The past week saw the passing of Rick Hall, one of the "unknown giants" of the music world, a legend who along with Leonard Chess (Chess Records, Chicago), Barry Gordy (Motown, Detroit), and Sam Phillips (Sun Records, Memphis) significantly shaped modern music across genres and introduced performers who went on to be legends themselves:
Producer Rick Hall, 'Father of Muscle Shoals Music,' Dead at 85 --
https://www.rollingstone.com/country...-at-85-w514854
Hall’s Music Impact Hard for Us to Grasp --
http://www.courierjournal.net/commen...a59f6fd55.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Hall
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muscle...s_Sound_Studio
Hall was a musician's producer, one who knew and understood the creative process and worked with artists to help them achieve their sounds. He was also a good judge of talent such as when he gave some kid who quite literally camped out at the door of the studio a chance to show his talent: that's how Duane Allman got his first big break, playing as a session man on a Wilson Pickett album; Duane also recorded his last album in Hall's FAME Studios. Hall also had an amazing studio 'house band' of session musicians known as the Swampers, immortalized in the Lynyrd Skynyrd song
Sweet Home Alabama. There are few people in the recording industry of whom it can be said they were pivot points in the history of modern music and Rick Hall is one of them...
RIP, Rick Hall and thanks for all the great music you helped us to hear...
The first recording ever produced by Rick Hall, by an artist who is one of my favorites of all time:
The recording done in Muscle Shoals that began the legend of Duane Allman:
Another bit of magic with Aretha Franklin:
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