In the late ’60s, some of the greatest music ever made was recorded in small Muscle Shoals, Alabama? What drew artists like Percy Sledge, Wilson Pickett, Aretha Franklin, Etta James, the Rolling Stones and many others to a small studio in Alabama? One man — Rick Hall.

Against all odds, he turned a tiny Alabama outpost into the greatest little town in rock and roll history. He’s responsible for building Fame Studios and ushering in the Muscle Shoals sound that is still alive and well today.

Rick describes his place in rock history in his new book, The Man From Muscle Shoals: My Journey From Shame to Fame.

Rick talks to Growing Bolder about how a man like himself with no formal music training became one of the biggest hit-makers in history. He describes why it was his mission to change the music industry forever.

And it’s not just his place in music history that’s so fascinating; wait until you learn more about his incredible backstory, from his poverty stricken childhood as the son of a sharecropper father to tragically losing his wife and father in accidents.

He also talks passionately about why it was so important to him to bring black music and musicians to prominence, particularly as someone who grew up in the segregated South.