Right livelihood: This morning, I checked out of the Marriott and picked up my client, a Birmingham attorney, and together we rode up north on I-65 to Muscle Shoals, Alabama. Muscle Shoals is one of the four Quad Cities, the others being Florence, Sheffield and Tuscumbia.

Muscle Shoals is known as the site for recording many hit songs in the 1960s and 70s by artists such as James & Bobby Purify, Arthur Alexander, Wilson Pickett, Aretha Franklin, the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Michael Jackson, the Osmonds, Alvin and the Chipmunks, 2 Live Crew, Clarence Carter, Otis Redding, Duane Allman, Mac Davis, Paul Anka, Ronnie Milsap, Jerry Reed, John Michael Montgomery, Reba McEntire, Blackhawk, and Shenandoah. In 1967, Etta James recorded "At Last," perhaps her most enduring song, along with "Tell Mama" and "I'd Rather Go Blind", in Muscle Shoals.

The South has soul - Wilson Pickett was born in Prattville, Alabama,192 miles south of Muscle Shoals, and grew up singing in Baptist church choirs. Aretha Franklin was born in Memphis, 150 miles west of Muscle Shoals. Otis Redding was born in the small south Georgia town of Dawson, 350 miles southeast of Muscle Shoals. At the age of 5, Redding moved with his family to Macon, where he sang in the choir of the Vineville Baptist Church, and became something of a local celebrity as a teenager after winning a local Sunday night talent show 15 weeks in a row.

In the song "Sweet Home Alabama," Lynyrd Skynyrd sings that "Muscle Shoals has got the Swampers." The "Swampers" were studio musicians who were available if backup was needed. They were given this name by Mick Jagger during a recording session because of the swampy land around the Shoals area. The "Swampers", also known as the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, were Donny Short (lead guitar), Jimmy Johnson (guitar), Roger Hawkins (drums), David Hood (bass), and Barry Beckett (keyboards). More recently, Florence native, Patterson Hood, son of "Swamper" David Hood, has risen to fame in his own right as a member of the alternative rock group, Drive-By Truckers.

Although Muscle Shoals has receded somewhat from its 1960s and 1970s status as "Hit Recording Capital of the World," as a sign near the airport says, it remains an important and enduring landmark location for the American recording industry. The famous Muscle Shoals Sound Studios recording studio closed its doors in January 2005 and has been purchased by a film production company. The equally famous FAME Recording Studios continue to operate out of Muscle Shoals, however.

My work in Muscle Shoals had nothing to do with any of this, but all day long I kept hearing "R-E-S-P-E-C-T," "Try a Little Tenderness," and "Sitting on the Dock of the Bay" in my mind.