Since I got started in this business, I’ve found one thing to be true again and again: the perfect situation often comes out of the most unexpected place. To put it another way (and to quote myself), “you just never know.” Having the opportunity to record my new album at FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, AL was yet another example of this truth. I found myself in the right place at the right time with the right people, and the results were nothing sort of magic.

My story at FAME started early in 2019, when my producer and musical partner Freebo and I drove down to the Shoals on a whim to pay a visit to Freebo’s old friend, guitarist Will McFarlane. Little did I know that that visit would be the beginning of a creative journey that would culminate over two years later with an 11-day recording session, bringing my new album to life in that iconic room.

“Since I got started in this business, I’ve found one thing to be true again and again: the perfect situation very often comes out of the most unexpected place.”

Muscle Shoals, Alabama has legendary status in the story of American music, and FAME Recording Studios is at the heart of that story. Since the doors opened in 1961, countless chart-topping hits have been recorded there, from Percy Sledge’s “When A Man Loves A Woman” to Aretha Franklin’s “I Never Loved A Man The Way I Love You,” to Wilson Pickett’s “Mustang Sally.” With the leadership of producer, engineer, and FAME founder Rick Hall and the musical genius of the famous Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section (AKA “The Swampers”), the Muscle Shoals Sound became synonymous with a soulful, big-bottomed, irresistible funkiness that generations of artists have sought to capture. I’m proud to be one of a generation of young artists who have made the pilgrimage to the self-proclaimed Hit Recording Capital Of The World to do just that.

The band, September 2019 (left to right: Jeff Fielder, Mark Jordan, me, Freebo, Will McFarlane, John Gifford, Justin Holder, and Brian Boozer)

After that first visit, both Freebo and I got bitten by the Shoals bug and booked two days at FAME for September of that year. In addition to producing, Freebo would play fretless bass, and Will would be on electric guitar. After playing with Freebo for five years in Bonnie Raitt’s band in the ‘70s, Will relocated to the Shoals in 1980 and for the last four decades he has been an integral part of the next generation of Swampers. To round out the band, Freebo brought in his old friend Mark Jordan to play keyboards, and Will enlisted local drummer Justin Holder who learned his craft from Roger Hawkins himself. The final piece of the puzzle was my friend from Seattle, multi-instrumentalist Jeff Fielder, who we bumped into at Americanafest in Nashville the day before we were set to begin recording. Jeff played on both my 2017 EP You’ve Been Away So Long and my debut full-length record, Visions (2019). We asked him on the spot if he could change his travel plans and come down to the Shoals with us, and the next morning the three of us were speeding down the highway together.

“I found myself in the right place at the right time with the right people, and results were nothing sort of magic.”

Grinning from ear to ear in my vocal booth, July 2021

After those first sessions, it was clear that what had started as an exploratory, one-off session would become a full-fledged plan to record my next album. What I heard in the initial rough mixes was a sultry funkiness, a thick bass and rhythm that supported my songs beautifully and bought out a soulful strength in my voice. I couldn’t wait to get back and keep working!

When COVID hit, my dream of returning to FAME in the spring of 2020 was put on hold. After my initial disappointment, I realized that the forced stillness of the pandemic was an incredible creative opportunity. Instead of hustling all over the globe playing shows, I had the time and space to focus on songwriting, and between evenings writing alone and a series of co-writing sessions with Freebo and others, I pulled together a batch of new tunes that I absolutely adore and am so excited to share. I’m so grateful for the combination of preparation and opportunity that brought me to FAME to make this record. I can’t wait to share it with you in the spring of 2022.