Producer and Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section keyboardist Barry Beckett has died at his home in Hendersonville, TN. He was 66.
Beckett made his name playing keyboards in the famed Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, where he worked with the likes of guitarist Jimmy Johnson, bassist and Drive-By Truckers patriarch David Hood and drummer Roger Hawkins. The famed session musician recorded with a striking mix of musicians over the years—-from Duane Allman to Aretha Franklin—-and his work can be heard on a range of records, including The Staple Singers Take You There,’ Paul Simon’s ‘Kodachrome,’ Alabama’s ‘If I Had You’ and Kenny Chesney’s ‘When I Close My Eyes,’ as well as Bob Dylans _ Saved_ and Slow Train Coming. More recently, Beckett produced Phishs 1993 concept album Rift. Many consider the album Phishs studio masterpiece.