CMHOFM To Open ‘Muscle Shoals: Low Rhythm Rising’ Exhibit In November

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The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum will open its newest exhibit, “Muscle Shoals: Low Rhythm Rising,” on Nov. 14 for a nearly three-year run. The more than 5,000-square-foot exhibit will survey the emergence of Muscle Shoals as a recording epicenter in the 1960s and 1970s and spotlight its enduring cultural impact.

“In Muscle Shoals, American music crossed lines that weren’t supposed to be breached,” says Kyle Young, CEO of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. “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.”

A selection of artifacts featured in the Muscle Shoals exhibit will include an Aretha Franklin piano, Duane Allman electric guitar, Wilson Picket stage wear, Mac Davis song manuscript, Pops Staples electric guitar, Dan Penn jacket, Mac McAnally acoustic guitar, Candi Staton outfit, Roger Hawkins drum, Rick Hall fiddle, Patterson Hood acoustic guitar and more.

An illustrated and in-depth exhibition catalog will supplement the gallery presentation, with a foreword by Jason Isbell and main essays by exhibit co-curator RJ Smith. The catalog, available on 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. In support of the exhibit’s debut, the museum will host a concert celebration and variety of public programs during opening weekend.

Lauryn Sink
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