Everyone has heard “Sweet Home Alabama” a fair few times throughout their life. The song is riddled with references to the titular state, including a rather coded one for those not in the know: Muscle Shoals has got the Swampers.
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If you’re a soul fanatic you’ve likely heard of Muscle Shoals and FAME Studios and, by extension, The Swampers. Like Springsteen’s E Street Band or the Bob Dylan-linked The Band, The Swampers garnered a reputation in their own right while acting as the backing band for famous musicians.
Though they may not have the same level of fame as the aforementioned acts, the icons they played alongside count The Swampers’ contributions as critical. Everyone from the Rolling Stones to Aretha Franklin has played with The Swampers, securing some of their biggest hits in the process.
Find out how The Swampers got their name and their reputation, below.
Behind the Band Name
Record producer Rick Hall established FAME studios in 1959. For his original line-up of studio musicians, Hall tapped Norbert Putnam, David Briggs, and Jerry Carrigan. The original “Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section” drew eyes to the relatively obscure studio but, they were soon whisked away to Nashville to start careers of their own.
The “Second Fame Gang” would be the iteration to earn the name The Swampers. The core group – keyboardist Barry Beckett, drummer Roger Hawkins, bassist David Hood, and guitarist Jimmy Johnson – were affectionately given that nickname by producer Denny Cordell during a recording session for Leon Russell. The name stemmed from the funky, “swampy” Southern sound the band brought to every session.
Occasionally other musicians – namely Dan Penn, Tommy Cogbill, Pete Carr, and Spooner Oldham – would join in for sessions, bolstering their signature sound even more.
Though they were formally known as the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, they have been immortalized as The Swampers thanks to Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Sweet Home Alabama” and their shout-out in the bridge.
Now Muscle Shoals has got the Swampers
And they’ve been known to pick a song or two
Lord they get me off so much
They pick me up when I’m feelin’ blue
Now how about you?
They’ve Been Known to Pick a Song or Two
The New York Times once called The Swampers “American music: a distinctly Southern amalgamation of rhythm & blues, soul, and country music.” Given their catalog, it’s hard to argue the contrary.
Though the group of musicians played for countless artists throughout their tenure, their most notable sessions were with Franklin and the Rolling Stones.
The Swampers have been credited time and time again for giving songs certain qualities musicians couldn’t find anywhere else. Why else would you leave the glitz and glamour of the entertainment hubs of the world for a small town in Alabama?
Prior to visiting Muscle Shoals, Franklin was struggling to find her sound. Producer Jerry Wexler suggested Franklin take a trip down south to play with musicians that used a loose and “from the head” mentality.
“My father realized there were musicians down South that were doing this new approach not doing charts,” Wexler’s son, Paul, told the AP.
Wexler hit the nail on the head with that idea, as Franklin’s first session with The Swampers resulted in two of her most iconic hits: “I Never Loved A Man (The Way I Loved You)” and “Do Right Woman, Do Right Man.” The Swampers rarely read music and instead fed off the energy in the room and played on instinct. That intuitive approach helped Franklin bottle up her incomparable vocals with a more live-feeling recording session.
“I think it helped her and it helped us,” Johnson once explained. “Anytime that you cut a record like that. … She walked in and we’d never really heard of her. And I tell you by the time she sat down at the piano and started playing, we knew we were in for something.”
The session was ultimately cut short due to a fight between a trumpet player, Ken Laxton, and Franklin’s then-husband, Ted White. The Swampers were then flown out to New York to record Franklin’s timeless hit “Respect.”
In 1969, The Swampers left FAME and Hall to start their own studio called 3614 Jackson Highway. There, they recreated the magic they made with Franklin with the Rolling Stones, helping them find a sound they hadn’t dipped into before.
“I don’t think we’d been quite so prolific ever,” Keith Richards said in the documentary Muscle Shoals about their time at 3614 Jackson Highway. There, they recorded their most countryfied hits: “Brown Sugar,” “You Gotta Move” and “Wild Horses.”
All in all, The Swampers have been credited on more than 500 recordings, 75 of which have gone on to be gold or platinum hits. Their contributions to popular music in the ’60s and ’70s earned them inductions into both the Alabama Music Hall of Fame and the Musicians Hall of Fame.
(Photo by House Of Fame LLC/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)
