Art Meripol
Greetings from Muscle Shoals! • photograph by Art Meripol
Living in Memphis, with all the music created here, it’s too easy to forget the sublime sounds emanating from neighbors practically on our doorstep. Of course, there is Nashville to the east and New Orleans to the south, but other gems of the soul, R&B, and jazz that Memphians love sit right under our noses, perfect for a weekend jaunt. One need only steer to the southeast for a musical pilgrimage that’s off the beaten path.
MUSCLE SHOALS MAGIC
Norbert Putnam, author, bassist, producer, and our affable guide, enjoys a Royal Cup of coffee (produced locally) and a Big Bad Breakfast. • photograph BY ALEX GREENE
The name “Muscle Shoals” is familiar to any music fan, being the point of origin for many a great soul record by Aretha Franklin, Percy Sledge, Arthur Alexander, and others. A 2013 documentary took its title from that Alabama city’s name, two words that instantly evoke the soulful sounds that really blossomed in four neighboring cities which, with Florence, Tuscumbia, and Sheffield, are often called simply “The Shoals.” (The city’s peculiar name, incidentally, is not a salute to body-building, but taken from mussel beds originally found at this particular bend along the Tennessee River.)
For a more detailed take on how those sounds were first laid to wax, I delved into Music Lessons, Vol. 1, the memoir of Norbert Putnam, a bassist and producer who grew up in Florence. “I became a musician because of Sam Phillips and Elvis Presley,” he writes. When Sun Records singles began rocking the world, Phillips’ humble origins in Florence, and his days as a DJ there, were not lost upon local youth. Hoping to better understand this perspective, I called on Norbert himself to guide me through the area’s living history. This affable gentleman, now back in his hometown after a lifetime working on multimillion-selling records, was the perfect guide to the area’s rich history.
If playing in teen R&B bands was Norbert’s baptism, gaining the attention of would-be record producer Rick Hall was his ascension to recording artist. Hall, needing a band for then-unknown soul singer Arthur Alexander, recorded Putnam and his associates as they backed the artist/composer in a warehouse. The resulting single, “You Better Move On,” was a hit, leading Hall and two partners to construct the first custom-built studio in the area, Florence Alabama Music Enterprises (FAME). Today, FAME is inevitably the centerpiece of any musical journey to the Shoals. Though it’s still in business over 55 years later, the studio welcomes visitors. If an artist is recording, you’ll still get a tour of the kitschy office area, but most visitors can see the two studios, notable for their fine collection of vintage keyboards, including a mint-condition harpsichord.
Though Rick Hall died earlier this year, his son Rodney keeps the business in the family. The studio itself is a testimony to the maverick spirit of the father, who embodied an independent, entrepreneurial approach to music that many associate with Memphis. In addition to hosting many contemporary artists, the studio is now involved in a television dramatization of FAME’s stellar history.
1 of 2
Florence Alabama Music Enterprises (better known as FAME) was the first custom-built recording studio in the area, and should be the centerpiece of any musical pilgramage. • photographs courtesy FAME Studios
2 of 2
unknown
Florence Alabama Music Enterprises (better known as FAME) was the first custom-built recording studio in the area, and should be the centerpiece of any musical pilgramage. • photographs courtesy FAME Studios
“The last thing my dad did was negotiate that deal,” says the younger Hall. “And he did a good job. It’s produced by Johnny Depp and Richard Branson of Virgin, and it’s been picked up by ABC for a full season. They start shooting at the end of this year. It should be coming out in the fall of 2019.”
Norbert Putnam, for his part, is a little wistful about his work there in FAME’s early days. Having moved on to session work and production in Nashville in 1965, he’s often omitted from history’s retelling of the Shoals’ musical saga.
“The ones who could leave, left, because you couldn’t make any money down here,” he muses. The core FAME musicians who stayed ultimately set up their own shop, Muscle Shoals Sound Studio, in 1969. While the studio was not always in business in the decades since then, it has recently met with good fortune.
Putnam introduced me to fellow bass player David Hood, one of the original rhythm section members (“the Swampers”) who founded the facility, whose wife Judy is chairman of the nonprofit that owns and operates it. “One night,” she explains, “Dr. Dre saw the Muscle Shoals movie in a tiny theater in Santa Monica, California. And he was so compelled by the story that he decided that night to start a philanthropic wing of Beats By Dre and called it ‘Sustain the Sound.’ The mission would be to take iconic old studios like this one and restore them. And he started with us.”
