Nestled on the banks of the Tennessee River, just South of Nashville and to the East of Memphis sits the town of Muscle Shoals, Alabama. In the 1960s with the help of two recording studios, FAME and the Muscle Shoals Sound Studio, it became the heart and home to the Soul of America.

The studios produced some of the greatest songs ever. FAME Studios saw the birth of Aretha Franklin as the Queen of Soul when she sat at the piano and laid down, "I Never Loved A Man (The Way I Love You)". There was also Arthur Conley ("Sweet Soul Music"), Wilson Pickett ("Land of 1000 Dances", "Mustang Sally"), and Etta James ("Tell Mama", "I'd Rather Go Blind”) amongst countless others.

A little more than two miles up the road is Muscle Shoals Sound Studios, who took that baton and ran with it. The artists that recorded there were similarly breathtaking; Cher, The Rolling Stones, Boz Scaggs, Canned Heat, Bob Seger, Art Garfunkel, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Leon Russell, Bob Dylan, and all the way up to The Black Keys when they recorded their Grammy-winning 2010 breakthrough album, 'Brothers,' there.

Authenticity surges through the town. So, when the opportunity for DeWolff to head to Muscle Shoals and record at both studios came up, it was a dream come true. It's not hard to see why the Dutch trio would want to venture into the heart of America's Soul when it's a band that released 2023's #1 album, "Love, Death & In Between", which was partly inspired by attending an Al Green sermon in Memphis and recorded in a fully analogue studio, deep in a forest in North-Western France. It was the authenticity they were searching for once again.

"Even before we were into Southern Rock, as a kid, Luka got an album of Southern Soul, and most of it was recorded at FAME. That was our introduction to soul music," says singer/guitarist Pablo van de Poel of his brother. "We didn't start with James Brown; we started with the likes of Wilson Pickett. Muscle Shoals Sound had been closed down for a pretty long time, and then The Black Keys did 'Brothers' there. That's been one of our favourite records ever since it came out, so It's been a dream for a long time."

In May 2024, they travelled to Muscle Shoals to record their 10th studio album over two weeks with Grammy Award-winning producer Ben Tanner (Alabama Shakes, Dylan LeBlanc, Betty Lavette) - a producer recommended by singer-songwriter Dylan LeBlanc. "You can really feel some kind of rock 'n roll magic in the air there," Pablo adds. "Right when we played our first notes there, I got goosebumps: here was that sound I've been hearing on all those classic albums! This definitely was one of the best recording experiences we've ever had. Even the grand piano Leon Russell used was still there, just like the electric Wurlitzer piano that was used on "I Never Loved A Man" by Aretha Franklin!"