TRAVEL

Alabama’s Muscle Shoals Sound alive and well

Lisa Elia
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The 1970s retro look of the renovated interior of the Muscle Shoals Sound Studio.

You may never have heard of the Shoals, a clutch of towns along the banks of the Tennessee River in northwestern Alabama, but you know their sound.

From the soul of Wilson Pickett to the Southern rock of Lynyrd Skynyrd to the country of Carrie Underwood, musicians have flocked to the Shoals to make some of America’s most soul-stirring music. The music that became known as the Muscle Shoals Sound fused blues, R&B, country and gospel, and blended the powerful sounds of the organ, bass guitar and brass horns.

“We are the wellspring of so much American music,” said Spencer Coats, FAME Studios manager. “And it’s incredible how much music is still pumping through this area, today.”

Music has been an important part of the fabric of the Shoals — which includes the towns of Tuscumbia, Sheffield, Florence and Muscle Shoals — since the Native Americans claimed they heard a woman’s song emanating from the Tennessee River, which they named “The Singing River.”

W.C. Handy, the father of the Blues, was born in a log cabin in Florence in 1873. Sam Phillips, who discovered Elvis Presley and was a driving force in the early years of rock ‘n’ roll, was born on a farm near Florence in 1923.

Singers still record in the Shoals, and fans can tour the studios where they can see the iconic instruments used on famous recordings, and the mixing boards where the memorable tracks were laid down.

Listeners can trace the region’s 20th century musical genius to record producer Rick Hall and The Swampers, a talented group of session musicians who were known for their soulful Southern sound and who later started Muscle Shoals Sound Studio.

Hall created FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals in 1961, and it’s where a struggling Aretha Franklin turned her career around with her hit song “I Never Loved A Man (The Way I Love You).” Hall worked with a who’s who of musical talent, including Pickett, Etta James, the Allman Brothers, Mac Davis, The Osmonds and Jason Isbell. Studio tours are available, and fans can see the Wurlitzer electric gray piano featured in many hit songs.

The Muscle Shoals Sound Studio in Sheffield is a cinder-block building that was once a coffin showroom. Cher recorded her first album here and named it “3614 Jackson Highway,” after the building’s address. Her album didn’t do well on the Billboard charts, but it wasn’t long before the studio got its first hit record with R.B. Greaves’ “Take a Letter Maria.”

The studio reopened to the public Aug. 1, and music lovers can check out the 1970s-style revamped studio — featuring an orange shag carpet — and the piano, drums and guitars that were played on classics such as the Rolling Stones’ “Wild Horses” and “Brown Sugar.”

Other musical sites nearby include The Alabama Music Hall of Fame in Tuscumbia, and the W.C. Handy Museum in Florence.

For more information and COVID-19 safety precautions, visit colbertcountytourism.org.