December 11, 2025 • 20 mins
What do Aretha Franklin, the Rolling Stones, and Wilson Pickett have in common? They all owe a piece of their musical legacy to the iconic sounds of Muscle Shoals, Alabama! Join us on this episode of Takin’ A Walk Nashville as host Sarah Harralson takes you on an enlightening journey through the newly opened exhibit, "Muscle Shoals: Low Rhythm Rising," at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. This captivating exhibit showcases the profound impact that Muscle Shoals has had on various music genres, including country, rock, and R&B, and how it continues to influence the vibrant Nashville music scene today.
Sarah sits down with Paul Kingsbury, the Senior Director of Editorial and Interpretation at the Country Music Hall of Fame, who reveals the extensive research and collaboration behind curating this remarkable exhibit. With artifacts from legendary artists like Aretha Franklin's piano and Wilson Pickett's iconic costumes, the conversation dives deep into the cultural significance of the music produced in Muscle Shoals during a pivotal time in American history. Paul shares fascinating insights into the connections between Nashville music history and the rich musical tapestry of Muscle Shoals, highlighting how these two musical hubs have shaped the sound of America.
As they walk through the exhibit, listeners will discover the stories behind key artifacts and learn how the music from this region served as a bridge across racial divides, celebrating the unity that music can bring. Paul emphasizes the importance of exploring not only the "Muscle Shoals: Low Rhythm Rising" exhibit but also other ongoing exhibitions at the museum, making it a must-visit destination for anyone interested in Nashville music history and the broader music industry insights nashville has to offer.
This episode is not just a celebration of the past; it’s a look into the future of music city storytelling and the ongoing evolution of the Nashville music scene. Whether you’re a fan of nashville songwriters, a curious listener eager to learn about music genres from nashville, or simply someone who enjoys engaging music city interviews, this episode is packed with invaluable insights and inspiring stories. When you visit Nashville stop by and visit The Country Music Hall of Fame.Tune in to Takin’ A Walk Nashville and immerse yourself in the rich narrative of American music that continues to resonate today!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Taking a Walk Nashville. Hi, I'm Sarah Harrelson, your host
of Taking a Walk Nashville, and today I'm here with
the senior director of Editorial and Interpretation at the Country
Music Hall of Fame and Museum, Paul Kingsbury.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Thank you so much for being on Taking a Walk Nashville. O.
Speaker 3 (00:16):
Well, thanks so much for having us, Sarah.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
So we're here and the new Muscle Shoals Low Rhythm
Rising Exhibit.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
It just opens and.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
It's going to be here at the Country Music Hall
of Fame and Museum.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
For three years.
Speaker 4 (00:30):
Crash right, Yeah, yeah, so people have lots of opportunity
to come see this.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
We're really excited because we worked.
Speaker 4 (00:38):
On this exhibit for about three years to do all
the research and contact everybody we need to fill this up.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
So all of the artifacts that we're seeing as we
walk through here today are from the Shoals.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Yeah, well they are now.
Speaker 4 (00:54):
In some cases we had to reach farther afield than
North Alabama.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
We got some items for the Rock and Roll Hall
of Fame.
Speaker 4 (01:01):
They loaned us some we got some from other places,
but we definitely had a lot of interaction with the
North Alabama community. All around Muscle Shoals to make this
happen very cool.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Well, I am excited to walk through it.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
Let's definitely explore it and tell listeners about the artifacts
we're seeing today.
Speaker 4 (01:23):
Yeah, I'll just tell folks that, you know, when you
walk in the exhibit, you can maybe maybe listeners can
barely hear in the background we have Wilson Pickett's famous
Land of a Thousand Dances playing, because we have a
little looped video that gives people the taste of all
the many folks who worked to record it in Muscle
(01:43):
Shoals and made major hits.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
And then we've got this wonderful.
Speaker 4 (01:47):
Wall display of of lots of photos of some of
the famous people who came to to Muscle Sholes to record,
like they're rolling Stones and Bob Seeger and Arthur Alexander
and Wilson Ficken, Percy sledgend Aretha Franklin, and we'll hear
about those as we walked through.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
Yeah, there's so many different artists that have come down
to the Shoals to record. And you know, Muscle Shoals
is only about a two and a half hour drive
from Nashville, So when the Hall of Fame decided to
do this exhibit. Was it because there's such a strong
connection between Nashville and Muscle Shoals.
Speaker 3 (02:28):
Well, yeah, there is.
Speaker 4 (02:29):
And also, you know, we've long been aware of the
powerful music that.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
Was made there.
Speaker 4 (02:38):
An interesting connection that we talk about in this exhibit
is that one of the key the first key studio
in Muscle Shoals, the Fame Studio, the rhythm section. The
guys who were who were playing backing on the sessions there.
