Muscle Shoals music is back in the news as two young duos
grab everybody’s attention. You know that in the 1960s and ’70s, my town of Muscle Shoals was famous for its Southern-gritty rock-‘n’-roll sound, with dozens of hits coming from local recording studios. (You still hear stories about what happened with the Stones came to town.) Today, the Shoals is claiming some of its own young people as performers-to-watch … watch take off into meteoric success, that is. Such as The Secret Sisters, siblings Laura and Lydia Rogers, who are making waves as a 1950s-style new-age country-music duo. Their debut album, released this past fall, was produced by T-Bone Burnett. They’re touring and opening for folks such as Willie Nelson and Loretta Lynn all over the country. Do not miss them if they come to your town. And don’t miss The Civil Wars, either. The duo of John Paul White, of the Shoals area, and Joy Williams, from California, is releasing its first full-length album this week. Known for a funky blend of Appalachian-folk and gospel and rock, Civil Wars first took off this past year when its “Poison and Wine” was featured on an episode of “Grey’s Anatomy.” Since then, they’ve been on Jay Leno, have collected accolades by the ton and are embarking on a nationwide tour with many venues already sold out. Give these two a listen and you’ll be able to say you knew them when.
Hey Cathy,
Thanks. I’m glad someone such as yourself who has a deep appreciation of the value our area has to offer is working to promote gems like the TV Art Museum and Ritz Theater. I was born in and grew uop in Tuscumbia. Like so very many young people, I moved away to a big city and bigger waters after college. Now, like so many not-so-young-anymore people,I’ve come home to care for parents who once cared for me and reconnect with my home which never left me no matter how far I roamed. I cannot express how very important this area is for me and those like me and how proud we are to be a part of this place. I came to your site as a result of listening to my old cassette tape of the soundtrack to the movie “The Commitments” about an Irish soul band (1991) and, upon remembering that over half the famous songs covered on the track were cut in Muscle Shoals, did a search on the MUscle Shoals Sound. I guess google is pretty cool after all. Anyway, thanks. Like the song says, all of us in the Shoals are “just a link in the chain”.