Today we were tourist. We rented a car from Enterprise and made our way to four of the many attractions in this area.
Our first stop was Muscic Shoals Music Studio.The studio opened in 1969 as the only studio in the country owned and operated by studio musicians. In the following decade of operation they released over 200 albums, 75 gold or platinum records and hundreds of hits songs with artist such as
Lynyrd Skynyrd, Bob Dylan, Duane Allman, Paul Simon, Art Garfunkel, Bob Seger, Staples Singers, Rod Stewart, Leon Russell, Willie Nelson, Cat Stevens, Dr. Hook, and Eddie Hinton. The first hit the studio recorded was Take A Letter Maria. The same week that record was being recorded during the day, the Rolling Stones were recording at night such songs as Brown Sugar and Wild Horses.
Initially the front of the building had no signage. But when Cher recorded her sixth album there, she had the address 3614 Jackson Highway added to the photograph. The studio liked it so much, they had a sign made exactly like the one on the album cover.
Remember the song Old Time Rock and Roll by Bob Seger and The Silver Bullet Band? The introductory measure was played on this piano, as well as many other hit songs.
The sound board used in the control room was originally designed for and used by Chet Atkins.
To get just the right sound, Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones sang one of their hit songs in the studio's restroom.
Our next stop was the Alabama Music Hall of Fame. Artists from Hank Williams to Martha Reeves to The Temptations to Jim Nabors and Emmylou Harris are among the nearly one hundred Alabama artists that have been inducted.
Nat King Cole was among the first four inductees back in 1985.
Jim Nabors was inducted in 2001. Items from his roles on The Andy Griffith Show and Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. were on display.
We had the opportunity to tour the music group Alabama's tour bus.
Our third stop was at the home of Helen Keller. She was born in the cabin next to the house she eventually grew up in.
In the 1962 movie, The Miracle Worker, Patty Duke and Anne Bancroft recreate the struggles Annie Sullivan had in trying to figure out how to educate Helen. This is a pantographic photo I took of the bedroom Helen and Annie shared and where much of Helen's education took place. Helen ultimately attended Radcliffe College and became the first deaf blind person in the United States to earn a Bachelor of Arts Degree.
The majority of items in the house are original, including these dresses worn by Helen.
The last stop was to the W. C. Handy home and museum. I really didn't know much about Handy, but as it turns out I was familiar with his music.
Handy referred to himself as The Father of the Blues. While he didn't create the blues genre, he was the first to publish music in the blues form, thereby taking the blues from a regional music style (Delta Blues) with a limited audience to a new level of popularity.
One song Handy did write was The Saint Louis Blues, later recorded by Lena Horne, Bing Crosby and featured in the movie The Glenn Miller Story staring Jimmy Stewart.
The Handy Museum features a lot of his personal items, awards, letters from US Presidents and his instruments. One of the items I enjoyed seeing was a copy of George Gershwin's Rhapsody In Blue with a note at the top written by Gershwin that said Handy's early blues songs are the forefathers of this work.
Although not a part of our planned tour for today, we went to the 306 Barbeque Restaurant in Florence and found we were there during the Florence First Friday celebration. I took this photo of Denise in a chair called Goliath which is supposed to encourage patrons to "Shop Small".
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