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Jimmy Johnson was at the controls of the legendary Muscle Shoals studios in Alabama when the bad-boy British rockers came in for what became one of their signature songs.
Where did The Rolling Stones first record the song 'Brown Sugar'?
Marco Werman speaks with sound engineer Jimmy Johnson, who worked with The Rolling Stones in December 1969 on the first recording of Brown Sugar. The recording took place in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, which would be the setting for classic recordings by Bob Dylan, Elton John and Paul Simon, among others.
in three days, the group recorded three songs that evoked the mix of country, blues and R&B, with "Wild Horses" and the 1965 blues cover "You Gotta Move" the other two. Johnson, a guitarist, was thrust inth the engineering role. He recalled it took the band, which was a bit rusty, five or six hours to get together on each song.
Keith Richards called the sessions some of the best the group had ever done.