Music Mill

MUSIC MILL

1108 E. Avalon Ave., Muscle Shoals, AL

Former FAME Studios engineer Al Cartee and his partner George Soulé opened Music Mill in 1974. The studio was the largest of its kind in the Shoals area at that time, and the only local studio to specialize in the recording of country music. "I wanted to do something different," Cartee later recalled. "My idea was to put country artists and country songs with pop musicians."

Designed and constructed by Nashville firm Studio Supply, Music Mill boasted a Dolby noise-reduction system and a state-of-the-art 24-track console. It also featured a basement-level lounge for artists and songwriters, “filled with farm antiques, a video-tape machine, television set and sound equipment.”

“We wanted a down home place where everyone could feel comfortable and be creative.”
          —Al Cartee

During its first few weeks, Music Mill hosted Quin Ivy for a Percy Sledge mixing session and went to work on building a demo file for its new publishing company. Soon it was attracting the attention of Muscle Shoals music luminaries like Peanutt Montgomery, who joined the production staff in December 1974.

Another local legend, Arthur Alexander, found Music Mill by accident.

“One day… Arthur walked into 1108 East Avalon Avenue, what he thought was Wishbone studio. He had in fact entered Music Mill... Before the day was out, all parties agreed to record some new masters on Arthur and help him get a deal.”
          —Richard Younger

Music Mill scored its first hit in a big way in 1975, when “Reconsider Me” by Narvel Felts reached number two on the Billboard Hot Country Singles charts. “In the studio’s first three years of operation,” Cash Box reported, “there was never a week when Music Mill sessions weren’t on the country charts.” Other artists who recorded at the studio over the years included George Jones, Carl Perkins, Roy Clark, Bobby Bare, and Hank Williams, Jr.

By 1977, Cartee's publishing companies, Music Mill and Alan Cartee Music, had built up a roster of 38 songwriters and opened an office in Nashville. In addition to Montgomery and Alexander, staff writers included Ava Aldridge, Eddie Struzick, and Max Lee. Aldridge alone had more than 55 of her songs recorded, and while working for Music Mill as director of creative services, “became the first woman to produce a session in a Muscle Shoals studio.”

Personnel

Owners:
• Al Cartee
• George Soulé

Writers:
 Tommy Brasfield
 Peanutt Montgomery
 Brent Cartee
 
Ava Aldridge
 Arthur Alexander
 Eddie Struzick
 Max Lee
 Fred Sebastian


Discography

1975:
 Narvel Felts, "Reconsider Me"

• Hank Williams, Jr., Hank Williams, Jr. and Friends
• Arthur Alexander, "Everyday I Have to Cry Some"
• The Farm Band, On the Rim of the Nashville Basin
Hank Williams, Jr., "Where He's Going, I've Already Been"
 Ava Aldridge, Frustrated Housewife*
 Eddy Arnold, The Wonderful World of Eddy Arnold*

1976:
• Roy Clark, My Music and Me*
• Narvel Felts, Doin' What I Feel
 Narvel Felts, Narvel the Marvel

1977:
• Bobby Bare, Me and McDill
• 
John Wesley Ryles, John Wesley Ryles
Johnny Lee, H-e-e-e-re's Johnny*
 Arthur Alexander, "Hound Dog Man's Gone Home"

1978:
• Roy Clark, Hookin’ It

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Sources:

Lola Scobey, Cash Box, August 27, 1977.

Richard Younger, Get a Shot of Rhythm and Blues: The Arthur Alexander Story (Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2000).

Dick Cooper, Times Daily, c. 1972-1974.