Muscle Shoals

Riding in on the buzz of 20 Feet From Stardom, Muscle Shoals is another entertaining documentary about under-appreciated backing musicians who literally “made” many of the greatest rock ‘n’ roll songs we know and love. Where 20 Feet From Stardom tells the stories of predominantly black and predominantly female backup vocalists, Muscle Shoals focuses on the primarily (and surprisingly) white studio musicians who all emanated from a tiny, muddy area in rural Alabama and collectively created some of the most soulful sounds and funky rhythms. At the center of the film is Rick Hall, the man who assembled all these musicians at a small studio he built himself. Having a central figure in the film helps make it a bit more grounded than 20 Feet, and director Greg 'Freddy' Camalier assembles an even more impressive lineup of great interviews. The film is chock full of fascinating behind-the-music anecdotes; actually a few too many anecdotes, as it turns out. Muscle Shoals is as rambling and uneven as the Tennessee River, which many in the film say gives the area its magical musical quality. And while Camalier doesn't pollute his film with staged, up-close-and-personal segments where the audience “hangs out” with the film’s subjects, he does indulge in many staged montages of his subjects walking in slow-motion, standing in fields and barns, and playing music. No matter. The stories behind all the great music make any filmmaking flaws as irrelevant as they are in 20 Feet From Stardom.