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[M. Erik Matlock]

In The Studio: Recording The Rolling Stones “Brown Sugar” Sessions
Reconstructing the night that produced a rock song for the ages...
By Bruce Borgerson • September 21, 2018

If you’ve seen the Rolling Stones Gimme Shelter movie, you might recall Jimmy Johnson’s brief speaking role. He was the one coaching Keith Richards on the proper Alabama pronunciation of “Y’all come back, y’hear.”

For three nights in December of 1969, the Stones cut basic tracks and live vocals for three songs: “You Gotta Move,” “Wild Horses” and “Brown Sugar.” The sessions took place at Muscle Shoals Sound Studios—the “burlap palace” at 3614 Jackson Highway—a nondescript former casket factory which the four rhythm section members had purchased earlier that same year.

Prior to venturing out on their own, the foursome (Johnson, bassist David Hood, keyboardist Barry Beckett and drummer Roger Hawkins) had been the core players at Rick Hall’s Fame Studios, where their rhythm tracks laid the foundation for soul hits by Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett, Etta James, Arthur Conley and others.

Since early in his Fame days, Johnson had switched roles back and forth, playing fatback rhythm guitar on some sessions, engineering others. His early engineering credits included “Sweet Soul Music” and “When a Man Loves a Woman.”

But when the Rolling Stones arrived—with little advance notice—Johnson was confronted with something quite other than the relatively low-volume, laid-back soul and pop sessions that were his usual fare...

Continue reading here: https://www.prosoundweb.com/channels/recording/in_the_studio_recording_the_rolling_stones_brown_sugar_sessions/