This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2013, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Odds are, if you know anything about Muscle Shoals, Ala., it's the reference to it in Lynyrd Skynyrd's classic song "Sweet Home Alabama": "Now Muscle Shoals has got the Swampers / And they've been known to pick a song or two / Lord they get me off so much / They pick me up when I'm feeling blue."
Now the documentary "Muscle Shoals" — screening at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival — will educate viewers about the town and the legendary recording studio there the fostered the "Muscle Shoals sound."
Director Greg 'Freddy' Camalier profiles FAME Studios, the place where such famous songs as the Rolling Stones' "Brown Sugar," Percy Sledge's "When a Man Loves a Woman," Aretha Franklin's "Respect," Wilson Pickett's "Mustang Sally," Bob Seger's "Old Time Rock and Roll," Paul Simon's "Kodachrome" and Skynyrd's "Freebird" were recorded. Many of those songs were recorded with the studio's house band, known as The Swampers.
"Muscle Shoals" debuts in the Documentary Premieres section of the 2013 Sundance Film Festival.
(h/t Rolling Stone magazine)
- Sean P. Means