Alex Henderson

The Muscle Shoals Horns
Shine On

Different musicologists will express different views on exactly when the Muscle Shoals soul sound came into existence, but arguably, the beginning came in 1961. That year, the late Arthur Alexander recorded his hit single, “You Better Move On,” in Muscle Shoals, Alabama with the help of producer Rick Hall. And as the 1960s and 1970s progressed, Muscle Shoals’ contributions to southern soul became increasingly famous: Aretha Franklin, Etta James, Bobby Womack, Percy Sledge, Wilson Pickett, Solomon Burke, Clarence Carter, Joe Tex and Candi Staton were among the many soul stars who recorded in the Alabama city. Muscle Shoals’ prominence in R&B was great for Hall (who owned FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals) as well as for busy session players like the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, a.k.a. the Swampers, and the four horn players who came to be known as the Muscle Shoals Horns: trombonist Charles Rose, trumpeter Harrison Calloway, tenor saxophonist Harvey Thompson and baritone saxophonist Ronnie Eades. The Muscle Shoals Horns were among the busiest session players in southern soul, but in 1976, listeners got a taste of what Rose, Calloway, Thompson and Eades could do as leaders when Bang Records released their first album, Born to Get Down.

A stylistic departure from the session work they were known for, Born to Get Down was not traditional southern soul but rather, combined elements of the Muscle Shoals sound with elements of the funk and disco/dance sounds of the era—and they continued in that vein on their second album, Doin’ It to the Bone (released by Ariola Records in 1977) and their third album, Shine On (which Monument Records put out in 1983). Now, in 2015, FunkytownGrooves is reissuing all three albums on CD.

Anyone who expected Shine On to sound exactly like the Muscle Shoals Horns’ session work for Pickett, Carter or Womack was in for a surprise because that wasn’t what they were going for in 1983. Rather, funky grooves such as “Shoalin’ (Funky ‘N Half-Hip),” “Don’t Bust Yo’ Bubbles,” “Celebrate, Recreate, Participate” and the title track reflected the R&B scene of the late 1970s and early 1980s. There are hints of Earth, Wind & Fire and Kool & the Gang on “Get Down Tonight” (not to be confused with KC & the Sunshine Band’s 1975 hit), “More Than Ever Now,” “If You Don’t Want My Lovin’ (Give It Back)” and the melancholy “She Was Once My Woman,” which is clearly a different type of approach from the straight-up southern soul the Muscle Shoals Horns had been famous for as session players.

Interviewed in March 2015, Rose, Eades and Calloway had much to say about their contributions to the southern music scene. Rose noted that although the Muscle Shoals Horns were known for working in Alabama, they also worked in Nashville and Memphis—and Monument was a Nashville-based label. Nevertheless, Shine On was recorded in Alabama rather than Nashville. And while Swampers keyboardist Barry Beckett did all of the producing on Born to Get Down and Doin’ It to the Bone, Monument didn’t want him to handle 100% of the producing on Shine On.

“The Muscle Shoals Horns had played on numerous sessions for Fred Foster, head of Monument Records, and Combine Publishing in Nashville,” Rose recalls. “When Foster decided to sign us to do a third Muscle Shoals Horns album, several demos were cut under Barry Beckett’s supervision at Muscle Shoals Sound Studios, now in its new location in the old Naval Reserve building along the Tennessee River in Sheffield, Alabama. But Foster later balked at the amount Barry Beckett wanted to produce the project, and it was decided that the four of us and Fred would co-produce the album.”

For Shine On, the Muscle Shoals Horns opted to add a second trumpeter: Alabama resident Gary Armstrong. Rose explains, “Gary and I grew up together in Sheffield and played in the Sheffield High School Band together. Muscle Shoals Sound bassist David Hood had, several years earlier, played trombone in the Sheffield High School Band. Later, Gary and I both attended Murray State University together, both majoring in music. We formed a horn section-oriented rock band while in school there. In that band, I recall performing many songs that I had no idea were recorded in Muscle Shoals, including Wilson Pickett’s ‘Funky Broadway’ and Etta James' ‘Tell Mama.’”

Of the Muscle Shoals Horns’ three albums, Shine On received the least exposure. The album was plagued by very limited distribution, which had a lot to do with Monument’s financial difficulties. “Just a week or so after Shine On was released in March 1983, Monument Records went bankrupt,” Rose recalls. “Despite Harrison’s confidence that the bankruptcy would not affect the promotion of the album, it did—and I’m not sure whether the album ever made it into stores.”

Eades offered some thoughts on the Muscle Shoals Horns’ methodology as session players, observing, “We did a lot of work with Atlantic Records and all the big companies. They told us to use the KISS principal—this stands for Keep It Simple, Stupid. What I did, especially for the solo things, was to sit down and listen to the song, listen to the lyrics of the song, try to figure out what the artist was trying to convey, and then, complement what the artist was doing. You don’t want to take away from the artist.”

Calloway remembered that early in his career, one of his inspirations was trumpeter Miles Davis—although stylistically, Calloway took a very different path from that jazz icon. “I’m a trained musician,” Calloway notes. “I have a degree in music education, but if I knew in college what I now know, I would have just majored in performance. I wanted to be a Miles Davis, but there were so many trumpet players then. So I had to take some education courses but didn’t do too well in those.”

The fact that Shine On suffered commercially because of Monument’s problems doesn’t make the material any less worthwhile. And there’s no doubt that back in 1983, the Muscle Shoals Horns were still keeping it funky.

—Alex Henderson, March 2015

Alex Henderson’s work has appeared in Billboard, Spin, Salon.com, Creem, The L.A. Weekly, AlterNet, JazzTimes, Jazziz, Cash Box, HITS, CD Review, Skin Two, Black Beat, The Pasadena Weekly, Black Radio Exclusive (BRE), Music Connection, The New York City Jazz Record, Jazz Inside Magazine and many other well-known publications. Henderson (alexvhenderson.com) also contributed several thousand CD reviews to the popular Allmusic.com website and The All Music Guide’s series of music reference books.