They were so that in nineteen sixty four, after they've
(02:59):
been recorded there for about five years, they moved.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
Up to Nashville and became a team session players up here.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
Wow. And we got to see some of those session
players here the other night.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
During the exhibit celebration concert.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
It was such a great night there were they were
celebrating the songs with the Shoals with by Levette, Maggie Rose,
Wendy Mountain, Shenandoah, many other artists, and it was so
cool just saying spinner all of them there. Did you
have a favorite moment of the night during opening concert.
Speaker 4 (03:30):
Well, I really loved when Betty Levette, you know who's
I guess she's in her late seventies now, got up
and she was when she was singing, she was dancing
all over the stage and she really brought the energy.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
I'll tell you that.
Speaker 4 (03:48):
You know a guy who's been in Nashville a long time,
Jimmy Hall, I mean he he knocked it out of
the park too when he's sang things like Land of
a Thousand Dances.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
I mean, yeah, there was a lot of energy.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
In that show, so much energy. Everyone was great. It
was such a great kickoff to this exhibit. And there's
so many great artifacts in here.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
As we're walking around, I saw you had a costume
from Wilson Pickett.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
What other artifacts can we expect to see?
Speaker 4 (04:18):
Oh my gosh, Well, when people walk in, they're going
to see a costume from the seventies from Kandy Stayton,
who was one of our artists who performed at the concert.
She told us she's eighty five years old. She was
fantastic and she recorded a lot of great songs that
were covers of country music songs that she did in
her own R and.
Speaker 3 (04:39):
B wa and yeah.
Speaker 4 (04:41):
In terms of artifacts, I mean, we're walking past a
case that shows the roots of muscle shoals music and
famous people like Sam Phillips, who starred Sun Records in Memphis,
and Arthur Alexander, one of the first big artists to
come out Ofussel Shoals. They're represented here with artifacts. We've
(05:03):
even got Arthur's passport and the ledger he used to
keep up with the royalty payments that he made.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
Very cool. And I think over there we have Aretha's
piano that she.
Speaker 4 (05:16):
Played in Yes, that's a centerpiece of the exhibit. So
Aretha Franklin turned around her whole career when she came
to Muscle Shoals in nineteen sixty seven. And she had
been recording for years but never had a hit until
she came to Muscle Shoals and she recorded the famous
(05:36):
song I Never loved a Man the Way I Love
You Ye with Muscle Shoals musicians in that launched her
whole career to become the.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
Queen of soul. Wow, he's so special.
Speaker 4 (05:47):
Yeah, So we've got that on loan from the Fame Studio.
We've got a beautiful dress from the early seventies from Maretha.
Speaker 3 (05:57):
We just passed Wilson.
Speaker 5 (05:59):
Pickett's fabulous costume here that he wore on the cover
of his Best of Wilson Picket Bollion two album, the
album that includes.
Speaker 4 (06:12):
His famous cover of the Beatles Hey You, where he
sings his heart out and he's matched lick for lick
by Dwayne Almon of the Almond Brothers, who was then
a session musician. And not only do we have Wilson
(06:33):
Pickett represented here, but if we walk down here, you'll
see we have two guitars that Dwayne Almond plays, Yeah Erry,
which you know, those are both on loan and we're
really excited to have them both. And people know the
Almond Brothers music, but they may not know that for
(06:54):
a period before the Almond Brothers got started, Dwayne was
really site to be able to be a session musician
playing behind great R and B artists, muscle Shoals.
Speaker 1 (07:07):
There's so many great artifacts here in the museum. What
do you hope people will take from this when they
explore this exhibit?
Speaker 4 (07:17):
I think you know a subtext to this exhibit is
that music brings people together.
Speaker 3 (07:24):
And the people who made the big hits and muscle Shoals,
both the artists.
Speaker 4 (07:28):
And the producers, the entrepreneurs, wanted to cross racial boundaries
right and so early on with so.
Speaker 3 (07:38):
Many hits from Muscle Shoals.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
It was.
Speaker 4 (07:42):
Black R and B singers getting together with crack session
musicians that were white in Muscle Shoals. And they kind
of did this all under the radar because this was
in the era when civil rights was still trying to
take hold and before the Civil Rights Act was passed
in sixty four, and so you had black artists, white
(08:07):
musicians making incredible music.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
And eventually, as this exhibit tells the.
Speaker 4 (08:11):
Story, it went beyond just black artists and white musicians.
It muscle shows became a magnet for artists from not
only all over America. And we're talking about artists like
Paul Simon and Bob Seeger and Cher and the Ozman Brothers.
(08:32):
We're also talking about artists that came over from England
like the Rolling Stones and Traffic with Stevie Winwood and
Joe Cocker all recording and.
Speaker 3 (08:42):
Muscle Shoals because the music was.
