Wilson Pickett and engineer/producer Tom Dowd chat during a recording session at the legendary Muscle Shoals Sound Studio. The date was 24 November, 1969 and Pickett was laying down tracks for his Right On album, released on Atlantic early the following year.
Pickett did much to establish the sound of Southern Soul with his early hits, such as In The Midnight Hour, Mustang Sally, Land Of 1,000 Dances and 634-5789, which were often written and recorded with the cream of the session musicians in Memphis and Muscle Shoals. As opposed to the slicker, pop-orientated Motown Sound, Southern Soul is a gutsier, looser take on the hard-driving energy of R&B, coupled with a heavy slice of gospel. And Pickett was one of its greatest, most raucous purveyors.