Road of rock ‘n’ roll history runs through Northwest Alabama

Nashville has long been known as the country music capital, and Memphis is the undisputed home of the blues and the root of rock ‘n’ roll. Tiny Muscle Shoals, Ala., once touted as the “hit recording capital of the world,” is the birthplace of the famous Muscle Shoals Sound.

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TRACEY TEO / AJC Special

Cher turned the address of the Muscle Shoals Sound Studios into an album title. Legend has it that Mick Jagger wrote ‘Wild Horses’ in the building’s bathroom.

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Tracey Teo / AJC Special

The man who gave birth to the blues, W.C. Handy, lived in this log cabin in Florence, Ala. Visitors can see the piano he used to write ‘St. Louis Blues’ and learn about his work and struggles.

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Tracey Teo / AJC Special

The Alabama Music Hall of Fame in Tuscumbia honors performers from the state such as Hank Williams and Nat ‘King’ Cole.

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It has never had the glamour of these more sophisticated Southern music meccas, and it’s a world away from the L.A. music scene, but that’s partly what attracted such diverse music legends as Aretha Franklin, the Rolling Stones and Rod Stewart during Muscle Shoals’ heyday in the ’60s and ’70s.

Muscle Shoals and its surrounding area, including nearby Sheffield, was an oasis from the limelight and gave musicians a place to focus on their work with no distractions. But the main reason artists flocked to this obscure corner of Northwest Alabama was to get that indefinable, funky sound that couldn’t be duplicated elsewhere. Many attribute that trademark sound, a confluence of country, rock and soul, to the smokin’ hot Muscle Shoals rhythm section known as The Swampers.

Don’t Miss:

• Muscle Shoals Sound Studios. In 1969, Cher released an album titled “3614 Jackson Highway,” the address of the Muscle Shoals Sound Studios (technically located in Sheffield) where the record was cut. Although that was almost 40 years ago, Cher fans still show up to have their photograph made in front of this very unglamorous building.

“It happens all the time,” studio owner Noel Webster said. “People make pilgrimages here.”

Thanks to Webster, this building that was once vacant is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Fans from around the world arrive clutching albums and CDs by Lynyrd Skynyrd, the Rolling Stones and many other bands that made history here. Some seem almost reverential as they check out old sound equipment and the instruments that were played on their favorite classic tracks.

Webster bought the studio in 1999 as a venue to record his own music, but with

so much interest in the studio’s history, he has been thrust into the role of tour guide, telling stories of legendary Muscle Shoals jam sessions.

Even the bathroom is a source of fascination. David Hood, a bassist for the Muscle Shoals rhythm section, left behind his signature, as did many other renowned performers. Legend has it that Mick Jagger penned “Wild Horses” here.

• FAME. A tour of the FAME (Florence Alabama Music Enterprises) recording studio takes visitors back to a time when a revolution was under way in the music industry. In the ’60s, the lines between musical styles were blurred, and FAME became a hit-producing factory for artists bold enough to experiment and find their own sound.

Alabama native Wilson Pickett, a major player in the development of Southern soul music, produced some of his best work at FAME, including the 1966 sensation “Mustang Sally.” Many consider his soulful rendition of “Hey Jude” the birth of Southern rock. That may have something to do with the song’s slide guitar player, Duane Allman, who was a Muscle Shoals session player at the time.

Ben Tanner, a FAME engineer who often conducts studio tours, directs attention to the Wurlitzer electric piano that Spooner Oldham played on Aretha Franklin’s 1967 hit “I Never Loved a Man (The Way That I Love You).” He says it is still played today.

Old photographs of Otis Redding, Little Richard and Clarence Carter adorn the studio walls, and fans get a chuckle out of the far-out, groovy fashions.

Tanner points out that a number of successful black artists recorded at FAME, and he calls the studio “one of the first racially integrated workplaces in Alabama.” While the battle for civil rights was raging in other parts of the state, black and white musicians played side by side in Muscle Shoals.

• Alabama Music Hall of Fame. The Alabama Music Hall of Fame in nearby Tuscumbia is a tribute to Alabama’s musical heritage and honors distinguished Alabama music professionals of every genre. On entering the lobby, visitors take the “Walk of Fame,” which is a path inlaid with a series of bronze stars. Each is engraved with the name of a famous Alabama musician.

The Inductee Gallery features portraits of Hank Williams, Nat “King” Cole and W.C. Handy, and a tour of “Southern Star,” the tour bus once used by country band Alabama, offers a glimpse

of what life on the road was like.

For aspiring singers with dreams of chart-topping hits, making a CD in the museum’s recording studio is a Hall of Fame highlight.

• W.C. Handy Home Museum and Library. A musical odyssey through Northwest Alabama wouldn’t be complete without paying homage to W.C. Handy, Father of the Blues. The W.C. Handy Home in nearby Florence is a simple, two-room log cabin that originally stood several blocks from its current site.

A knowledgeable tour guide sheds light on how Handy overcame some of his early struggles and tells the intriguing story of how his most famous composition, “Memphis Blues,” became a success. The piano on which Handy composed another well-loved piece, “St. Louis Blues,” is on display, as well as his trumpet and other memorabilia.