Barry Beckett

Among the artists Beckett recorded with were Bob Dylan, Boz Scaggs, Paul Simon, Rod Stewart, Duane Allman, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, Dire Straits, The Proclaimers and Phish. He was also briefly a member of the band Traffic.

Biography[edit]

Beckett was born in Birmingham, Alabama. He rose to prominence as a member of the rhythm section at the Sheffield, Alabama-based Muscle Shoals Sound Studio, of which he was one of the founders in 1969. As a founding member of the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, he helped define what became known as the Muscle Shoals sound. In addition, the studio produced such chart-making hits as "Torn Between Two Lovers" by Mary MacGregor and the Sanford-Townsend Band's "Smoke from a Distant Fire".


In 1973, Beckett took to the road in the expanded lineup of Traffic; recordings from this tour were released on the band's live album On the Road.


Beckett was co-producing with Jerry Wexler when, in 1979, Bob Dylan called on Wexler to produce the sessions for the album Slow Train Coming.^[1] Beckett not only co-produced the album but played piano and organ throughout. (He did not go on the road as a gospel tours musician behind Dylan, but he was back in the studio with him in February 1980 to co-produce, again with Wexler, the album Saved, on which he was replaced on keyboards by Spooner Oldham and Terry Young after the session of February 12, 1980, and so plays only on the album's title track, "Solid Rock", "What Can I Do for You?" and "Satisfied Mind".) On the album liner notes Beckett is billed as co-producer and as "special guest artist".


Beckett moved to Nashville in 1982 to become A & R country music director for Warner Bros. Records and co-produced Williams, Jr.'s records with Jim Ed Norman.^[2] Beckett produced records independently after leaving Warner Bros. Records.


He also played on Paul Simon's albums There Goes Rhymin' Simon and Still Crazy After All These Years, which reached number 1 on the Billboard 200 pop chart.


Beckett died from complications of a stroke at his home in Hendersonville, Tennessee, aged 66.^[3]

With Solomon Burke


With Etta James


With Bob Seger


With Joan Baez


With Willie Nelson


With Feargal Sharkey


With William Bell


With Julian Lennon


With Cher


With Vince Gill


With Kim Carnes


With Boz Scaggs


With Mary MacGregor


With Mark Knopfler


With John P. Hammond


With Mavis Staples


With Wilson Pickett


With Paul Anka


With John Michael Montgomery


With Steve Cropper


With Eddie Rabbitt


With Dee Dee Bridgewater


With Albert King


With Paul Simon


With Wendy Waldman


With Wynonna Judd


With Levon Helm


With Trace Adkins


With Aretha Franklin


With Candi Staton


With Donovan


With Dolly Parton


With John Prine


With Aaron Neville


With Kenny Chesney


With Joe Cocker


With Ronnie Hawkins


With Lulu


With Beth Nielsen Chapman


With Dion DiMucci


With Ilse DeLange


With Dion DiMucci


With Chely Wright


With Odetta


With Laura Nyro


With Johnny Rivers


With Bob Dylan


With Peabo Bryson


With Ricky Van Shelton


With J. J. Cale


With Art Garfunkel


With Rosanne Cash


With Michael Martin Murphey


With José Feliciano


With Cat Stevens


With Leon Russell


With Rod Stewart


With Glenn Frey


With Linda Ronstadt


With Rodney Crowell


With John P. Hammond