Speaker 4 (08:44):
So powerful and they wanted to get into the studios
with these players.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
Yeah, and speaking of under the radar, Muscle Shoals is
a pretty small town, so it was definitely.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
A great way to for multiple artists.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
Of different genres to come together record, but I also
heard Rolling Stones. You know, they were coming over from
the UK and they had a little bit of trouble
recording in LA because of their green cards.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
So Muscle Shoals was the perfect place for them.
Speaker 3 (09:11):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 4 (09:12):
They talked to some folks who said, hey, you know,
we can kind of get on under the radar if
we go to Muscle Shoals. Nobody's paying attention there, right,
And so they came in recorded three songs, two of
their biggest they recorded.
Speaker 3 (09:27):
You know, they recorded a Brown Sugar.
Speaker 4 (09:29):
You recorded wild Horses there while they're Muscle Shoals and
both big hits.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
And Tierra Kennedy did a great job of wild Horses.
Speaker 3 (09:38):
He sure did it that concert.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, Well what else is there for us?
Speaker 4 (09:44):
Well, so we're actually looking at a case right here.
I'm sure a lot of people still know the classic
R and B song I'll take you there by the
Staple Singers.
Speaker 3 (09:54):
Well, we have the dresses for the three sisters.
Speaker 4 (09:58):
And the Staple singers, along with the suit in telecaster
guitar of Pops Staples, their father who was in the band.
So we've got the costume stage costumes, Cleotha, Yvonne and
Mavis Staples.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
Right here in front of everybody.
Speaker 4 (10:15):
We've got well gold I'm sorry, a platinum record that
Bob Dylan got for recording in Muscle Shoals for his
album Slow Train Coming.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
Very cool. And you said this exhibit is five thousand
square feet.
Speaker 3 (10:32):
Yeah. Yeah. And in addition to all.
Speaker 4 (10:35):
Of the artifacts that are on display, people will get
to see clips of interviews. We get fifty hours of
interviews with people in Muscle Shoals and they can see
clips that we've cut on TVs here. We've got also
clips from a very well done documentary on Muscle Shoals
back in twenty thirteen.
Speaker 3 (10:55):
We've got touchscreen interactives.
Speaker 4 (10:57):
And if you want, we can walk up to those
and you can play with them for a mo. We've
got a sixty song jukebox people can listen to. We've
got information on the session musicians, on the songwriters, on
the recording studios. Because it's more than one studio that
was active in Muscle Shoals.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
Yeah, you have the Fame Studios, Muscle Shoal Sound Studios,
quite a few studios happening.
Speaker 4 (11:21):
Yeah, I think we have thirteen studios featured in or interactive.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
Let's see if we go to studios, you'll see we've.
Speaker 4 (11:29):
Got a whole thing here where of course we've got Fame.
Speaker 3 (11:33):
And we've got Muscle Show Sound Studio, and.
Speaker 4 (11:37):
People can read a little bit of history, they can
swipe through photos and these places, and if they.
Speaker 3 (11:44):
Want to hear music, they can go to our jukebox.
You could play anything you like here.
Speaker 4 (11:51):
I mean, here's a famous song. This is I'm Your
Puppet by James and Bobby Purify, written by Dan Penn
and Spointer Oldham.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
I like that you selected that one.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
That's a song my mom would always play for me
and sing to me when.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
I was little.
Speaker 3 (12:09):
Really, that's wonderful, one of my favorites.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
Well, this is a great way for people if they're
coming in Nashville to see this exhibit, and then they
can even just drive down to Muscle Shoals.
Speaker 3 (12:22):
Sure it can.
Speaker 4 (12:23):
Check out you you can go and get tours of
Fame Studio and Muscle Shoal Sound Studio. They regularly have
music events there that people can go here.
Speaker 3 (12:38):
I would hope that people would.
Speaker 4 (12:40):
Come here, experience some of this and take some of
these stories and music with them. We've got a great,
uh full color companion book that.
Speaker 3 (12:50):
We created to go with the exhibit.
Speaker 4 (12:53):
If people can pick up in our museum store or
buy online.
Speaker 3 (12:57):
In fact, it's don't come here, they can get it
on Amazon if they.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
Will, of course, and this is going to be a
very popular exhibit.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
But people are coming here to visit. What other exhibits
do you recommend that.
Speaker 4 (13:10):
They explore while when we are in a museum. So
we have a fabulous exhibit on Dolly Parton. We collaborated
with her last year or earlier this year on that we've.
Speaker 3 (13:21):
Got Dolly Parton.
Speaker 4 (13:22):
We've got a huge exhibit on Landy Wilson, we have
a great exhibit on Roseanne Cash, a pretty new exhibit
that we open this fall on one hundred years of
Grand Ole Opry history. And we also have our permanent
exhibit in the museum that's kind of a walk through
country music history from the earliest commercial origins and pre
(13:47):
commercial origins at the beginning of the twentieth century on
up to the present day. And then every year we
refresh an exhibit in the early spring called American Currents,
which covers the big events and prominent artists of the
previous year.
