Steve, Vicki, Frank, and All.. Music…. On NetFlix I found gold…

I’m going to attempt this in 3 acts… divided this way… Act 1 - all you really need to read. I think, can’t say for sure, all 3 Acts will be worth reading for some of you.. not all. I think for you, sstrams, yes. For you Mama, and Rambeau.. no doubt about it.

Act 2 - Why this find was Gold. Especially if you’re a musician but not even close to exclusively for those who are musicians.

Act 3 - Personal impressions.

Act 1:

Want to know the history of music… where it ALL came from? How, why, who? Simple - watch, (Available on Netflix), Muscle Shoals. No, it’s not really the history of all music… but it’s far closer than you would have ever believed.

That’s the end of Act 1 - all you really need to read… the rest is simply JamesJM getting ‘wordy’.

Act 2, (this is a short tale as well)

There is not a genre today you can not trace back, at least in part, to Muscle Shoals. I’m talking all genres… gospel, rock, southern rock, R&B, METAL… I won’t bother to list them all. Think YOUR taste in music didn't have at least 'some' roots in Muscle Shoals? Your wrong,

Act 3: (This will be long, I think, I’m making it up as I go)…

I have mentioned, several times, that during the 60’s I was like most… Surf Music, The British Invasion, Pop in general… but my true love was R&B. I listened to artists that none of my friends even knew existed. And so - - - I have long been aware of Muscle Shoals. On my first trip back to St. Louis for HerdFest 1 I left St. Louis, after the game, and visited a friend in Florence, Alabama. I’ve mentioned him as well… actor. I even wrote about meeting with him. When I left my friends home I rode to Muscle Shoals.. BECAUSE.. I knew it well, or thought I did. Muscle Shoals is a scant few miles from Florence. I was aware that some of my heroes had recorded there… Aretha, Joe Tex, Lou Rawls, but tonight I learned that what I ‘knew’ wasn’t even skin deep.

For example… almost every song in that era was played, (instruments), by four guys called “The Swampers”. Aretha record with them. Joe Tex… Percy Sledge. The list is ENDLESS… you have to watch the documentary to even begin to comprehend their contribution to music. To say they ‘invented’ music is not that much of a stretch. The ‘rhythms’ they recorded which led to nearly every genre of music today, (reggae included), are indisputably traced back to them… at least in part.

I was particularly pleased with the story behind the Allmon Bros and Lynard Skynard… much maligned today as ‘less’, ‘hick’…. but they were NOT… as this documentary will prove.

Now the “STARS” of the documentary are NOT the musicians, vocalists.. the story is based on a couple, three actually, I think, producers who brought it all together…. fascinating, but as I usually do I don’t see the intended stars as the ‘stars’, (I should, but I like musicians). don’t get me wrong.. AMAZING doesn’t begin to describe these ‘producers’… owners of recording studios.

As the documentary unfolded I sat more and more upright.. in awe… “MY GOD”, I thought, “THIS IS EVERY MUSICIAN I EVER WORSHIPPED”… which isn’t true, but it’s damn close.

The documentary answers it all.. how, why, who…. with interviews as well.. those involved, (many now deceased).

And then there is this: I can relate. Muscle Shoals is a nothing town, farmers mostly. Citizens often maligned for being ‘peasant stock’. I live in a town like that. (For you big city folk it’s NOT told in a us vs them manner.. NY is presented and in a quite complimentary fashion.. how could it not be... NOR St Louis, New Orleans, Motown, Capital Records in LA?

This Documentary, VERY admittedly, strikes home with me more than it will likely hit home with you, or most of you, anyway. I was one of their biggest fans… there is that…. BUT… if you like music and don’t think you’re connected to Muscle Shoals… get ready for the shock of your life. You ARE, and not simply in a ‘round-about way’… you are DIRECTLY connected, and dare I say.. dependent.

There are other ‘hearts’, seats of originality, in music.. to be sure. But I think it’s very possible… in truth I think indisputable, that Muscle Shoals brought it all together like no other. And it doesn’t matter in which your particular tastes in music were born or reside.

It’s like finding a ‘singularity’ in Physics… or nearly so.

If you love music, if your a musician, you owe it to yourself to watch this documentary… not to ‘change’ you… or ’sway’ you… there is no ’swaying’ involved.. it’s simply fact. Almost everything you love, know, about music was born on the Tennessee River.. in Muscle Shoals. - JamesJM



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/28/2017 06:04AM by JamesJM.