Brent Smith Does An Incredible Cover of Wilson Pickett: LISTEN

Wilson Pickett was born on March 18th, 1941, and we celebrate his heavenly birthday by looking back at one of his classic, along with an incredible cover of that song by one of our favorite artists, Brent Smith.

This singer and songwriter grew up in Prattville, Alabama. He combined his love of gospel singing with his admiration of rock n' roll pioneers like Little Richard to eventually become a major figure in the development of soul music. He recorded over 50 songs that landed on the United States R&B charts in the 1960s and 1970s. His hits include "In the Midnight Hour" and "Don't Knock My Love."

There's also "Land of a Thousand Dances," and when I (Brent Porche) was in the marching band at Springfield High School, I was a percussionist and a drummer in the marching band. We would always perform that song when we were doing the football games and events, and I absolutely loved playing that song.

He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991. He's also recognized by the National Rhythm and Blues Hall of Fame. He passed away in 2006 after struggling with health issues in the final year of his life, and Little Richard, who had become a close friend, delivered the eulogy at his funeral.

On Monday, we played a track on WMMR from an album called Muscle Shoals: Small Town, Big Sound. In the heart of this magical town known as Muscle Shoals in Alabama, right at the intersection of two main streets, you'll find FAME Studios, an acronym for Florence Alabama Music Enterprises.

FAME and its legendary, late Grammy award winning founder, Rick Hall, captured, cultivated and preserved the "Muscle Shoals sound" established in the late 50s. Now, that legacy gets its due with an 18 track collection in homage to this particular sound. They compiled a list of hundreds of songs recorded in the area and sent them to a handful of dream artists.

These artists then made the trek to FAME in order record on the same hallowed ground with legendary studio musicians who played on many of the original recordings. Artists who contributed include Steven Tyler of Aerosmith, Nuno Bettencourt of Extreme, Michael McDonald and more.

A highlight of the collection is a Wilson Pickett song done by Brent Smith from Shinedown: "Mustang Sally," a song that originally appeared on the 1966 record The Wicked Pickett. In 2000, the track was honored by the Grammy Hall of Fame.

Happy heavenly birthday to Wilson Pickett from us here at WMMR. Check out Brent Smith's version below, along with the original track.

Which one do you like? How about both?? Let us know on Instagram! And if you haven't already, check out our backstage interview with Shinedown at last year's MMRBQ HERE.

Listen to Brent Porche every weekday on WMMR from 3-7pm for more deep tracks like these.

It is certainly hard to believe that the 2023 MMRBQ is already a week+ in the rearview mirror, but the energy and the vibe that came out of this year's event continues on.

This year's all-day festival was just the third time in over 16 years of MMRBQ's that we held our massive MMR Concert Event at the end of the summer rather than in the middle of May. Mother Nature was smiling down on us in beautiful, tropical, downtown Camden, New Jersey, as she delivered some of the most amazing weather and temperatures that we have had all summer.

Thank you to everyone who joined us in person at the show or listened on-air or online to our complete concert coverage. All of us at WMMR truly appreciate your friendship!

"My Boys" in Shinedown headlined the MMR*B*Q for the second time this year, bringing their Planet Zero World Tour to the Freedom Mortgage Pavilion. And as Brent Smith told us leading up to the MMRBQ, Shinedown brought ALL of their "bells & whistles," the songs, the screens and certainly a LOT of pyro!

You could tell Brent, Zach, Eric & Barry were certainly feeling the love from the WMMR audience. Their energy was reflective of that during their performance. Brent had some very kind words for the station multiple times over the course of the night. After all, WMMR is one of the very first stations in the entire world to play Shinedown on the radio, and the band hasn't forgotten that.

Having personally seen Shinedown dozens and dozens of times all over the country, I can truly say that this year's MMR*B*Q performance from "My Boys" was among the very BEST that I have ever seen them. And if you haven't seen the full videos of "A Symptom of Being Human" and "Cut the Cord" from this year's MMR*B*Q, you can view them here.

I had a chance to catch Shinedown on their "The Revolutions Live" tour with Papa Roach and Spiritbox at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ on Sunday, so even more pictures and video from Shinedown (and Papa Roach & Spiritbox) will be posted right here in the coming days!

Thank YOU again for such a great MMRBQ this year! Let's do it again soon!!