Muscle Shoals music featured in new exhibit

A new exhibit coming to the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville, Tennessee, this fall will explore the history and impact of Muscle Shoals Music and the people who made the area a recording epicenter in the 1960s and 1970s.

“Muscle Shoals: Low Rhythm Rising,” begins Nov. 14 and will continue for a nearly three-year run, according to a Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum news release.

The more than 5,000-square-foot exhibit will be supported by a catalog, concert celebration, playlist and slate of opening weekend programs.

It will survey the emergence of Muscle Shoals as a recording epicenter in the 1960s and 1970s and spotlight its enduring cultural impact, according to the release.

“Low Rhythm Rising” tells the story of this distinctive music and how black and white creators found a way to work together at a time when segregation prevailed, according to the release.

It will look at the impact of Rick Hall’s FAME Recording Studios in Muscle Shoals, and Muscle Shoals Sound Studio in Sheffield, operated by the acclaimed Swampers rhythm section, as well as other Shoals studios that played a role in the growth of the local music industry.

“We are super honored and to be the subject of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum’s next major exhibit,” Muscle Shoals Sound Studio Executive Director Debbie Wilson said. “The history of Muscle Shoals music, along with all of the artist, producers, studio managers, and visionaries, past and present, who are part of our great legacy, certainly deserve to be recognized.

“The fact that it will be a multi-year exhibit will produce a lot of visitors to Nashville and the Shoals,” Wilson said. “It will elevate and highlight Muscle Shoals music on multiple levels and around the world.”

The museum’s curatorial and creative teams conducted more than 50 hours of filmed interviews with musicians, artists and others involved in the Muscle Shoals story, according to the release.

They collected an array of significant artifacts for display, including stage wear, instruments, original song manuscripts and more. Interactive elements within the galleries will incorporate audio recordings, original interview footage and historical photographs.

“In Muscle Shoals, American music crossed lines that weren’t supposed to be breached,” Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum CEO Kyle Young said. “The Tennessee River flowed through this place, and instead of drawing a boundary, somehow forces came together.

“Black and white sounds, R&B, blues, soul and country met between the banks. A new rhythm rose and recording studios sprouted to nourish that rhythm. This exhibit takes an expansive look at the sound that forever changed popular music and continues to nurture a rich musical scene in northwest Alabama.”

Rodney Hall, son of the late Rick Hall, said it’s really special to see FAME so heavily featured in the exhibit.

“My dad always believed in the power of the Shoals and the incredible musicians and songwriters who came through its doors,” Hall said. “To have that story told on a stage like the Country Music Hall of Fame is both an honor and a testament to the impact that started right here in Muscle Shoals.”

Hall recalls how the 2013 documentary “Muscle Shoals” really opened the world’s eyes to Muscle Shoals music and how exciting it is to see that momentum continue.

“This exhibit shows that the story isn’t just a historical chapter in music history, it’s a living legacy that still resonates today with artists and fans all over the world,” he said.

A few of the artifacts featured in the Muscle Shoals exhibit will include:

• The Apollo baby grand piano Aretha Franklin played when she recorded “I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)” at FAME in 1967;

• The 1964 sunburstfinish Fender Stratocaster guitar Duane Allman played as a session musician at FAME from 1968 to 1969;

• A Slingerland snare drum used by Muscle Shoals Sound session drummer Roger Hawkins in his first band, Spooner & the Spoons, which included Spooner Oldham Dan Penn and Junior Lowe;

• A Martin D-28 acoustic guitar used by songwriter and recording artist Mac McAnally while he was a session musician in the Shoals;

• The fiddle belonging to FAME Recording Studios founder Rick Hall that he played at country square dances when he was a teenager; • A Seagull S6 acoustic guitar used by Drive-By Truckers co-founder Patterson Hood to write songs for the band from 1995 to 2003.

Hall said it means a great deal for the Country Music Hall of Fame to create this exhibit.

“It ensures that the legacy my dad and so many of his friends helped start will be preserved and celebrated for generations to come,” Hall said. “It’s not just about honoring the past it’s about inspiring the future of Muscle Shoals music.”

An illustrated, in-depth catalog will supplement the gallery presentation, along with a forward by Shoals native Jason Isbell, and main essays by exhibit cocurator R.J. Smith.

The catalog, which will be available Nov. 14, will feature historical photographs and artifacts from the exhibit, as well as supporting essays by Ericka Blount, Rob Bowman, Warren Denney, Stephen Deusner, Michael Gonzales, Marlin Greene, Patterson Hood and Francesca Royster.

It will be available through the museum’s website and retail store.

The exhibit opening will include an all-star concert featuring musicians who were involved in or inspired by the area’s musical legacy, including Dan Penn, Spooner Oldham, John Paul White, Bettye LaVette, and others.

There will also be songwriting sessions and panel discussions.

For information, go to the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum website.