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Welcome to City of Muscle Shoals Hit Recording Capital of the World |
1951 Dexter Johnson's Recording Studio
Bluegrass musician and uncle of Swampers guitarist Jimmy Johnson established the Shoals area’s first professional recording studio in his garage, a decade before Rick Hall’s FAME opened its doors.
1956 Tune Records,123 E Alabama Ave Florence, Al.
The Shoals’ first record label and publishing company, released a single by Bobby Denton called “A Fallen Star” which laid the foundation for the emergence of the area’s recording industry. (James Joiner, Walter Stovall, Kelso Herston, and Marvin Wilson) (Junior Thompson recorded Who's Knocking/How Come You Do Me 1956)![]() |
This Concertone tape recorder was used by James Joiner in this Tune Records Studio, one of the first studios in the Muscle Shoals area to make commercial recordings (Alabama Music Hall of Fame) |
1959 SPAR Music, 123 1/2 E Alabama Ave Florence, Al.
(Stafford Publishing and Recording)
above the City Drug Store in downtown Florence, was the brainchild of the “local bohemian type”
(Tom Stafford), the birthplace of the Muscle Shoals music scene, and the precursor to FAME Studios.
1961 FAME (Rick Hall) 603 Avalon Ave., Muscle Shoals, AL was the first successful professional recording studio in the state of Alabama, producing hits by Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett, Etta James, Clarence Carter, the Osmonds, and countless others.
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Fame Recording Studios where it all Started in 2011 |
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FAME Recording Studios Home of the Muscle Shoals Sound (2009) (Muscle Shoals Municipal Building) |
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Rich Hall on his own in Muscle Shoals Fame Studio at Old Candy and Tobacco Warehouse (Singing River Statue Muscle Shoals) |
1963 Quin Ivy Recording Studios
1965 Norala Sound Studio,104 E 2n St Sheffield, Al
Founded by FAME songwriter and WLAY disc jockey (Quin Ivy), gave the world Percy Sledge’s “When a Man Loves a Woman” and brought Jerry Wexler and Atlantic Records to the Shoals
1969 Muscle Shoals Sound Studio was the home of the Swampers(Jimmy Johnson, David Hood, Barry Beckett, Roger Hawkins) and the consummate 1970s hit factory, recording the Stones, the Staple Singers, Paul Simon, Willie Nelson, Rod Stewart, Bob Seger, and more.
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1969 Muscle Shoals Sound Studio Muscle Municipal Building) |
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Muscle Shoals Sound 3613 Jackson Highway (2019) |
1969 Widget Sound Studio in Sheffield, 3804 Jackson Hwy., Sheffield, AL
a very near neighbor to Muscle Shoals Sound gave Woodford and Ivey’s Wishbone a workspace pre-1976 and gave the world Sailcat’s “Motorcycle Mama.”(by Ron Ballew)
1972 Broadway Sound Studio, 1307 Broadway St., Sheffield, AL
the successor to Norala carried the R&B tradition of its predecessor into the 1970s and gave birth to the “Southern rock” genre by recording Lynyrd Skynyrd's first demo. (Quin Ivy)
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Broadway Sound studio with owner and producer David Johnson second right (Sheffield Singing River Statue) |
1973 Wishbone Recording Studio
1920 Webster Avenue, Muscle Shoals, AL
1920 Webster Avenue, Muscle Shoals, AL
was a proving ground for songwriters like Mac McAnally and Robert Byrne and recorded albums by such legends as Roy Orbison and Hank Williams, Jr. (by Terry Woodford)
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Wishbone Studios (Photo furnished by Terry Woodford) (Singing River Statue Muscle Shoals) |
1974 Music Mill Recording Studio, 1108 E. Avalon Ave., Muscle Shoals, AL
founded (by Al Cartee), was the first of the big local studios to specialize in country music, working with everyone from Narvel Felts and Roy Clark to Bobby Bare and Arthur Alexander.
