Sometimes… but very rarely… you’re in the right place at the right time. In the early 80’s The Mighty Oaks Band was on fire and we had the chance at a record deal with MCA… which never panned out… but we still had the opportunity to record at the legendary Muscle Shoals Sound Studios. We were in Studio B. Another guy was in Studio A… his name was, as I remember it… Glenn Frey… (of a band called the Eagles, remember them?). We were friendly with Glenn’s personal guy, who everybody called Norton… he was Art Carney’s son… (Art played Norton in the classic TV show “The Honeymooners“) and, to me that is funny… GREAT guy. Anyway, Glenn was working on an album that eventually became “Soul Searchin’”. GREAT record…
Nice memory but I DO wish we could have consummated that record deal; however, getting to record at that studio was an incredible (and humbling) experience. While recording there, we stayed at the famous house that the artists got to stay at. People like Paul Simon, Joe Cocker and some outfit out of England… anyone heard of The Rolling Stones? There was a really nice old Wurlitzer electric piano in the house (pictured)… I was jazzed up thinking about how many great piano players had played that piano. Whenever someone was doing an overdub, I spent most of my free time messing around on that piano while the rest of the guys were fishing at a lake that was within walking distance. In some ways that 5-day period was a comedy of errors, and in other ways it was just so much fun to record in one of the most famous studios in the world.
Cool memory!
Good stuff!!
Amen and Amen!