Rob Bowman’s ‘Land Of A Thousand Sessions: The Complete Muscle Shoals Story 1951-1985’ - A Definitive, 750-Page Look At ‘The Hit Recording Capital Of The World’ - Arrives Today Via Malaco Records

The story of Muscle Shoals arrives today as it has never been told before - and as it can never be told again - in the form of six-time GRAMMY-nominated music scholar Rob Bowman’s ‘Land Of A Thousand Sessions.’ Teaming with Malaco Records - America’s longest-running independent label - this definitive text offers more than 750 pages of insights, culled from interviews with nearly 100 key players in the Muscle Shoals story. Within this group are household names like Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Mavis Staples, as well as many essential contributors who have never spoken on the record before, and including many who have sadly passed on since. Coupled with Bowman’s years of meticulous research - and discovery of long-lost historical documents - the results are a wholly unique look at one of the most beloved, and unlikely, stories in American music history. 

Order ‘Land Of A Thousand Sessions: The Complete Muscle Shoals Story 1951-1985’ here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FP32HPSG 

Throughout ‘Land Of A Thousand Sessions,’ Bowman captures a vivid portrait of how Muscle Shoals’ nine recording studios became the epicenter of American popular music. This includes its role as a soul powerhouse (Aretha Franklin, Etta James, Wilson Pickett, Percy Sledge, The Staple Singers), a rock and pop haven (The Rolling Stones, Paul Simon, Bob Seger, Leon Russell, Joe Cocker, The Osmonds) and later a magnet for country music (Willie Nelson, Hank Williams Jr., Mac Davis, Jerry Reed, T.G. Sheppard, Shenandoah). And in between, home to a trove of unexpected genre explorations, from sessions with Cannonball Adderley, to prog rock and psychedelic blues. ‘Land Of A Thousand Sessions’ also grippingly demonstrates the power of unity, diversity and togetherness in the face of segregation, divisiveness and racism. As the Senegalese disc jockey Idrissa Dia described it in a letter to Atlantic Records’ Jerry Wexler at the time: "despite the headlines that George Wallace was grabbing around the world, the brothers from Muscle Shoals showed that America was a far more complex society." 

Reuniting with Malaco Records after penning their own definitive history, ‘The Last Soul Company,’ Bowman masterfully utilizes his gifts for meticulous research and evocative storytelling - which earned that 2021 collection praise from PBS Newshour, NPR’s Morning Edition and more. Most recently, he helped adapt his book on the history of Stax into a multi-part documentary series for HBO - ‘STAX: Soulsville U.S.A.’ - which was honored as a 2025 Peabody Award recipient this spring. 

For more information visit: https://shorefire.com/roster/land-of-a-thousand-sessions

Praise for ‘Land of a Thousand Sessions’: 

"The definitive history of this Southern music mecca."

- Garden & Gun 

"It’s the book about Muscle Shoals I have always hoped someone would write...a thick, deeply researched, and beautifully written telling of one of the most unlikely stories in the history of Southern music"

- Chuck Reece, Salvation South 

“[Land of a Thousand Sessions] shows the musical influence of Muscle Shoals far outweighs its size”

- Uncut

“Through first-hand accounts—and his use of long-lost historical documents—[Bowman] traces how Muscle Shoals’ nine recording studios became a focal point of American popular music…plus plenty of new insights”

- MIX Magazine

“Bowman sat with some of the world’s best musicians including Mavis Staples, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, to put together the definitive history of Muscle Shoals.”

- Music Connection 

“Focusing on the area’s recording heyday and running nearly 750 pages, Bowman has conducted research and interviews like no other writer on this subject.”

- Southern Stages 

About ‘Land Of A Thousand Sessions’:

The Muscle Shoals story is one of the most unlikely tales in the history of American popular music. Through dogged determination, maniacal intensity and indomitable will power, producer Rick Hall kick-started a hit-making music industry that by any reasonable logic should have never happened.

A tiny hamlet in northwest Alabama, Muscle Shoals was part of an area known as the Quad Cities that included three other small towns, Sheffield, Florence and Tuscumbia. Effectively in the middle of nowhere, the Quad Cites skewed 90% white and 10% black. Generally deploying largely white rhythm sections, black vocalists and integrated horns, Fame, Quinvy and Muscle Shoals Sound studios became soul music powerhouses recordings dozens of genre defining hits such as Percy Sledge’s “When a Man Loves a Woman,” Wilson Pickett’s “Land of a Thousand Dances,” Etta James’ “Tell Mama,” Aretha Franklin’s “I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You),” Clarence Carter’s “Patches,” the Staple Singers’ “I’ll Take You There,” Luther Ingram’s “If Loving You Is Wrong,” Bobby Womack’s “Across 110th Street” and Millie Jackson’s “Caught Up” opus.

In the 1970s Muscle Shoals grew to include nine studios and expanded into rock and pop, producing an extraordinary number of Top Ten smashes including the Rolling Stones’ “Brown Sugar,” Bobbie Gentry’s “Fancy,” the Osmonds’ “One Bad Apple,” Joe Cocker’s “High Time We Went,” Leon Russell’s “Tightrope,” Paul Simon’s “Kodachrome,” Rod Stewart’s “Tonight’s the Night,” Bob Seger’s “Old Time Rock and Roll” and reggae star Jimmy Cliff’s “Sitting in Limbo.”

In the late 1970s and early 1980s Muscle Shoals pivoted yet again, becoming a magnet for country artists, the result being such classic recordings as Willie Nelson’s Phases and Stages, Hank Williams Jr.’ “Family Tradition”, Mac Davis’ “Baby, Don’t Get Hooked on Me,” Jerry Reed’s “She Got the Goldmine (I Got the Shaft),” T. G. Sheppard’s “Strong Heart” and Shenandoah’s “Two Dozen Roses.”

Known as the “Hit Recording Capital of the World,” the saga of Muscle Shoals is a story that deserves an in-depth treatment that tells the story of the musicians, producers and engineers that created some of the most important records in American music history.