When I was researching for this week’s Song Lyric Sunday post, the prompt for which was to play something recorded at the famous Muscle Shoals Studio, I saw quite a lot of others I could have chosen. That gave me an idea: why not play some more of them for my Tuesday Tunes post this week? So here we are – five more songs that were recorded there.

As is my wont I’m mixing them up a bit, and I guess that three of these may be familiar to you while the other two might not. I’m starting with one of those two:

I love the surprise ending to that! Take a Letter Maria was the debut single written and recorded by the American soul singer R. B. Greaves. It was recorded at Muscle Shoals on August 19, 1969, using the house studio musicians, and was released as a single in September 1969. It soon started getting regular airplay and peaked at #2 in the US, #3 in Canada, and #6 in Australia, but wasn’t a hit in the UK – he has never made our charts. It must have got some airplay, though, as I know the song. There have been several cover versions but I don’t think I’ve heard them. The record went Gold in the US, and sold more than 2.5m copies. It was also the first big hit to come out of the newly formed studio, setting them up rather nicely.

In December 1969 The Rolling Stones recorded three tracks at Muscle Shoals, which then became part of their next album, Sticky Fingers. I wanted to play you Brown Sugar, but the song has been mired in controversy of late, so I thought better of it. The other two were You Gotta Move and the one I’m playing. This is an acoustic version, but just as good as their original take:

Wild Horses is a beautiful song, and has always been one of my Stones favourites. Sticky Fingers was released in April 1971, and topped the charts in the UK, the US, and in loads of other countries too. It has sold more than 3m copies in the US and 300k in the UK. Remember that cheeky cover, with the zip that actually worked? Nothing underneath it though, on my copy anyway. Wild Horses was released as a single in N America in June 1971, making #28 in the US and #11 in Canada. It wasn’t a single here at that time, but subsequent re-releases have seen it clock up more than 400k UK sales.

Another Brit to have made a record at Muscle Shoals almost as soon as the studio started was Lulu, our favourite pop poppet. The album was called New Routes, and this is one of its tracks:

There are so many recordings of Mr Bojangles, but I think this is one of the nicest I’ve heard. Really sweet vocals and a nice arrangement. The song was written by American country singer Jerry Jeff Walker, who had a minor US hit – #77 – with it in 1968. The big chart version was the one by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band , who took it to #9 in 1970. There’s even a version on a Bob Dylan album. Lulu’s album was released in January 1970 and reached #88 in the US but didn’t chart anywhere else. This one wasn’t released by her as a single, but given the NGDB’s success later that year maybe her record company missed a trick?

Rod Stewart also recorded at Muscle Shoals, for his album Atlantic Crossing. This is the official live performance of one of its tracks:

Atlantic Crossing was released in August 1975, making #1 in the UK and Australia and #9 in the US. It marked a break from his previous pattern, as it was the first record he made without his old mates from The Faces and the usual studio crew, and eventually brought about his departure from the band in late 1975, following a tour during which the others told him how much they disliked his new musical direction! It isn’t one of his biggest sellers: just the 500k copies in the US and 300k in the UK. I Don’t Want To Talk About It was released in March 1977 as part of a double A-side single with The First Cut Is The Deepest, topping the UK chart but only making #46 in the US. I’ve always quite liked it, but wouldn’t rate it as one of his best: it is still a popular part of his live shows, though, so what do I know!

Having talked myself out of a rocker to start this set, I thought I’d find one slightly more upbeat than the others to close today. Who knew that this guy had recorded at Muscle Shoals:

Kodachrome was the opening track on Paul Simon’s third solo album, There Goes Rhymin’ Simon, which was released in May 1973 (the video is wrong!) and got to #2 in the US and #4 in the UK. This was another of those albums that formed a big part of the soundtrack to my uni days, being released just before the end of my first year there. The song was released at the same time as the lead single from the album, peaking at #2 in the US. It wasn’t a single at the time in the UK or Australia, both of which had national broadcasters who banned songs featuring trademarked names in their title. Dear old BBC! The record company got round this by releasing it as the B-side to the single of Take Me To The Mardi Gras, which reached #7 here. The UK was the only country in which that song was a hit: with that B-side it isn’t difficult to see why, is it!

That’s all for this week. I enjoyed putting these together, as it gave me a chance to widen my musical knowledge, and I hope you’ve enjoyed them too. I’ll see you again in a couple of days so, until then, have a great week 😊