Muscle Shoals
5
By gravconstudio
The Queen of Soul might not have been as great without the help of Rick Hall. Aretha went to Alabama to record at FAME studios. She came in a Diva with a cigarette in her hand looking at Roger Hawkins on drums, Berry Beckett on keyboards, David Hood on bass, and Spooner Oldham on organ. All of them were white, older men who look like they worked at a grocery store. Aretha came in and was warming up and trying to work on a rift on piano. It was awful. The band could not find rhythm. So they stopped. You had the Queen of Soul in the studio, and you could here crickets. Then Spooner started riff. The band started playing and Aretha started to belt out “I Never Loved A Man (The Way I Love You)”. in 15 minutes, she had started a movement in her career. She brought the “The Swampers” with here to NY to finish the album. The Swampers are a name you will find more times than not in great music :)
