Hi Records — Royal Studios, Memphis

Royal Studios at 1320 South Lauderdale Street in South Memphis is one of the oldest continuously operating recording studios in the world, and the home of Hi Records — the label that produced Al Green's extraordinary run of soul classics in the 1970s. Green's albums — Let's Stay Together (1972), I'm Still in Love with You (1972), Call Me (1973) — were recorded at Royal with producer Willie Mitchell, and the studio's warm, intimate sound became inseparable from Green's voice. The Hi rhythm section (Teenie Hodges, Leroy Hodges, Charles Hodges, and Howard Grimes) created grooves of almost supernatural sensuality.

Royal Studios was founded by Willie Mitchell in a former movie theatre in the late 1950s. In addition to Al Green, the studio recorded Ann Peebles ('I Can't Stand the Rain'), Otis Clay, O.V. Wright, and Syl Johnson — a roster that made Hi Records one of the premier soul labels of the 1970s, running parallel to Stax across town. Mitchell's production style — spacious, groove-centred, built around the interplay of guitar, bass, organ, and drums — was the opposite of Phil Spector's Wall of Sound: where Spector piled on layers, Mitchell stripped back to the essentials.

Royal Studios continues to operate at 1320 South Lauderdale Street under the direction of the Mitchell family, and the studio has been used by contemporary artists including Bruno Mars, John Mayer, and Al Green himself for later recordings. The original equipment and room acoustics have been carefully maintained, and the studio offers tours by appointment. It is a working time capsule of the Memphis soul sound.