Speaker 3 (14:05):
So if people want to see who we've.
Speaker 4 (14:07):
Got represented for the year twenty twenty four. You've got
that all up in American currens right now. Too.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
Very cool.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
There's always so many different exhibits coming in and out
of here.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
In addition to that, there's always events happening here.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
You at the Taylor Swift Education Center, you have shows
on the weekends, usually songwritere rounds on Sundays, so people
have kids, Can they do any sort of workshops?
Speaker 4 (14:34):
Yeah, we have lots of We have lots of education
workshops on the weekends, and we encourage folks to go
to our website Country Music Hall of Fame dot org.
Go Look, we have a calendar of events really easy
to access and people can see any particular date they
want to visit. But for families and kids the weekends,
(14:56):
see the Saturday and Senator you get.
Speaker 3 (14:58):
Time to come through.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
And the a concert we saw on Friday was at
the CMA Theater, which is always a wonderful venue to
see shows as well.
Speaker 4 (15:05):
Yeah. Yeah, that's an eight hundred CED theater and with
many different kinds of shows appear there. And I believe
coming up December twentieth, we have singer songwriter Steve Earle
coming in to.
Speaker 3 (15:20):
Do a show for us. Okay, if you get a membership,
then you can attend to all of these programs and
attend the museum for free. You get a discount at
our store. It's it's a pretty great deal. I have
several friends who are members and they just be like, Wow,
this is an amazing deal.
Speaker 4 (15:39):
You come in see concerts, one of the con concerts
you couldn't see anywhere else for free, and then you
get you could drop in with your friends and family
any time.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
Wonderful. That's something to look forward to. I love to
see the rest of the exhibit.
Speaker 1 (15:55):
Paul, You've been in Nashville for quite a while, and
you know, throughout the Country Music Hall of Fame's time,
it moved from Music Row to downtown. It's been through
so much change. What do you think of the change
you have seen in.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
Nashville over the years.
Speaker 4 (16:12):
I'll tell you one change that I love that people
don't talk about very much is I've been in Nashville
many years, and it didn't used to be the music
town that it is now. It used to be, I
can tell you in the eighties and into the mid nineties,
there just weren't that many concerts and nightclub shows available.
(16:37):
But over time, the music industry has refocused and you
could hear any kind of music you like here in Nashville.
Now we have dozens of great venues, and that's one
thing I love. The other thing that's surprised me over
the years is how vibrant downtown Nashville has become, because
(16:58):
in the eighties and nineties it was a little sketchy downtown.
And we like to feel like when our museum moved
from Music Row here downtown in two thousand and one,
we were part of the whole revival of downtown Nashville,
and we take some pride of ownership in how Nashville
has come back so big in downtown.
Speaker 1 (17:20):
Yeah, and it's not just country music here in Nashville anymore,
which is why I.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
Think it's special. The Shoals exhibit is here because so.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
Many different genres came out of the Shoals, and I
think that's what's happening with Nashville.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
So many genres of music are coming out of here now.
Speaker 3 (17:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (17:36):
You know, I would say even people who are not
sure that their hardcore country fans would enjoy the country
music Hall of fame and certainly this Muscle Shoals exhibit,
because it's not just about country artists like Willie Neilson
or Shenandoah or Bobby Gentry who recorded here. It's about
Carl Simon, it's about grolling Stones, hit about It's about Wilson, Thicket,
(18:01):
Percy Sledge, the staple singers. All different kinds of music
came out of Muscle Shoals.
Speaker 3 (18:08):
And I think.
Speaker 4 (18:10):
Folks will also find as they go through the museum
that many artists that they might have some awareness of Blaney, Wilson,
Roseanne Cash, Dolly Parton. They're going to find out about
them in depths and see how they connect with the
wider world.
Speaker 1 (18:25):
Abusic.
Speaker 2 (18:26):
Yeah, very cool. Absolutely, And Paul, we're on taking a
walk Nashville.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
So I always love to ask this to our guest,
but do you have a favorite place you.
Speaker 2 (18:37):
Like to take a walk in Nashville? Is it here
in the museum?
Speaker 3 (18:41):
Well, I can't say that.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
I mean I love the museum.
Speaker 4 (18:44):
I walk through the museum regularly because I like seeing
some of these things over and over again.
Speaker 3 (18:49):
I'll show you a thing that we are proud to
be able to display. We have the original song.
Speaker 4 (18:57):
Manuscript that Chris Stofferson wrote have helped me make it
through the night. And if you could see he wrote
it on the stationary of his publisher, Monument and Who's
also his record label. And this was a very transformative
song because he started to talk about real adult relationships
(19:21):
sexuality to some extent in a way that country music
hadn't gone to before.
Speaker 3 (19:26):
But he did it in a very poetic way. And
of course it's become a standard. So I love walking
past this and looking at this.
