The northern part of Alabama surprised us with it's thousands of acres of farmland. Mostly in soybeans, the fields are a lush sight.
Through Decatur, still on US 72, we drove into Tuscumbia, Alabama, 172 miles from Chat City, and found our rv park just a quarter of a mile off the road. We're staying in Heritage Acres RV Park, a nice, quiet park with plenty of room between sites. The interior roads and sites are gravel, what we used to call in construction 2" minus, meaning that the large stones are 2" in size, and go down to dust. Seems to be clean and not dusty, so all is well. The utilities are satisfactory, and we have a nice spot with a grass "patio" for Sasha to play on.
All this is fine, but why Muscle Shoals?
For one thing, the town is on the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail, with two 18-hole championship courses, "The Fighting Joe" and "The Schoolmaster".
But we're here for other reasons.
Established in 1959, FAME Recording Studio ia a world-famous for creating the Muscle Shoals Sound, and has been involved in the production of records that have sold more than 300 million copies worldwide. Aretha Franklin, Little Richard, Wilson Pickett, Etta James, Otis Redding, The Osmonds, Jerry Reed, Alabama, Mac Davis, the Gatlin Brothers, and Bobby Gentry have all recorded here. FAME publishing has had songs cut by Tina Turner, the Beatles, Elton John, and others. It is a world famous
Muscle Shoals classic songs include "When A Man Loves A Woman", "Mustang Sally", and "Hey Jude". The Studio continues to be extremely active, and still provides a venue for topnotch recording, although today most of the activity comes from the production side, with many FAME songs being cut by famous artists. We had to visit.
Unfortunately, tours were not available due to studio commitments.
We also wanted to visit the Birthplace of W.C. Handy, the "Father of the Blues". Born November 16, 1873 in this two room cabin, William Christopher Handy grew up with a deep appreciation for religious hymns as sung in Black Churchs. Together with his extraordinary natural talents, W.C. grew from humble beginnings to an international star. He's the author of "Beale Street Blues", "Memphis Blues", and "St Louis Blues", along with 37 other tunes. We had to visit.
Unfortunately, the home and museum is closed on Mondays, so we couldn't go inside.
Having struck out two times, we pressed on to our third attraction of the afternoon, the Frank Lloyd Wright Rosenbaum House Museum. This house was built in 1939 and is the only Wright use in the southeast open to the public.It embodies Wrights Usonian design (named for the United States of America) and was offered as a low-cost home for middle income families. With Wright's plan, a young couple could build their own home, and easily add to it as the family expanded, which is exactly what the Rosenbaums family did. Starting with 1,540 square feet, Wright was commissioned to add 1,084 square feet to the home in 1948.
This is classic Frank Lloyd Wright design, with lots of glass, simple, straight lines, and large cantilevered rooflines. Quite a difference from W.C. Handy's home, eh?
And, no, we were too late for the last of today's tours...Beginning to see a pattern here.
So how do we raise our spirits? Why, eat some Chicken, of course!
We stopped at Champy's, one of the local hangouts for Blues and Bird. The chicken was superb, and the decor was ......campy.
Ok, so Muscle Shoals is a quirky kinda place! The town was named for the shallows (shoals) in the Tennessee River that flows through town. The channels between the shoals are fast moving, requiring a lot of "muscle" to paddle through!
A lot of musical history has been made here, and we just had to check it out. Tomorrow's another day!
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