1 of 2
Art Meripol
Muscle Shoals Sound Studio is where seminal recordings from the late 1960s and the 1970s were made by artists from Aretha Franklin to the Rolling Stones, many backed by the Swampers.• photographs BY Art Meripol
2 of 2
Art Meripol
Muscle Shoals Sound Studio is where seminal recordings from the late 1960s and the 1970s were made by artists from Aretha Franklin to the Rolling Stones, many backed by the Swampers.• photographs BY Art Meripol
The results have been spectacular, with the once-decaying building now fully operational and decked out with period furniture and recording gear. David Hood’s original bass amp sits where it did 50 years ago, leading me to ask if the recording console is the original. “No,” he says, “but it’s from the period. This was at RCA in Nashville, and then it went to Chet Atkins’ house. He used it, and then it went to other people.”
Like FAME, one can tour the studio (if no artists are recording there) and soak in the ambiance heard on the Rolling Stones’ “Wild Horses” and countless other hits.
To put such history in context, Norbert then whisked me over to the Alabama Music Hall of Fame in nearby Tuscumbia. With exhibits covering musicians of all genres who hailed from the Cotton State, it’s a powerful reminder of how far back Alabama’s musical heritage reaches, from Nat “King” Cole’s piano to Hank Williams’ stage suit to Sam Phillips’ original recording gear.
photograph by Alex Greene
One of Spooner Oldham’s Farfisa consoles is on display at the Alabama Music Hall of Fame.
Norbert and I stopped briefly at his own portrait there, but reigning over all the gallery’s inductees was the visage of W.C. Handy, born and raised in Florence. Like Phillips, he’s another reminder of the interwoven histories of the Shoals and Memphis. One can still visit his childhood home and museum in Florence, a log structure that evokes his rustic roots, long before he went on to codify the blues as a notated musical genre.
Every year, the W.C. Handy Music Festival lights up the area with over a week’s worth of bands on stages throughout the Shoals (scheduled for July 20-29 this year). At other times of the year, the Shoals Theatre in Florence is an elegant old venue for live music; this year, on June 5th, it will host the 75th birthday bash (featuring John Paul White) for Spooner Oldham, a Shoals-area native who contributed keyboards to many records there and at American Studios in Memphis.
Even on a regular weekday, there’s enough in the Shoals to keep a music fan busy for more than one day. And during festivals, you’ll certainly want accommodations. I highly recommend a new “boutique hotel,” the GunRunner (gunrunnerhotel.com), subtly hidden over a coffee shop in the heart of downtown Florence. Its splurge-worthy spacious rooms and huge public area (complete with record player and guitars) are re-purposed from a former auto warehouse, sporting the wooden beams and high ceilings of the old dealership. The Sam Phillips Suite is decorated with memorabilia from Sun Records. And the GunRunner’s just a stone’s throw from the Shoals Theatre, the retail district of Court Street, the University of North Alabama (“Their orchestra is top-notch,” notes Norbert), and Wilson Park, where the annual Alabama Renaissance Faire is held every October; check for updates with the “Florence in Touch” app.
ALABAMA JAZZ: BIRMINGHAM
photograph by Josh Weichman
As I wrapped up my visit to theAlabama Music Hall of Fame, Norbert pointed out one inductee that he suggested they add: the artist formerly known as Herman “Sonny” Blount, now recognized internationally as the jazz bandleader and composer Sun Ra. Though the nod to him in those exhibits was small, Sun Ra’s vision looms large in the mind of any fan of avant garde jazz.
Staring at his photo in the Hall of Fame, I knew I needed to make the short drive to Birmingham to pay my respects to that city’s native son. And if, as Norbert told me, today’s music in the Shoals tends to be either Southern rock or soul, I knew I needed to seek out the swinging heart of Alabama jazz.
