The Man from Muscle Shoals

My Journey from Shame to Fame

By: Rick Hall

Narrated by: Rick Hall, Jeremy Arthur

Length: 11 hrs and 18 mins

Publisher's summary

This is the story of legendary record producer Rick Hall and his historic role in the development of the world-famous "Muscle Shoals sound".

Rick Hall made music history when he founded FAME Recording Studios, the first professional recording studio in the entire state of Alabama. After producing and engineering the area's first national hit on Arthur Alexander's Southern soul classic "You Better Move On", Rick went on to earn international fame and eventually a Grammy for a lifetime of achievements.

In the days when Martin Luther King, Jr. was marching for freedom, Rick proved to be a civil rights pioneer through his music. His records helped introduce White audiences to the Black music market and Black audiences to the White music market.

From the moment "You Better Move On" hit the charts, record executives literally flocked to Muscle Shoals for Rick to produce and engineer a mind-boggling array of major artists, from Aretha Franklin to Bobbie Gentry, from the Osmonds to Alabama. His astonishing production abilities were matched by his incredible versatility.

Music fans, history buffs, and others delight to these fascinating tales of how Rick Hall launched the music careers of so many famous artists.

©2015 Rick Hall (P)2015 ListenUp Production, LLC

Excellent Biography

Rick Hall memoirs is heartfelt and straight to the point. This book tells the resilience and the passion of how Rick Hall became the architect, the founding father of the Muscle Shoals Music Scene. The late Rick Hall persevered from growing up in poverty to public success while maintaining who he was. A easy listen.

Great!

I really enjoyed learning about Rick's life. The good, the bad, and everything in between.

Amazing book especially with a streaming service

Rick Hall was an amazing person and he left this world a better place. He inspired me with his ability to be productive and creative in the midst of overwhelming tragedy. Musicians will find the book fascinating. Rick wrote the book in a personal, first person style and he narrated the first chapter. Have a music app handy. One where you can build a playlist. I tried to capture nearly every song from FAME studios he called out. The playlist is epic. There are artists that are less familiar like Jimmy Hughes, Arthur Alexander, Tommy Roe, the Tams, Joe Simone, Joe Tex; and of course artists you know instantly like Percy Sledge, Wilson Picket, Jimmy Cliff, and Aretha. Rick details his rise from poverty and tragedy to fame. His mother abandoned him. He paints a horrid picture of speeding to a hospital, after a violent car accident, with his first wife (barely 16 years old) dying on his lap. Immediately after that, a tractor Rick bought his father, crushed his dad to death. He gives us insight into his success: misguided partnerships, early distribution deals, studio dynamics, song pitching, dealings with Chet Atkins and Jerry Wexler from Atlantic records. He takes us on the winding path from those tragic beginnings, to his transformation into an independent record producer and super star sought out by Bod Dylan, Paul Simon and the Rolling Stones. "I loved Duane Allman," Rick tells us, and we can grasp something of Duane's transcendent genius through Rick's earthy, tangible prose. A great book, well narrated and worth several listens.

a required read

before you go to muscle shoals and tour Fame and Muscle Shoals recording studio, you need to read this book. you need to watch the muscle shoals documentary. then, you can understand the importance of Rick Hall and muscle shoals to the music industry.

Wow!

It is just amazing how many incredible songs were produced by Rick Hall and recorded at Fame Studio. I watched the Man from Muscle Shoals documentary when it was on Netflix and wanted to learn more about Rick Hall. His story is incredible - a true rags to riches story that influenced some of the greatest music in American history.

Rick Hall reads the first chapter (I think it was actually recorded at Fame Studio, too). It was really neat to hear him read that part of his story, but the narrator for the rest of the book - Jeremy Arthur - was really great, too.

I recommend this book to anyone who cares about music, the music industry, or just enjoys a good biography.

Outstanding!

Found this after watching the Muscle Shoals movie. Some people are just natural born storytellers - Rick Hall is one of them. Such an inspiring story, and so interesting! There was one point where he gives a short explanation about slaughtering a hog, which is definitely not my cup of tea. But even that was interesting! The narrator was wonderful as well. Highly recommend - by far the best audio book I’ve ever listened to.

What a Story!

I read and listed to this book. The personal stories at the beginning of the book are gripping and raw. The stories of FAME Studio are so interesting! I enjoyed every minute.

so boring and hard to listen to.

just awful. 500 chapters of ever thing this guy ever did or saw or wiped his ass with. Boring