Aretha Franklin recorded the title track of I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You at FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. The session took place in January 1967 with producer Jerry Wexler and the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section.
FAME founder Rick Hall helped create the spare, country-soul atmosphere that made “I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)” so distinctive. Franklin’s piano and vocal were central to the performance, while the Alabama musicians supplied the tight, understated backing that became a hallmark of Muscle Shoals recordings.
The session was famously cut short after tension involving Franklin’s husband and manager, Ted White, and members of the studio community. Wexler later completed much of the album in New York. Muscle Shoals Sound Studio is a separate, later studio associated with the same Alabama recording region, so it is an understandable but incorrect alternative.