1 of 2
Birmingham’s SlossFest takes place in July at Sloss Furnace, an old iron foundry that is now a National Historic Landmark (top & above left). Students from the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame (above right).
photographs by Alive Coverage
2 of 2
Birmingham’s SlossFest takes place in July at Sloss Furnace, an old iron foundry that is now a National Historic Landmark (top & above left). Students from the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame (above right).
photograph by Leslie Giovino
For my first stop, I hoped to visit the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame, but soon learned that it is in the midst of a complete makeover. In fact, this bodes well for future visitors who love jazz history. Not only will all exhibits be improved, but according to executive director Dr. Leah Tucker, “the Hall has also just purchased a radio station from Samford University, to be known as WAJH, which will feature all jazz programming. It will be housed in the new theater. They have also partnered with the Birmingham Black Radio Museum project and will house their artifacts.” While the new facility will not open until September of next year, it continues its free educational programs, and its students can be heard at student concerts throughout the year.
After getting the lowdown on the Jazz Hall of Fame, I had to continue my own personal quest. Why obsess over Sun Ra, you may ask? His unique vision of musical possibilities is one reason. Certainly he grew up studying more conventional jazz, being a student of the pioneering high school teacher, John “Fess” Whatley, who, like Memphis’ own Jimmie Lunceford, coached his school band into a nationally celebrated ensemble.
As a youth, Sun Ra was a fixture of the Birmingham landscape, frequenting the African-American Masonic Temple, which can still be seen today. But, in part fueled by his own readings at the temple and elsewhere, he became fascinated with more esoteric knowledge. Moving to Chicago, he became an exponent of Afro-futurism, combining racial history with science-fiction themes, in concerts enhanced with costumes and pageantry. Very early in life, his vision outpaced even a large scene like Birmingham’s, and yet his sensibility was deeply informed by “The Magic City.” Ultimately, he would be buried there after his death while visiting family members in 1993.
A simple online search reveals the exact plot at Birmingham’s Elmwood Cemetery where his body lies (Block 25, Memorial ID 2682). For this particular fan of avant garde jazz, it was a powerful experience slowly to approach the grave and see that I was not alone in spirit. Others had been there, leaving coins and even cassettes of music, paying homage to a man so far ahead of his time. The unorthodox tokens of devotion were somehow appropriate for this visionary, his art being the sonic equivalent of magical realism. Should you wish to focus more on the world of the living, be assured that there are two excellent jazz clubs in Birmingham, one called Jazzy’s and another called Jazzi’s.
Tokens from devoted music fans are left on Sun Ra’s headstone at Birmingham’s Elmwood Cemetery.
photograph By Alex Greene
Confused? Perhaps you need to rest. For my lodgings, I enjoyed a newly renovated space in the thriving Five Points South district, Hotel Indigo Birmingham. A sleek yet retro decor sets off this upscale space, and nearby are both Renaissance Records and Charlemagne Records for all your vinyl needs, not to mention the Zydeco rock club and many restaurants and bars.
For more contemporary indie, hip hop, and rock, consider the Secret Stages Festival, where clubs clustered in the downtown area host regional bands inside or on special outdoor stages. This year, the festival will be held August 3-4, although the 2018 lineup has not yet been announced.
The key Birmingham festival, however, and certainly the most unusual venue, is the multi-stage event known as SlossFest. The Sloss Furnaces are unique to this city with a history so deeply entwined with iron production. After the massive Sloss pig-iron facility was closed in the 1970s, a movement developed to save this sprawling array of structures as a kind of public industrial park. Now a National Historic Landmark, the Sloss Furnaces serve as both a museum of industry and the site for many metalworkers to create their art. And so, in both the cavernous, roofed shed and on stages in the surrounding fields, the venue now hosts an annual music festival.
CHRIS SAVAS
Hotel Indigo in downtown Birmingham • photograph by Alex Greene
This year’s SlossFest, on July 14-15, may feature their biggest lineup yet, with Arcade Fire, Chris Stapleton, GRiZ, The War on Drugs, Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, and St. Paul and the Broken Bones (plus more than 30 other bands). It will be a homecoming gig of sorts for the Broken Bones, who formed six years ago in Birmingham before rising to international acclaim in recent years.
In a sense, St. Paul and the Broken Bones bring us full circle, back to the soul music that inspired this particular road trip in the first place. While this route took us from the relatively down-home region of the Shoals to the bustling metropolis of Birmingham, the combination felt very familiar to this Memphian. In all the musical encounters you’ll have in either metropolitan area, you’ll find threads of ideas and players connecting them to the Bluff City, as you uncover the musicality spilling over any city limits, informing the entire region and beyond.
