A few shows back, we dedicated a long stretch of shows (28 shows, or a full half-year) to the music of Stax Records (channel 145 on the website). While that covered a good deal of music emanating from the Memphis region, there is a larger part of the story that accompanies the history of Stax. 

To completely understand the importance of this region in popular music, you need to look a bit deeper, to the Studios that surrounded Stax and handled some of that label’s overload, and eventually overpowered Stax as the source for a genuine southern sound. With this series, we will explore four of the Memphis/Muscle Shoals region’s most celebrated studios, Fame, American, Hi and Ardent. 

Stories such as this almost always have humble beginnings, and ours is no exception. We start this series by telling the back-story of Rick Hall, founder of Fame Studios. 

Featured tracks include;

1) A Fallen Star – Jimmie C. Newman

2) Sweet and Innocent – Roy Orbison

3) Sweet and Innocent – Donny Osmond

4) Is a Bluebird Blue – Conway Twitty

5) If the World Don’t End Tomorrow- The Fairlanes