Music’s Most Influential Families Collaborate For First Time
Sam Phillips Recording Service and FAME Studios are two of the most iconic recording studios in the history of music, made famous by the late Sam Phillips and Rick Hall. Phillips and Hall helped shape the sounds of Rock and Roll, Rockabilly, Blues, Soul and Country music throughout the 1950s and 60s leaving a legacy that still thrives today. For the first time, Sam Phillips Recording Service and FAME Studios have come together to collaborate on a project that will be included on a tribute album to honor Charlie Rich later this year.
The recreation of Who Will The Next Fool Be, a song originally performed by Charlie Rich, was produced by Sam’s granddaughter, Halley Phillips, and Rodney Hall, Rick Hall’s son, at Sam Phillips Recording Services in Memphis and mixed at FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals.
“My grandfather and Rodney’s father completely changed the world of music,” says Halley. “It’s an honor to work with him on this project.”
“If not for Sam Phillips my dad may not have had the vision to be in music, he’s always said that,” adds Rodney. “To bring in some of the Muscle Shoals guys and work with the legendary guys in Memphis is really surreal.”
Others involved on the project include Holli Mosley on lead vocals; Charlie Rich Jr. on piano; Grammy Award-winning engineer, Matt Ross-Spang (Jason Isbell, Margo Price); country trio, Levon (Epic/Sony Nashville), on background vocals; drummer, Chad Gamble (Jason Islbell) and Jimbo Hart (Jason Isbell) on bass.
Halley’s vision of recording Who Will The Next Fool Be with a female lead became a reality with the help of Holli Mosley’s powerhouse vocals. Holli has been recording at FAME for six years and played a key roll in connecting the two families for the collaboration.
“I’m honored to be a part of this,” says Mosley. “I feel like I’m a part of making history with everyone who is involved on this project.”
About Sam Phillips Recording Service
Sam Phillips is not just one of the most important producers in rock history; he is also one of the most important figures in 20th-century American culture. As owner and founder of his Memphis Recording Service Studio and Sun Record Company, he was the vital creative innovator at the epicenter of establishing rock n’ roll as the fresh, new, global music of the 20th-century era. He produced, recorded, inspired and launched the careers of the artists that originally defined this new musical sound…Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison, Charlie Rich, B.B. King, Ike Turner, Howlin’ Wolf, Little Milton, Rufus Thomas, and so many more. Sam first made his mark (and a very deep one) with electric rhythm and blues by African American performers. He will always be remembered for all of the music he created, but probably most remembered for his difference-making rock n’ roll artists, particularly Elvis Presley. After successfully outgrowing his Memphis Recording Service/ Sun Studio, Phillips opened Sam Phillips Recording service in 1960.
About FAME Studios
FAME (Florence Alabama Music Enterprises) Studios is located in Muscle Shoals, Alabama in an area of northern Alabama known as The Shoals. Though small and out of the way of the main recording locations of the American music industry, FAME has produced and/or published records that have sold over 350 million copies worldwide and was instrumental in what came to be known as the “Muscle Shoals sound.” Artists such as Wilson Pickett, Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding, Etta James, The Osmonds, Mac Davis and seemingly countless others recorded at FAME. Started in the 1950s by Rick Hall, the studio is still actively recording with artists such as Jason Isbell, The Gregg Allman Band, John Paul White, Phish, Third Day as well as St. Paul and the Broken Bones. The 2013 award-winning documentary Muscle Shoals features Rick Hall, the Swampers, and the Muscle Shoals sound initially popularized by FAME studios.