Speaker 4 (19:33):
I mean, if I'm trying to get people to come
to Nashville, I will also say we are blessed with
amazing forest parks all over in Nashville. And because I'm
an outdoor guy, I mean loved to go to Radnor Lake,
loved to go to a Warner Parks.
Speaker 3 (19:50):
But hey, can you let you some indoors please come
to the Country Us A Call of Fame.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
Absolutely, there's always something new to check out here. I think, Well, Paul,
thank you so.
Speaker 1 (19:59):
Much for being on taking a walk in Nashville today,
and everyone can check out the Country Music Hall of
Fame and Museum and the Muscle Sholes exhibit.
Speaker 2 (20:09):
For the next few years.
Speaker 3 (20:10):
All right, Thank you, Sarah.
Speaker 4 (20:14):
Thanks for listening to Taking a Walk Nashville with singer
songwriter Sarah Harrel Simmer, and check out our other podcasts, Music,
Save Me, Comedy, Save Me, and Taking a Walk.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
Available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you
get your podcasts.
Taking a Walk Nashville. Hi, I'm Sarah Harrelson, your host
of Taking a Walk Nashville, and today I'm here with
the senior director of Editorial and Interpretation at the Country
Music Hall of Fame and Museum, Paul Kingsbury.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Thank you so much for being on Taking a Walk Nashville. O.
Speaker 3 (00:16):
Well, thanks so much for having us, Sarah.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
So we're here and the new Muscle Shoals Low Rhythm
Rising Exhibit.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
It just opens and.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
It's going to be here at the Country Music Hall
of Fame and Museum.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
For three years.
Speaker 4 (00:30):
Crash right, Yeah, yeah, so people have lots of opportunity
to come see this.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
We're really excited because we worked.
Speaker 4 (00:38):
On this exhibit for about three years to do all
the research and contact everybody we need to fill this up.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
So all of the artifacts that we're seeing as we
walk through here today are from the Shoals.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Yeah, well they are now.
Speaker 4 (00:54):
In some cases we had to reach farther afield than
North Alabama.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
We got some items for the Rock and Roll Hall
of Fame.
Speaker 4 (01:01):
They loaned us some we got some from other places,
but we definitely had a lot of interaction with the
North Alabama community. All around Muscle Shoals to make this
happen very cool.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Well, I am excited to walk through it.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
Let's definitely explore it and tell listeners about the artifacts
we're seeing today.
Speaker 4 (01:23):
Yeah, I'll just tell folks that, you know, when you
walk in the exhibit, you can maybe maybe listeners can
barely hear in the background we have Wilson Pickett's famous
Land of a Thousand Dances playing, because we have a
little looped video that gives people the taste of all
the many folks who worked to record it in Muscle
(01:43):
Shoals and made major hits.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
And then we've got this wonderful.
Speaker 4 (01:47):
Wall display of of lots of photos of some of
the famous people who came to to Muscle Sholes to record,
like they're rolling Stones and Bob Seeger and Arthur Alexander
and Wilson Ficken, Percy sledgend Aretha Franklin, and we'll hear
about those as we walked through.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
Yeah, there's so many different artists that have come down
to the Shoals to record. And you know, Muscle Shoals
is only about a two and a half hour drive
from Nashville, So when the Hall of Fame decided to
do this exhibit. Was it because there's such a strong
connection between Nashville and Muscle Shoals.
Speaker 3 (02:28):
Well, yeah, there is.
Speaker 4 (02:29):
And also, you know, we've long been aware of the
powerful music that.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
Was made there.
Speaker 4 (02:38):
An interesting connection that we talk about in this exhibit
is that one of the key the first key studio
in Muscle Shoals, the Fame Studio, the rhythm section. The
guys who were who were playing backing on the sessions there.
They were so that in nineteen sixty four, after they've
(02:59):
been recorded there for about five years, they moved.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
Up to Nashville and became a team session players up here.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
Wow. And we got to see some of those session
players here the other night.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
During the exhibit celebration concert.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
It was such a great night there were they were
celebrating the songs with the Shoals with by Levette, Maggie Rose,
Wendy Mountain, Shenandoah, many other artists, and it was so
cool just saying spinner all of them there. Did you
have a favorite moment of the night during opening concert.
Speaker 4 (03:30):
Well, I really loved when Betty Levette, you know who's
I guess she's in her late seventies now, got up
and she was when she was singing, she was dancing
all over the stage and she really brought the energy.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
I'll tell you that.
Speaker 4 (03:48):
You know a guy who's been in Nashville a long time,
Jimmy Hall, I mean he he knocked it out of
the park too when he's sang things like Land of
a Thousand Dances.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
I mean, yeah, there was a lot of energy.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
In that show, so much energy. Everyone was great. It
was such a great kickoff to this exhibit. And there's
so many great artifacts in here.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
As we're walking around, I saw you had a costume
from Wilson Pickett.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
What other artifacts can we expect to see?
