More recently FAME has recorded projects for The Gregg Allman Band, Third Day, Michael McDonald, Vince Gill, Alison Krauss, Aloe Blacc, Chord Overstreet, Keb Mo. In late 1961 Rick Hall produced the first successful Muscle Shoals album on Arthur Alexander. The song, “You Better Move On”, was later covered by the Rolling Stones. Over the years, FAME's historic Studio A has hosted countless fundamental recordings that have been woven into the American fabric, influencing several generations of musicians around the world.
Carefully maintained and cared for, FAME's selection of classic and state-of-the-art microphones, consoles and instruments offers an unparalleled treasure to suit the particular needs of any recording artist. Songs like Staple Singers's sanctified gem “I'll Take You There”, recorded in Muscle Shoals Sound, and Wilson Pickett's jubilant “Land of 1000 Dances”, recorded at FAME, are not vaccines. FAME is currently in talks to book sessions for, as Hall says, some real international celebrities coming later this year. The Backstage Experience takes you behind the velvet rope, including the FAME Publications Office, Rick Hall's personal office, exhibits showcasing the multiple FAME awards, including the Gold Records and Song of the Year awards, and exhibits focusing on instruments played in historic sessions, including the legendary Aretha Franklin Sessions and instruments from the personal collection of Rick Hall.
Studio B's editing room, one of the best-sounding studio rooms on the planet, has been gently renovated, leaving all its superior sound vibration intact and providing a legendary recording experience like no other. He wasn't always a recording artist for FAME; he had done previous material at the Stax Records studio in Memphis, Tenn. During the lockdown, Alabama Music Hall of Fame staff worked from home to complete background projects, including a revised marketing plan and updated member contact information. After closing in mid-March due to the coronavirus pandemic, the room, FAME and Muscle Shoals Sound are back in the tourism business.
FAME co-owner Rodney Hall says studio tours help continue the legacy of the studio and the legendary musicians, composers, producers and others who shaped the sound of Muscle Shoals. Bruce Miller's CD “Once You've Loved Somebody for the Wide Open Spaces” by Dixie Chicks, which has sold eleven million records to date. After co-producing five faces with Robert Byrne, they took the group to Sony Records, who immediately signed the act and FAME Productions to an agreement. They then installed a 56-channel Solid State Logic 6056E console, the console that Stevie Ray Vaughan used to record Soul to Soul, The Sky Is Crying and Live Alive.
Since most of the Alabama Music Hall of Fame artifacts shown in are behind glass and protected from the elements, chemicals used to clean the building were once in contact with those items. The studio held a couple of remote recording sessions during this time, including one with guitarist Nuno Bettencourt from the hard rock band Extreme. It was at FAME that the original Muscle Shoals rhythm section cut its teeth with a huge stash of recordings from the 1960s.