The Shoals

When you’re on the loop you have the opportunity to visit many places along the way.

It probably explains why the record for doing a loop is over 30 times. Thats more than 3 decades living on the Loop.

There’s really just too many to visit on one loop.

However, there was one place that we wanted to see, and it took us two days out of our way to do so.

We went to Muscle Shoals, Alabama to visit some rock ‘n’ roll history.

It’s not just rock ‘n’ roll that this place is famous for.

A lot of the work that came out in the early days of Muscle Shoals music history was Rhythm and Blues.

Aretha Franklin and Etta James are two people who could really knock your socks off with their vocals and the passion in their voices.

They started in more traditional studios but they did not find their pace until they came to Muscle Shoals.

Aretha and Etta both recorded here and helped put the place on the map.

The Allman Brothers also did a lot of work here, not necessarily with their band but individually.

Duane Allman in particular developed his slide guitar technique using an old glass medicine bottle and played it in his Muscle Shoals recordings, much to the delight of his fans.

To get to Muscle Shoals we had to go to Florence, which was across the river. There’s a nice marina there that we had a good stay at. We were able to get a lot of work done, but we were also able to play as well.

The community of Muscle Shoals is really three towns: Muscle Shoals and Sheffield on the south side of the Tennessee River at the head of Pickwick Lake, and Florence on the north side of the river.

We had a really fun stay.

We knew we needed to have fun, because the rest of trip to Mobile down the TenTom Waterway and the Tombigbee River was going to be a bit of work.

It’s a long way to go to Mobile.

As the crow flies from Florence Alabama down to Mobile Alabama it’s about 275 miles, but our total route was going to be about 500 miles.

If you do the math that means about half the time we’re going in the direction on the rivers other than towards our destination… as a crow flies.

It’s an indication of how much the waterway meanders down through Mississippi and Alabama to the coast.

Our stay in Florence was occupied with the usual activities: grocery shopping, receiving Amazon packages of needed items for Selkie, and visiting with folks who were in the marina.

But the highlight for us was our tour of Muscle Shoals Music Studio.

There is an another music studio in Muscle Shoals, the Fame Studio which has a greater reach than which we didn’t got to, but it is still very much in use today.

If you’re into rock music at all, particularly late 1960’s and 1970s rock, you will have heard music produced in Muscle Shoals.

The only place that pumped out more hits during that period was Motown in Detroit.

That’s a lot of great music coming out of a small town in Northern Alabama.

The Muscle Shoals Recording Studio is an amazingly small building given the influence that this building has on modern music today.

It’s more of a museum now, although some people do come to still record.

From Wikipedia:

“The four founders of the studio, Barry Beckett, Roger Hawkins, Jimmy Johnson and David Hood, were session musicians at Rick Hall’s FAME Studios.

Those four were officially known as the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section but widely referred to as “The Swampers.” They were recognized as having crafted the “Muscle Shoals sound” in conjunction with Hall.

When Hall asked them to sign a contract that required them to relocate to Los Angeles, they declined as they were family men and did not want to move.

The Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section partnered with Jerry Wexler, who provided start-up funding to found Muscle Shoals Sound Studio at 3614 Jackson Highway in Sheffield, Alabama.

Jerry was a music journalist turned music producer. He was a major influence on American popular music from the 1950s through the 1980s.

He coined the term “rhythm and blues“, and was integral in signing and/or producing many of the biggest acts of the time, including Ray Charles, the Allman Brothers, Chris Connor, Aretha Franklin, Led Zeppelin, Wilson Pickett, Dire Straits, Dusty Springfield and Bob Dylan.“

Next time you see an album from the ‘70’s, look at the credits, there’s a more than good possibility that the album was recorded in Muscle Shoals, Alabama.

The people who recorded at the Muscle Shoals Recording Studio are as follows, and most likely you’ve heard of most or all of them.

The Rolling Stones, Aretha Franklin, Duane Allman, George Michael, Wilson Pickett, Willie Nelson, Linda Rondstat, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Joe Cocker, Levon Helm, Paul Simon, Bob Seger, Rod Stewart, Tamiko Jones, Cher, Cat Stevens, Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, Art Garfunkel, Staples Singers, Leon Russell, Dr. Hook, Eddie Hinton, Black Keys…

It’s an amazing place for such a small building. If you want more background on this place, here’s a link to a great article:

Muscle Shoals Studio: A History Of The Soul Of America

We were happy to be there but it was time to go.

We headed back down Pickwick Lake towards Pickwick Lock and Dam but then turned left and headed down the Ten Tom Waterway, otherwise known locally as the Ditch.

The buoys are reversed starting at this point. From Florence down to Mobile that’s all headed to the ocean, so our navigation aids are green on the right and red on the left.

It also means we have a little bit of a current helping us on our way which is a good thing, as we have a long way to go.

We expect to be celebrating Thanksgiving along the Florida coast close to Mobile. That’s if the weather permits us and God is willing to let us go.

The idea of celebrating Thanksgiving on Selkie in warm salt water seems a little like heaven. It’s been cold coming south.

We can’t wait!