David Hood and The Swampers Release New Muscle Shoals Album

The Muscle Shoals sound was the key to some America’s most popular music of the ’60s and ’70s. The secret weapon, of course, was the group of musicians, dubbed The Swampers, who made up the legendary rhythm section for so many hits. They crafted hits for Aretha Franklin, Big Joe Turner, the Staple Singes, Paul Simon, Rod Stewart, and more.

Now the Muscle Shoals Sound Records vault has been opened to release Muscle Shoals Has Got the Swampers, an album of 14 instrumental tracks by The Swampers. The band includes guitarist Jimmy Johnson, drummer Roger Hawkins, keyboardist Barry Beckett, and legendary bassist David Hood, who fellow players know for his bass lines on “I’ll Take You There,” “Respect Yourself,” among others. Most of the new album was recorded in the ’70s.

“We decided in about 1972 or 1973 about the time we had been working with Traffic we wanted to do an album,” Hood told AL.com. “We had made a few attempts at different times in the past and our earlier attempts had been different artists to come in and sing on these things. We got Steve Winwood to come in and sing on a couple tracks and several other artists. When we finished that album it just sounded like us backing all these different people. So, we decided we were going to be a serious studio band like Booker T. & The M.G.s or somebody and really try to do an instrumental album without singers or anything. It was kind of a trip for us because we had always worked in support of other people and other people’s songs.”

Get a taste of the album with the first track, “Swampers”:

Muscle Shoals Has Got The Swampers is available now on CD and digital download.

Muscle Shoals Has Got the Swampers Track List:

1. Swampers
2. Muscle Shoals Malmo Express
3. Whiplash
4. MSS Down By The River
5. Pete’s Song
6. Don’t Bug Me Johnson
7. Muscle Shoals
8. Backporch Soul
9. Cruisin’ Jackson Highway
10. What Goes Around Comes Around
11. 3614 Jam
12. Eddy’s Place
13. Inner Tube
14. Sunday Morning R&B