Swampers voted TimesDaily Newsmaker of the Year

Jimmy Johnson said he can see himself working another 15 to 20 years, either solo or with his longtime friend, David Hood.

Then he adds, "ask me again in 10 years" and laughs.

"David, Roger and I have always dreamed of doing blues festivals each year," Johnson said.

Johnson, Hood, Roger Hawkins and Barry Beckett made up the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, a group of local session musicians who played on some of the most successful records to ever come out of the Shoals.

Known as "The Swampers," the rhythm section was voted the 2008 Shoals Newsmaker of the Year in a TimesDaily newsroom poll.

Johnson, Hood and Hawkins still live in the Shoals while Beckett moved to Nashville, Tenn., many years ago.

On Oct. 22, the Swampers were inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame in Nashville, adding another accolade to their already storied careers.

The rhythm section's long list of hits include Paul Simon's "Kodachrome" and "Loves Me Like a Rock," Rod Stewart's "Tonight's the Night" and "Sailing," Bob Seger's "Old Time Rock 'n' Roll" and "Main Street," "Respect Yourself" and "I'll Take You There" by The Staple Singers, Joe Cocker's "High Time We Went," Jimmy Cliff's "Sitting In Limbo," and the timeless Percy Sledge classic, "When a Man Loves a Woman."

The rhythm section has played on more than 500 albums, 75 of which became gold or platinum sellers.

Johnson, the rhythm section's guitarist, still operates a recording studio in Muscle Shoals, and bassist Hood still does some studio work and performs with the popular local rhythm and blues group, The Decoys. Hawkins has retired from playing drums, and Beckett, the group's keyboard player, has been in poor health recently.

Health is what Johnson, 65, said would likely determine how long he keeps working, whether it's playing guitar live or in the studio or producing music for other artists.

"It's never going to be like the golden years," Johnson said. "There will still be times that different people will want us to play on records."

The idea of perhaps doing a Muscle Shoals music tour came when he and the Swampers toured Europe in the late '80s and early '90s and saw blues artists in their 70s and 80s touring the country.

"I said, maybe that's us in 20 or 30 years from now," Johnson said. "There's absolutely no reason for us to quit. That will keep a person alive."

The idea would be to recruit a drummer, someone like Owen Hale, who Johnson called the next best drummer to Hawkins, and a lead guitarist, possibly Will McFarlane, and keyboard players like Clayton Ivey or Randy McCormick. They would have male and female singers to perform some of the big hits that the Swampers recorded.

McFarlane, Ivey, McCormick and guitarist Pete Carr also were inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame since they frequently worked on projects with the rhythm section.

"We were thrilled to get our friends in," Johnson said. "I will never forget when Joe Chambers said 'put them in.' "

Joe Chambers is the founder of the Musicians Hall of Fame.

"Wow" was Hood's reaction to learning the rhythm section was named Newsmaker of the Year.

"I'm really flattered, of course, but what can you say, but wow, to be Newsmaker of the Year."

While he liked Johnson's idea of a tour of Europe, or even Tuscumbia, Hood admitted that being a studio musician is what he enjoys the most.

Just two weeks ago, he was playing bass on a project with singer Bonnie Bramlett.

"Our fame came from what we did in the recording studio," Hood said. "That's still my first love."

Like Johnson, Hood said he plans to continue working as long as he is physically able. He recalled that his first recording session for union wages was May 15, 1966, playing on Percy Sledge's "Warm and Tender Love."

"I certainly don't plan on stopping," Hood said.

Health issues are what prevents Hawkins from playing drums today.

"Unfortunately, it's not possible for me to play at all," Hawkins said. "I really haven't played since 1999 or 2000."

Arthritis in his upper spine and neck limits his range of motion and causes pain.

"It kind of stopped me dead in my tracks," Hawkins said.

He was able to add some percussion to the Swampers' performance at the hall of fame performance.

The careers he, Beckett, Hood and Johnson enjoyed was "a dream come true and we were successful at it."

"We never got into it for the accolades much," Hawkins said. "We were just doing what we wanted to do."

Hawkins said it was especially gratifying to be honored in Nashville, a place Hawkins feels a great kinship to, and to be honored along such music pioneers as Duane Eddy, Buddy Holly's back-up band, The Crickets, and Booker T. and The MGs.

"That was a wonderful thing," he said. "I bought their records. I am a fan of those people. To get the award in Nashville was a great feeling."

The Swampers were inducted into the Alabama Music Hall of Fame in 1995.

Backstage in their dressing room at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center at the Musician's Hall of Fame ceremony, The Swampers and their friends cut up with one another and reminisced about old times.

On stage, they backed up soul singer Melinda Doolittle, who performed the Aretha Franklin hit "I Ain't Never Loved a Man the Way I loved You."

The Swampers backed up Franklin when that song was recorded at FAME Studios in the late 1960s.

Percy Sledge performed a powerful version of his hit "When A Man Loves A Woman" with the Swampers, who also played on the original recording.

They wrapped up their set with a rousing rendition of Bob Seger's "Old Time Rock 'n' Roll," which was performed by Kid Rock.

Located in the heart of downtown Nashville, The Musicians Hall Of Fame and Museum is the only museum that honors talented musicians who actually played on what's considered by some as the greatest recordings of all time.

Johnson said he would like to see more Shoals musicians inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame and the Alabama Music Hall of Fame.

"I want to see a lot of people get in," Johnson said. "I want to help them get in."

Russ Corey can be reached at 740-5738 or russ.corey@TimesDaily.com.