Shoals Fact SheetFour magical towns: Muscle Shoals, Tuscumbia, Sheffield, and Florence all come together to hug the Tennessee

River and make up an area that we call “The Shoals.” The Native Americans found this land good settling ground

for obvious reasons, and you could imagine for the same reasons they would not find Oklahoma as agreeable.

That’s the story we will hear from Tom Hendrix, whose great-grandmother spent five years walking back to The

Shoals herself because “none of the rivers in Oklahoma could sing.”

We will make our way through each of the Shoals’ respective cities. First, we will visit the Alabama Music Hall of

Fame in Tuscumbia, then head over to Muscle Shoals to visit Fame Studios, stop in on Sheffield the home of the

original Muscle Shoals Sound Studio, 3614 Jackson Highway, and rest at the Renaissance Marriott in Florence.

Tuscumbia is known for being the location of Helen Keller’s home, Ivy Green – you may be so inclined to go

ahead and book your trip for the Helen Keller Festival June 25-28. We will not be making it over there this trip for

the sake of time and keeping within the theme, but it is a great place to visit and just one of the many miracles of

the area. While you are in town for the Helen Keller festival, do not miss seeing the waterfalls and Native

American rock shelters at Cane Creek Canyon Nature Preserve.

One of our very important destinations will be the W.C. Handy home in Florence, without whom there would be no

“Memphis blues.” Handy took much of his inspiration from the ecology of Florence. He struggled through life

taking menial jobs just to save enough to travel and pursue his musical career. His most popular song “Memphis

Blues” once contained lyrics critical of one of the Memphis mayoral candidates, but was reworked without the

lyrics and became a hit. Unfortunately, Handy fell prey to exploitive business practices and sold the rights to the

song, never receiving all that it was worth. Among other publications, he wrote an autobiography, Father of the

Blues that became a film titled St. Louis Blues in which Nat King Cole played the Father of the Blues. It aired on

silver screens across the country only months after Handy’s death. His life and achievements are also celebrated

annually in Florence.

We will be visiting two record labels while we are in town, Fame Studios being the first. It’s important to

understand the history of the studios because one would not exist without the other. The Fame Studios band “The

Swampers” left to start their own studio, 3614 Jackson Highway, that would go on to produce songs by The

Rolling Stones, Traffic, Elton John, Willie Nelson, Paul Simon, Art Garfunkel, Cher, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Bob Dylan,

and the Black Keys.

Listen to all of Fame Record’s proudest moments on the website www.fame2.com or you can search Spotify’s

music database and even make a Shoals Trip playlist featuring Fame’s most notable clients: Alicia Keys, Aretha

Franklin, Etta James, The Civil Wars, Band of Horses, Little Richard, Duane Allman, Arthur Alexander, Wilson

Pickett, Donny Osmond, Otis Redding, Bobby Womack, Alabama, Matisyahu, The Blind Boys of Alabama, Billy

Currington, Wet Willie, and Eric Essix. The “Muscle Shoals Sound” playlist on Spotify includes songs from both

record labels.

If you are spiritual, then let this trip be the one that lifts your soul. When you leave, you will know why Alabamians

are the way they are.