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1974 Music Mill Recording Studio (2008) (Alabama Music Hall of Fame) |
1978-85 Cypress Moon Studios
was the second home of the Swampers, (Jimmy Johnson, David Hood, Barry Beckett, Roger Hawkins) where they reconnected with their R&B roots and got reacquainted with old friends like Bob Dylan, Bob Seger, and B.B. King.
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The world-changing Muscle Shoals Music Legendary producer Jerry Wexler at Muscle Shoals Recording Studios' riverfront location (Singing River Statue Sheffield) |
1977 East Avalon Recording 2815 1/2 East Avalon Avenue Muscle Shoals, Alabama 35661
Wishbone engineer Steve Moore purchased the studio from its builder and designer Joe Wilson and East Avalon Recorders was born in the "Hit Recording Capital of the World", Muscle Shoals, Alabama.
The successful studio operated until around 1988.
The successful studio operated until around 1988.
1987 Avalon Recorders
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1977 East Avalon Recording |
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East Avalon Studio (Singing River Statue Muscle Shoals) |
1985-2005 Malaco Recording (at Cypress Moon)
used the Sheffield studios for its own artists, including Johnnie Taylor, Bobby Bland, and Little Milton, while continuing to operate its own facility in Jackson. The Rhythm Section, minus Beckett, worked with other studio musicians at Malaco Records and at other studios.
2006 The Nuthouse (Jimmy Nutt)
In March of 2006, Jimmy launched The NuttHouse Recording Studio in downtown Sheffield, Alabama. What was once a 1950s bank, now is the home of The NuttHouse Recording Studio.
108 W 4th St, Sheffield, AL 35660
108 W 4th St, Sheffield, AL 35660
In 1964 Mrs. Jewell Britton Wear began a career in the local music industry she founded Florence, Al
JJ Records with Junior Thompson, Monty Olive, and the Hacker Brothers for that label.
She also established the Music Scene Column in Florence Times Tri-Cities Daily. It was the first column detailing the music in the industry.
Label owned by Junior Thompson and Jewel Wear.
In 1964, Mrs. Wear began a career in the local music industry. She founded JJ Records with Junior Thompson. She also established the Music Scene column in the Florence Times-Tri-Cities Daily. It was the first column detailing the local music industry.
Thomas Reeder “Monty” Olive
Taken From:
April 2010 Newsletter Birmingham Record Collectors
From Killen, Alabama comes a piano player by the name of Monty Olive. Monty's style of playing and singing was compared to that of Fats Domino. Although he never got national airplay his recordings were very popular locally.
He was another of those who made a musical instrument his "friend". Monty tells it this way. "I've never had a piano lesson. When I first started playing, I would get the melody of a tune set in my mind and try and find the proper keys for it. It was fun and I practiced it every day." Sounds easy, doesn't it? SURE!!
Monty entertained in many cities across the country including D.C., Detroit, Dallas, and Panama City's Old Dutch Inn. From an interview in the Time Tri-Cities Daily, August 13th, 1957 Monty put it this way. "Everywhere I go I respond to the crowds. I feel the touch of my music. It's something you can't explain. I enjoy performing."
Rain Inside My Heart/Foggy River
Bell of Bar Room/Molly Darling
Mary Lee/Follow Me
US Rockabilly singer, born Clen Houston Thompson Jr. Florence Alabama
Junior Thompson began in 1956 at Meteor Records from Memphis (Tennessee). He also made a demonstration in Sun Records in 1956, without success. In 1957, it passed to Tune (56), JJ' S, and Badd Records before disappearing from Show Business. He was a regular singer in Dixie Hayride (Florence, Alabama) in 1956.
1967-1968 JJ’S RECORDS Jewell Wear
Sit by my side/Jungle Girl 1967
House of Lost Lovers/Ooby Dooby 1967
Cry on My Shoulder/Jimmy Boy 1969
Fairyland Girl/Child Days 1969
I’ll Never Let You Go Little Darling/Sally Ann From Paris, France 1969
The Hackers
1967 Ange Love/Keep on Running Girl
Not sure of the location of JJ's Studio may have been located in her home.