Speaker 4 (04:18):
Oh my gosh, Well, when people walk in, they're going
to see a costume from the seventies from Kandy Stayton,
who was one of our artists who performed at the concert.
She told us she's eighty five years old. She was
fantastic and she recorded a lot of great songs that
were covers of country music songs that she did in
her own R and.
Speaker 3 (04:39):
B wa and yeah.
Speaker 4 (04:41):
In terms of artifacts, I mean, we're walking past a
case that shows the roots of muscle shoals music and
famous people like Sam Phillips, who starred Sun Records in Memphis,
and Arthur Alexander, one of the first big artists to
come out Ofussel Shoals. They're represented here with artifacts. We've
(05:03):
even got Arthur's passport and the ledger he used to
keep up with the royalty payments that he made.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
Very cool. And I think over there we have Aretha's
piano that she.
Speaker 4 (05:16):
Played in Yes, that's a centerpiece of the exhibit. So
Aretha Franklin turned around her whole career when she came
to Muscle Shoals in nineteen sixty seven. And she had
been recording for years but never had a hit until
she came to Muscle Shoals and she recorded the famous
(05:36):
song I Never loved a Man the Way I Love
You Ye with Muscle Shoals musicians in that launched her
whole career to become the.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
Queen of soul. Wow, he's so special.
Speaker 4 (05:47):
Yeah, So we've got that on loan from the Fame Studio.
We've got a beautiful dress from the early seventies from Maretha.
Speaker 3 (05:57):
We just passed Wilson.
Speaker 5 (05:59):
Pickett's fabulous costume here that he wore on the cover
of his Best of Wilson Picket Bollion two album, the
album that includes.
Speaker 4 (06:12):
His famous cover of the Beatles Hey You, where he
sings his heart out and he's matched lick for lick
by Dwayne Almon of the Almond Brothers, who was then
a session musician. And not only do we have Wilson
(06:33):
Pickett represented here, but if we walk down here, you'll
see we have two guitars that Dwayne Almond plays, Yeah Erry,
which you know, those are both on loan and we're
really excited to have them both. And people know the
Almond Brothers music, but they may not know that for
(06:54):
a period before the Almond Brothers got started, Dwayne was
really site to be able to be a session musician
playing behind great R and B artists, muscle Shoals.
Speaker 1 (07:07):
There's so many great artifacts here in the museum. What
do you hope people will take from this when they
explore this exhibit?
Speaker 4 (07:17):
I think you know a subtext to this exhibit is
that music brings people together.
Speaker 3 (07:24):
And the people who made the big hits and muscle Shoals,
both the artists.
Speaker 4 (07:28):
And the producers, the entrepreneurs, wanted to cross racial boundaries
right and so early on with so.
Speaker 3 (07:38):
Many hits from Muscle Shoals.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
It was.
Speaker 4 (07:42):
Black R and B singers getting together with crack session
musicians that were white in Muscle Shoals. And they kind
of did this all under the radar because this was
in the era when civil rights was still trying to
take hold and before the Civil Rights Act was passed
in sixty four, and so you had black artists, white
(08:07):
musicians making incredible music.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
And eventually, as this exhibit tells the.
Speaker 4 (08:11):
Story, it went beyond just black artists and white musicians.
It muscle shows became a magnet for artists from not
only all over America. And we're talking about artists like
Paul Simon and Bob Seeger and Cher and the Ozman Brothers.
(08:32):
We're also talking about artists that came over from England
like the Rolling Stones and Traffic with Stevie Winwood and
Joe Cocker all recording and.
Speaker 3 (08:42):
Muscle Shoals because the music was.
Speaker 4 (08:44):
So powerful and they wanted to get into the studios
with these players.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
Yeah, and speaking of under the radar, Muscle Shoals is
a pretty small town, so it was definitely.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
A great way to for multiple artists.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
Of different genres to come together record, but I also
heard Rolling Stones. You know, they were coming over from
the UK and they had a little bit of trouble
recording in LA because of their green cards.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
So Muscle Shoals was the perfect place for them.
Speaker 3 (09:11):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 4 (09:12):
They talked to some folks who said, hey, you know,
we can kind of get on under the radar if
we go to Muscle Shoals. Nobody's paying attention there, right,
And so they came in recorded three songs, two of
their biggest they recorded.
Speaker 3 (09:27):
You know, they recorded a Brown Sugar.
Speaker 4 (09:29):
You recorded wild Horses there while they're Muscle Shoals and
both big hits.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
And Tierra Kennedy did a great job of wild Horses.
Speaker 3 (09:38):
He sure did it that concert.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, Well what else is there for us?
Speaker 4 (09:44):
Well, so we're actually looking at a case right here.
I'm sure a lot of people still know the classic
R and B song I'll take you there by the
Staple Singers.
