Story of the 2 legendary recording studios in the Muscle Shoals area, on the banks of the Tennessee River. Producer Rick Hall overcame poverty and tragedy to create FAME Studios, where blacks and whites in segregated 1960s Alabama produced some of the most soulful music ever. The best music of Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett and many others was recorded there, backed by the mostly-white Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, aka The Swampers. When psychedelia turned white audiences away from soul music in 1969, The Swampers moved nearby, starting Muscle Shoals Sound Studio, at 3614 Jackson Highway, where Southern rock sprang after studio guitarist Duane Allman convinced Pickett to record "Hey Jude." Pilgrims to the banks of the "singing river," such as the Rolling Stones and Alicia Keys, help tell the inspirational story of Hall and the Swampers.
