Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum Celebrates Opening Of ‘Muscle Shoals: Low Rhythm Rising’ Exhibit

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Pictured (L-R, back row): Mark Hall, Candi Staton, Cindy Richardson-Walker, Linda Hall, Rodney Hall, Museum Board Chair Jody Williams, Dan Penn, Spooner Oldham, Jason Isbell, Norbert Putnam, Museum CEO Kyle Young, Kelvin Holly and Marlin Greene; (L-R, front row): Mickey Buckins, Clayton Ivey, Vice President of Museum Services Michael Gray, Bob Wray and John Paul White. Photo: Jason Kempin/Getty Images for the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum

The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum celebrated the opening of its new “Muscle Shoals: Low Rhythm Rising” exhibit at a special event last night (Nov. 13).

The over 5,000-square-foot exhibit surveys the emergence of Muscle Shoals as a recording epicenter in the 1960s and 1970s and spotlights its enduring cultural impact through today. The evening included performances by Jason Isbell, who performed “Kodachrome,” “Wild Horses” and “You Better Move On,” as well as Bettye LaVette, who performed “Choices” backed by Spooner Oldham, while Dan Penn and Oldham treated the crowd to “I’m Your Puppet.”

In the small corner of Alabama by the Tennessee River, local musicians, songwriters and producers created a swampy, Southern sound merging R&B, country, pop and more, and the new exhibit 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. Studios built a homemade system for cutting music dusted with grit and soul, including FAME Studio, helmed by producer Rick Hall; Muscle Shoals Sound Studio, home of the acclaimed Swampers house band; and more.

An illustrated and in-depth exhibit catalog is now available to purchase which supplements the gallery presentation, with a foreword by Jason Isbell and main essays by exhibit co-curator RJ Smith. It features photos 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. The catalog will also be distributed widely in bookstores and online outlets through a partnership with the University of Illinois Press.

A Muscle Shoals: Opening Concert Celebration will be held tonight (Nov. 14) at the CMA Theater featuring artists and musicians involved in or inspired by Muscle Shoals’ musical legacy, including Jimmy Hall, Tiera Kennedy, Bettye LaVette, Wendy Moten, Spooner Oldham, Dan Penn, Maggie Rose, Shenandoah, Candi Staton and John Paul White.

On Nov. 15 a Songwriter Session with Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham will take place at the Ford Theater. Singer-songwriter Penn and keyboardist-songwriter Oldham first met in Muscle Shoals in the late 1950s and have been writing and playing songs together ever since.

A Panel Discussion: Making Music in Muscle Shoals with Marlin Greene, Linda Hall, Clayton Ivey and Candi Staton is set for Nov. 15, at the Ford Theater, where Greene, Hall, Ivey and Staton will discuss living and making music in Muscle Shoals.

On Nov. 16 a Musician Spotlight with Mac McAnally will be held at the Ford Theater. McAnally came to Muscle Shoals when he was a teenager in the 1970s, made his first recording as a studio musician at Wishbone Recording Studio in Muscle Shoals, and has also played on sessions at FAME and Muscle Shoals Sound studios. 

Lorie Hollabaugh
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