Speaker 3 (09:54):
Well, we have the dresses for the three sisters.
Speaker 4 (09:58):
And the Staple singers, along with the suit in telecaster
guitar of Pops Staples, their father who was in the band.
So we've got the costume stage costumes, Cleotha, Yvonne and
Mavis Staples.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
Right here in front of everybody.
Speaker 4 (10:15):
We've got well gold I'm sorry, a platinum record that
Bob Dylan got for recording in Muscle Shoals for his
album Slow Train Coming.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
Very cool. And you said this exhibit is five thousand
square feet.
Speaker 3 (10:32):
Yeah. Yeah. And in addition to all.
Speaker 4 (10:35):
Of the artifacts that are on display, people will get
to see clips of interviews. We get fifty hours of
interviews with people in Muscle Shoals and they can see
clips that we've cut on TVs here. We've got also
clips from a very well done documentary on Muscle Shoals
back in twenty thirteen.
Speaker 3 (10:55):
We've got touchscreen interactives.
Speaker 4 (10:57):
And if you want, we can walk up to those
and you can play with them for a mo. We've
got a sixty song jukebox people can listen to. We've
got information on the session musicians, on the songwriters, on
the recording studios. Because it's more than one studio that
was active in Muscle Shoals.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
Yeah, you have the Fame Studios, Muscle Shoal Sound Studios,
quite a few studios happening.
Speaker 4 (11:21):
Yeah, I think we have thirteen studios featured in or interactive.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
Let's see if we go to studios, you'll see we've.
Speaker 4 (11:29):
Got a whole thing here where of course we've got Fame.
Speaker 3 (11:33):
And we've got Muscle Show Sound Studio, and.
Speaker 4 (11:37):
People can read a little bit of history, they can
swipe through photos and these places, and if they.
Speaker 3 (11:44):
Want to hear music, they can go to our jukebox.
You could play anything you like here.
Speaker 4 (11:51):
I mean, here's a famous song. This is I'm Your
Puppet by James and Bobby Purify, written by Dan Penn
and Spointer Oldham.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
I like that you selected that one.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
That's a song my mom would always play for me
and sing to me when.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
I was little.
Speaker 3 (12:09):
Really, that's wonderful, one of my favorites.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
Well, this is a great way for people if they're
coming in Nashville to see this exhibit, and then they
can even just drive down to Muscle Shoals.
Speaker 3 (12:22):
Sure it can.
Speaker 4 (12:23):
Check out you you can go and get tours of
Fame Studio and Muscle Shoal Sound Studio. They regularly have
music events there that people can go here.
Speaker 3 (12:38):
I would hope that people would.
Speaker 4 (12:40):
Come here, experience some of this and take some of
these stories and music with them. We've got a great,
uh full color companion book that.
Speaker 3 (12:50):
We created to go with the exhibit.
Speaker 4 (12:53):
If people can pick up in our museum store or
buy online.
Speaker 3 (12:57):
In fact, it's don't come here, they can get it
on Amazon if they.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
Will, of course, and this is going to be a
very popular exhibit.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
But people are coming here to visit. What other exhibits
do you recommend that.
Speaker 4 (13:10):
They explore while when we are in a museum. So
we have a fabulous exhibit on Dolly Parton. We collaborated
with her last year or earlier this year on that we've.
Speaker 3 (13:21):
Got Dolly Parton.
Speaker 4 (13:22):
We've got a huge exhibit on Landy Wilson, we have
a great exhibit on Roseanne Cash, a pretty new exhibit
that we open this fall on one hundred years of
Grand Ole Opry history. And we also have our permanent
exhibit in the museum that's kind of a walk through
country music history from the earliest commercial origins and pre
(13:47):
commercial origins at the beginning of the twentieth century on
up to the present day. And then every year we
refresh an exhibit in the early spring called American Currents,
which covers the big events and prominent artists of the
previous year.
Speaker 3 (14:05):
So if people want to see who we've.
Speaker 4 (14:07):
Got represented for the year twenty twenty four. You've got
that all up in American currens right now. Too.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
Very cool.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
There's always so many different exhibits coming in and out
of here.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
In addition to that, there's always events happening here.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
You at the Taylor Swift Education Center, you have shows
on the weekends, usually songwritere rounds on Sundays, so people
have kids, Can they do any sort of workshops?
Speaker 4 (14:34):
Yeah, we have lots of We have lots of education
workshops on the weekends, and we encourage folks to go
to our website Country Music Hall of Fame dot org.
Go Look, we have a calendar of events really easy
to access and people can see any particular date they
want to visit. But for families and kids the weekends,
(14:56):
see the Saturday and Senator you get.
Speaker 3 (14:58):
Time to come through.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
And the a concert we saw on Friday was at
the CMA Theater, which is always a wonderful venue to
see shows as well.
