Still Dixie and Still Beautiful!

Sheffield, AL

Crossroads seem to come and go when you’re mobile to your next destination. We took a brief detour from AL-72 recently as we were visiting family in Tennessee and Mississippi. We rolled into Sheffield, AL and the Historic Muscle Shoals Studio. I felt like I had traveled back in time and was blown away by the history of music that was born in this 21’ x 58’ room. The 45-minute guided tour is $20 per person and you can take all the photos you want, NO video. The variety of genres of music recorded here is as amazing as the list of musicians! CHER, Rod Stewart, Aretha Franklin, The Rolling Stones, Linda Ronstadt and Bob Seger to name a few. Lynyrd Skynyrd nicknamed the studio band known as The Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, The Swampers in their hit Sweet Home Alabama. A lot has changed since then in the South but it’s Still Dixie and Still beautiful!

The Swampers, Barry Beckett, Roger Hawkins, David Hood, Jimmy Johnson, with Cher and Sonny Bono, Jerry Wexler (Atlantic Records).

https://muscleshoalssoundstudio.org/

The small cinderblock studio is about 21’x 55′ with orange shag carpet and the walls and ceiling wrapped in burlap to keep the sound from bouncing off the walls. The white Styrofoam forms came from the local electric company. The forms were used in the packing of electric meters.

Was the building Magic?

In 1969 the Rolling Stones interrupted their tour after the Altamont incident. https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidchiu/2019/12/03/altamont-at-50-the-disastrous-concert-that-brought-the-60s-to-a-crashing-halt/?sh=5d9127c91941. Without permits to record in the USA, they escaped to Sheffield, Alabama and the Muscle Shoals Sound Studio that was becoming well known for recent hits, like Mustang Sally by Wilson Pickett (1965), Respect by Aretha Franklin (1967) and When A Man Loves A Woman by local hospital orderly Percy Sledge (1966).

Jerry Wexler and Aretha Franklin

The Stones stayed three days at the Holiday Inn and in the studio, secretly recorded Brown Sugar, Wild Horses and You Gotta Move. All three produced by Swampers guitarist turned engineer Jimmy Johnson (Cher, Linda Ronstadt, Paul Simon, Joe Cocker, Eric Clapton, Rod Stewart, Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan).

Invoice for Wild Horses

“We went to Alabama and played at the Muscle Shoals studio. That was a fantastic week. We cut some great tracks…” You Gotta Move”,” Brown Sugar”, “Wild Horses.” The Muscle Shoals studio was very special…where drums were on a riser high up in the air. I placed my drums in the place where Ronnie Hawkins used to have his drum kit –CHARLIE WATTS

Lynyrd Skynyrd recorded all the songs for “Skynyrd’s First and Last” (recorded 1971-1972, released 1978) at Muscle Shoals. Many attempts to finalize “Freebird”, the greatest rock song ever written, were made but the introduction remained unsolved. At one session, while the band was at lunch, the roadie Billy Powell sat down at the Yamaha piano and developed the intro, then played it when the band returned. Their collective jaws hit the floor; it was completed! As a nine-minute song, the record label dismissed it as they said no radio station would play the song. Requests by the label to “cut” the songs length were met with a resounding “never!”

On this Yamaha, Billy Powell worked out the intro to “Free Bird”.

The studio closed in the late 1970’s when the Swampers moved to a larger, more modern studio on Alabama Ave. Today the studio can still be rented for recording and serves as a museum of the history of the magic that happened here. There are several famous recording studios in the Sheffield Alabama area to visit and you’ll find an encyclopedia of Who’s Who in the music world that have recorded here. See the Muscle Shoals Documentary https://youtu.be/FNGtfpim0OM.

Linda Ronstadt

Bob Seger’s, Stranger In Town

While you are in the area check out The Alabama Music Hall of Fame and let us know if we need to stop there next time! https://www.alamhof.org/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=maps&utm_campaign=gmb.

We have not stayed in our RV in the area but here are a few links to well rated local RV Parks.

https://heritageacresrvpark.com/

Tuscumbia RV Park

https://www.florencealrvpark.com/

South Pittsburg, TN

One sweet little town we visit every year multiple times is South Pittsburg. Here you will find The Lodge Cast Iron Foundry and the home of The National Cornbread Festival. Lodge Cast Iron is the oldest (1896) cast iron manufacturer in the country. I think they make everything possible, for cooking, out of cast iron. Originally called Blacklock, the focus was on clothing irons, sinks, tea kettles and cast-iron cookware. They use the process of Sand Molding (680 B.C.) with a furnace at 2,000 degrees F. See the process! See the variety of products! https://www.lodgecastiron.com/.

They have a great store with not only cast iron but jams, jellies, sauces and GRITS! can visit the adjacent museum with the history of the foundry and there is a recent addition, Big Bad Breakfast! https://bigbadbreakfast.com/locations/south-pittsburg-tn/.

Cornbread!

Remember, you can take a foundry tour during the National Cornbread Festival. https://nationalcornbread.com/. You can have a great weekend and more in South Pittsburg at the festival, but you must plan early. Thousands of people will visit, compete, eat and enjoy the live music and fair. There are a few hotels and a few RV Parks nearby including Marion County Park and Raccoon Mountain RV. This website will tell you about a lot of the great things to do in the beautiful outdoors! https://marioncountytn.net/outdoors. We’ve stayed at the county park. They have 30/50 amp with water and a dump station. Make reservations with them online or call (423) 942-6653. We visited Raccoon Mountain and Caverns East of Jasper. We were late to do the cave tour, but it looked like a great time. https://www.raccoonmountain.com/.

Get Loaded at the Cornbread Festival!

For First Timers, we want to make sure you have your A Game ready as this festival is not to be mistaken as any local or regional Cornbread Festival. This IS THE NATIONAL!

It’s a weeklong festival filled with Food and Fun for folks of all ages! You will start off by getting in shape with the 5K Run Walk. It’s all downhill after that as you dig into the Pancake Breakfast. Then the real fun begins with a Cornbread Eating Contest, wash it down at the Buttermilk Chugging Contest, then park yourself in front of Iron Skillet Cooking, Baking, Grilling, Cornbread Mixing and Seasoning Demonstrations!

Next, get yourself a big Sweet Tea and stake a stroll down Main St. USA to see the shops and the street full of Arts and Crafts. Every day is filled with live music from 15-20 performers over the length of the festival.

Be sure to check the schedule closely as you would hate to miss the Miss National Cornbread Contest Pageant. This spectacular event is typically held the month prior, in March.

More Fun

Bridgeport, AL

We like to hike a lot and there’s a really neat short walk nearby in Bridgeport, AL, just 15 minutes from downtown South Pittsburg. You can walk the old railway bridge across part of Guntersville Lake and visit the Bridgeport Train Depot Museum.

Russell Cave

It’s a great short hike to a fascinating finish. Dress cool in warm weather as there are some steeps so it’s rated, by me, easy to moderately strenuous.

https://www.nps.gov/ruca/index.htm

Adventure Off-Road Park

You’re a novice 4WD enthusiast like us or a serious off-roader with 50’s? You want to chase the $20,000.00 Bounty? You can participate or watch racing in South Pittsburg at AOR Park!

https://www.adventureoffroadpark.com/

Stevarinos Italian Eatery

Our favorite restaurant in the area. If you’ve camped with us and we didn’t take you to Stevarinos, guess what? They’ve got delicious Italian, Great Pizza and Massive Calzones!