Stones, Aretha Franklin, Cher, and Paul Simon all recorded hit records at Muscle Shoals Sound helping to earn the studio a spot on the National Register of Historic Places in 2006. Here are a half-dozen essential records recorded at the historic studio.

R.B. Greaves - “Take a Letter Maria” 
(Atko/Atlantic)
B-Side “Big Bad City“
Recorded: August 19, 1969 /   Released: September 1969
#2 on Billboard Top 100 in 1969 and first hit recorded at newly formed Muscle Shoals Sound.

The Rolling Stones - “Brown Sugar" 
(ABKCO / Rolling Stones Records)
B-Side: “Bitch ” (US) “Let It Rock” (UK)
Recorded: December, 1969 / Released: April 16, 1971
#1 Billboard Top 100, 1971

Dr. Hook - “When You’re In Love With a Beautiful Woman” 
(Capitol)
B-Side “Knowing She’s There” (US) 
Recorded: 1978 / Released: April 4, 1979
#1 on UK Singles chart, 1979 / #5 Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary Chart & #6 on Hot 100 

Staple Singers - “I’ll Take You There” 
(Stax Records)
B-Side “I’m Just Another Soldier“
Recorded: 1971 / Released: February 1972
#1 Billboard Hot 100 and US R&B, 1972

Paul Simon - “Loves Me Like a Rock” 
(Columbia)
B-Side “Learn How to Fall“
Recorded: 1972 / Released: July 17, 1973
#1 Billboard Easy Listening & #2 Billboard Hot 100, 1973

Bob Seger - “Old Time Rock and Roll” 
(Capitol)
B-Side “Sunspot Baby“
Recorded: 1978 / Released: March, 1979
#2 on Amusement & Music Operators Association's survey of Top 40 Jukebox Singles of All Time (1996) Top Ten Most Played Jukebox Song of All-Time

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