Speaker 4 (15:05):
Yeah. Yeah, that's an eight hundred CED theater and with
many different kinds of shows appear there. And I believe
coming up December twentieth, we have singer songwriter Steve Earle
coming in to.
Speaker 3 (15:20):
Do a show for us. Okay, if you get a membership,
then you can attend to all of these programs and
attend the museum for free. You get a discount at
our store. It's it's a pretty great deal. I have
several friends who are members and they just be like, Wow,
this is an amazing deal.
Speaker 4 (15:39):
You come in see concerts, one of the con concerts
you couldn't see anywhere else for free, and then you
get you could drop in with your friends and family
any time.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
Wonderful. That's something to look forward to. I love to
see the rest of the exhibit.
Speaker 1 (15:55):
Paul, You've been in Nashville for quite a while, and
you know, throughout the Country Music Hall of Fame's time,
it moved from Music Row to downtown. It's been through
so much change. What do you think of the change
you have seen in.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
Nashville over the years.
Speaker 4 (16:12):
I'll tell you one change that I love that people
don't talk about very much is I've been in Nashville
many years, and it didn't used to be the music
town that it is now. It used to be, I
can tell you in the eighties and into the mid nineties,
there just weren't that many concerts and nightclub shows available.
(16:37):
But over time, the music industry has refocused and you
could hear any kind of music you like here in Nashville.
Now we have dozens of great venues, and that's one
thing I love. The other thing that's surprised me over
the years is how vibrant downtown Nashville has become, because
(16:58):
in the eighties and nineties it was a little sketchy downtown.
And we like to feel like when our museum moved
from Music Row here downtown in two thousand and one,
we were part of the whole revival of downtown Nashville,
and we take some pride of ownership in how Nashville
has come back so big in downtown.
Speaker 1 (17:20):
Yeah, and it's not just country music here in Nashville anymore,
which is why I.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
Think it's special. The Shoals exhibit is here because so.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
Many different genres came out of the Shoals, and I
think that's what's happening with Nashville.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
So many genres of music are coming out of here now.
Speaker 3 (17:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (17:36):
You know, I would say even people who are not
sure that their hardcore country fans would enjoy the country
music Hall of fame and certainly this Muscle Shoals exhibit,
because it's not just about country artists like Willie Neilson
or Shenandoah or Bobby Gentry who recorded here. It's about
Carl Simon, it's about grolling Stones, hit about It's about Wilson, Thicket,
(18:01):
Percy Sledge, the staple singers. All different kinds of music
came out of Muscle Shoals.
Speaker 3 (18:08):
And I think.
Speaker 4 (18:10):
Folks will also find as they go through the museum
that many artists that they might have some awareness of Blaney, Wilson,
Roseanne Cash, Dolly Parton. They're going to find out about
them in depths and see how they connect with the
wider world.
Speaker 1 (18:25):
Abusic.
Speaker 2 (18:26):
Yeah, very cool. Absolutely, And Paul, we're on taking a
walk Nashville.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
So I always love to ask this to our guest,
but do you have a favorite place you.
Speaker 2 (18:37):
Like to take a walk in Nashville? Is it here
in the museum?
Speaker 3 (18:41):
Well, I can't say that.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
I mean I love the museum.
Speaker 4 (18:44):
I walk through the museum regularly because I like seeing
some of these things over and over again.
Speaker 3 (18:49):
I'll show you a thing that we are proud to
be able to display. We have the original song.
Speaker 4 (18:57):
Manuscript that Chris Stofferson wrote have helped me make it
through the night. And if you could see he wrote
it on the stationary of his publisher, Monument and Who's
also his record label. And this was a very transformative
song because he started to talk about real adult relationships
(19:21):
sexuality to some extent in a way that country music
hadn't gone to before.
Speaker 3 (19:26):
But he did it in a very poetic way. And
of course it's become a standard. So I love walking
past this and looking at this.
Speaker 4 (19:33):
I mean, if I'm trying to get people to come
to Nashville, I will also say we are blessed with
amazing forest parks all over in Nashville. And because I'm
an outdoor guy, I mean loved to go to Radnor Lake,
loved to go to a Warner Parks.
Speaker 3 (19:50):
But hey, can you let you some indoors please come
to the Country Us A Call of Fame.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
Absolutely, there's always something new to check out here. I think, Well, Paul,
thank you so.
Speaker 1 (19:59):
Much for being on taking a walk in Nashville today,
and everyone can check out the Country Music Hall of
Fame and Museum and the Muscle Sholes exhibit.
Speaker 2 (20:09):
For the next few years.
Speaker 3 (20:10):
All right, Thank you, Sarah.
Speaker 4 (20:14):
Thanks for listening to Taking a Walk Nashville with singer
songwriter Sarah Harrel Simmer, and check out our other podcasts, Music,
Save Me, Comedy, Save Me, and Taking a Walk.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
Available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you
get your podcasts.
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