Alabama Music Documentary I'll Take You There Sets YouTube World Premiere

Candi Staton, the Alabama-born soul icon, is leading three acclaimed UK singer-songwriters through the hallowed rooms of FAME Recording Studios and Muscle Shoals Sound Studio in a new transatlantic documentary that premieres globally on YouTube tomorrow, Thursday March 12, 2026, at 3:00 p.m. CDT / 4:00 p.m. EDT / 8:00 p.m. GMT.

I'll Take You There: Discovering the Sound of Alabama frames its central journey as a pilgrimage: Lady Nade, Michele Stodart, and Lauren Housley traveling to the Alabama sites that shaped their own musical DNA, with Staton as their guide through a history she lived firsthand. The film traces how the sound forged in Alabama's segregated South crossed the Atlantic to embed itself in British soul, rock, and Americana, with Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett, The Rolling Stones, and Paul Simon among the artists who recorded era-defining work in those Muscle Shoals rooms.

Beyond the four lead artists, the documentary draws on archive material and on-camera interviews with studio owners, historians, faith leaders, and community figures who serve as custodians of Alabama's cultural memory. Filming took place on location at FAME Recording Studios, Muscle Shoals Sound Studio, and the Birmingham Civil Rights District, grounding the musical narrative directly inside the civil rights context that made it possible.

Executive Producer Romano Sidoli, whose partners on the project include Visit the USA, Sweet Home Alabama, The Orion Amphitheater, Thirty Tigers, and 5f Marketing, was direct about what drove the production: "This film would not exist without the generosity of the people of Alabama. For me, this project has always been about honoring legacy while creating something contemporary, honest, and culturally meaningful."

The premiere itself is designed as a live event rather than a passive stream. Filmmakers and cast members will join viewers during the broadcast for a real-time conversation via YouTube Live Chat, giving the global audience direct access to the people who made the film and the artists who appear in it.

For the Alabama independent film community, the partnership structure behind I'll Take You There is worth noting. The production was built around what its backers describe as a strategic model in which partnerships with tourism, venue, and music industry partners underwrite culturally substantive storytelling rather than promotional content. Whether that model holds up onscreen is something viewers can judge for themselves starting at 3 p.m. CDT on March 12.