Country and soul emerged from the same songwriters, musicians, and producers in the recording studios of Memphis and Nashville, Tennessee, and Muscle Shoals, Alabama. In legendary studios like Stax and FAME, integrated groups of musicians like Booker T. and the MGs and the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section produced music that both challenged and reconfirmed racial divisions in  the United States. Dr. Charles L. Hughes is the director of the Lynne and Henry Turley Memphis Center at Rhodes College.