Muscle Shoals

Film Synopsis

River, Muscle Shoals, Alabama is the unlikely breeding ground for some of the most creative and defiant music in American history. Under the spiritual influence of the “Singing River” as Native Americans called it, the music of Muscle Shoals is some of the most important and resonant of all time. “I’ll Take You There”, “Brown Sugar”, “When a Man Loves a Woman”, “I Never Loved A Man the Way That I Loved You”, “Mustang Sally”, “Tell Mama”, “Kodachrome”, and “Freebird” are just a few of the tens of thousands of tracks created there. At its heart is Rick Hall who founded FAME Studios. Overcoming crushing poverty and staggering tragedies, he brought black and white musicians together to create music that would last for generations while also giving birth to the unique ‘Muscle Shoals sound’ and the rhythm section ‘The Swampers’. In this movie legendary artists including Aretha Franklin, Greg Allman, Bono, Clarence Carter, Jimmy Cliff, Mick Jagger, Etta James, Alicia Keys, Wilson Pickett, Keith Richards, Percy Sledge, Steve Winwood and others bear witness to the magnetism and mystery of Muscle Shoals and why it remains a global influence today.

EVENT DETAILS

This film is in partnership with Newport Folk Festival®

Pre-film performance by Jason Isbell, fresh off the Folk Fest® stage

Post- film Q&A with Director Greg “Freddy” Camalier & Billy Reid, moderated by Paste Magazine editor Michael Dunaway