Born in Florida in 1944, Eddie Hinton lived in Tuscaloosa, one of the Quad Cities in North Alabama, since childhood.
He was a White singer/songwriter and guitarist, who loved Black music and developed a style that was perfectly suited to Muscle Shoals R&B. Hinton was invited by Marlin Greene to play on sessions at Quin Ivy’s Norala/Quinvy studio from 1967. They wrote several songs together, including “Cover Me” and “It’s All Wrong But It’s Alright” for Percy Sledge. Hinton played on many of the recordings that Sledge undertook with Quin Ivy and his talents were well-known amongst the local session men.
Hinton went on to join sessions at FAME Studios and Muscle Shoals Sound Studios in addition to his work at Quinvy. His list of credits is impressive, including hits by Aretha Franklin, Arthur Conley, Wilson Pickett, the Staple Singers, and Johnny Taylor. Hinton played lead guitar on many well-known hits from Muscle Shoals.
He also recorded two albums of his own during this period. The first was “Very Extremely Dangerous” released in 1978 on the Capricorn Records label in Macon, Georgia. The Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section and the Muscle Shoals Horns played on all the tracks, as well as providing backing vocals on some tracks. The best of the tracks are the Soul ballads “I Got The Feeling” and “We Got It”.
The second album was “Letters from Mississippi”, a compilation of six songs recorded with Jimmy Johnson at Muscle Shoals Sound Studio in 1982, and some later tracks recorded at Birdland Recording Studio with John Wyker in 1986. Wyker called on Dan Penn, Spooner Oldham, and Donnie Fritts to help put the album together. This album was released in Europe and sparked interest in Hinton’s work. His career was re-ignited, and a number of Soul-influenced Blues albums followed. Listen to the Hinton composition, “Hard Luck Guy”, to see just how much Hinton owes to Otis Redding! The session band included Johnny Sandlin (drums), Spooner Oldham (Hammond B3 organ), Clayton Ivey (piano) and Eddie Hinton (guitar), with members of the Muscle Shoals Horns. Between 1991 and 2005, seven more Hinton albums on Bullseye Blues, Zane and Soulsville Records, some posthumously.
In 2018, Ace Records (UK) issued an interesting compilation of twenty-four songs written or co-written by Hinton, sung by the artists who recorded them. The list is impressive. It includes Aretha Franklin, Bonnie Bramlett, Candi Staton, Lulu, and Dusty Springfield. Other contributions come from Percy Sledge, Bobby Womack, the Box Tops, and Tony Joe White. It’s well worth a listen.
Eddie Hinton died in 1995, at the age of 51.
