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face the music

The birthplace of rock and roll, blues, jazz, and so much more, the U.S.'s Deep South is a place where everyone can find their rhythm says Lynn Houghton

face the music

The birthplace of rock and roll, blues, jazz, and so much more, the U.S.'s Deep South is a place where everyone can find their rhythm says Lynn Houghton

This is a feature from Issue 8 of Charitable Traveller. Click to read more from this issue.

A few years ago I was travelling along the Mississippi River and I attended an African American Baptist church service in Helena, Arkansas. The choir has assembled at what seemed like an ungodly hour to sing for us; worship duly started, and the music began. The sound produced was like a wall of solid concrete, powerful beyond description and overwhelming. I was mesmerised and craved more.
Gospel is just one type of music that developed near the Mississippi River, the great connector for goods, people, and ideas. Music travelled up and down this vast waterway, that slices the country in two, and jazz was one of the first to set afloat. 

Jazz showed up in the late 19th century after fermenting in the brothels of New Orleans; migrated on steam paddle-boats and ended up in Chicago. Musicians used whatever was available to play this  and other styles: military band brass instruments, harmonicas, West African akonting and xalam (precursors to banjos), Spanish acoustic guitars and, of course, pianos.
Tunes travelled upriver, but also moved inland, incorporating the singing on plantations. Those working the cotton fields sang a’cappella in an ancient musical form known as the call and response. Their expression came from the depths of bondage and tragedy yet it simultaneously expressed religious fervour and hope. It became known as the blues.
The Deep South’s cities and towns are all steeped in rich musical tradition, places where you can’t fail to listen to something which stirs your soul or makes you sway. But some places are just magic for music.

Above a drugstore in 1950s Florence, Alabama, the slow pace of life, humidity, and the sweet smell of camellias formed the backdrop for the birth of a unique sound

MUSCLE SHOALS, ALABAMA

There is a cluster of small towns on the Tennessee River in northern Alabama that have made a big name for themselves in the music industry. The Muscle Shoals Sound Studio at 3614 Jackson Hwy technically lies in Sheffield rather than Muscle Shoals and is a legendary place where acts such as the Staple Sisters and Linda Ronstadt sang and recorded. Its most famous output is the four tracks the Rolling Stones laid down in 1971 for their album Sticky Fingers. It was the efforts of back-up band The Swampers: Barry Beckett, Jimmy Johnson, David Hood, and Roger Hawkins, that put this breakaway studio on the map and they were soon producing the likes of Bob Seger, Paul Simons, Lynrd Skynrd, and George Michael. 

However, all this has its origins above a humble drugstore in the town of Florence in the 1950s. The slow pace of life, humidity, and the sweet smell of camellias formed the backdrop for the birth of a distinctive and unique sound. The success of the upstart recording studio here, known as FAME, was likely because of the drive and ambition of musician and entrepreneur, Rick Hall. After early success in writing Achin’ Breakin’ Heart for George Jones, he turned his hand to producing. Mentoring from his friend and Florence native Sam Phillips, who was credited with discovering Elvis, is considered key to his success.
Hall found an old tobacco warehouse to move FAME to and worked tirelessly getting the right sound. this meant laying tile instead of carpet to give the microphones a brighter tone and using burlap to create baffles which minimised reverberation. The first recording here was You Better Move On by Arthur Alexander in 1961. After some time artists like Aretha Franklin showed up and Never Loved A Man Like I Loved You was released, while Clarence Cartr sang Snatch It Back. In the 1980s, Hall also produced country hits for the Osmonds and Mac Davis.
Today you can find out more about the Father of the Muscle Shoals sound and other local legends in the Alabama Music Hall of Fame, visit the aforementioned studios and see the birthplace of W.C. Handy, dubbed the father of the blues, all in the Shoals area of Alabama.

NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE

The amount of music being written and produced in Nashville is, quite simply, astonishing. It includes country, blues, rhythm n’ blues, rockabilly, and rock n’ roll. In the recent past the city languished behind Memphis in population and music production but that’s all changed now with Nashville’s live music output, recording studios, artist roster, and auditoriums increasing every year. The lively venues along Honky Tonk Row pump out live music from 10am to 3am every day of the week, making it the perfect location for music lovers. But there’s more, including museums celebrating popular music of every stripe. The latest to open is the National Museum of African American Music on Broadway, near the old Ryman Auditorium (or Grand Ole Opry as it’s still known by many). Starting with the history of slavery, it follows the development of African American music through to now with interactive displays. Visitors use wrist tags to download songs which they can then add to their own Spotify accounts.

There’s also the vast Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, featuring artists as diverse as Bob Dylan, Roy Rogers, Ray Charles, and Emmylou Harris. At 32,500 square metres, it is the world’s largest repository of country  music artefacts. In addition to the galleries, the museum owns the historic RCA Studio B on Music Row, where Elvis Presley, Dolly Parton, and many other stars recorded.
Another new venue is the Gibson Garage in the Gulch Neighbourhood. Akin to an adult theme park for guitars, there is not only a vast selection of shiny Gibson and Epiphone guitars, but an enormous array of accessories and exhibits. One room is dedicated to acoustic guitars but also has ukuleles and early harp guitar hybrids. For a significant sum of money you can have a custom-made Gibson guitar created, choosing everything from the body to the strings.

City of mega-artists and hits, lit up with neon signs, Memphis retains much of the energy that would have exuded from its juke joints over a century ago

MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE

Beale Street in Memphis still has many of its original 19th Century buildings, including the elegant Peabody Hotel built in 1869. This city of mega-artists and hits, lit up with neon signs and billboards, retains much of the energy that would have exuded from its juke joints, booming nightclubs, and bars over a century ago.
Back then it was unique for having black businesses and clubs frequented by white and African American revellers. By the 1920s and up to the 1940s, with the arrival of artists such as Muddy Waters, W.C. Handy, B.B. King and Louis Armstrong, it gained the moniker Blues City and was the centre of the universe as far as popular music was concerned.

Just around the corner on Union Street, the hugely successful Sun Studio started life in 1950 and still has the microphone that Elvis used for recording downstairs. Set up and run by Sam Phillips of Muscle Shoals, it’s where Presley was discovered. With Sam away on business, an 18-year-old Elvis came to sing for his secretary, Marion Keisker. At her insistence, the owner signed him immediately. Not long after the Million Dollar Quartet jam session took place, with Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and the King being secretly recorded by Phillips. Since it’s glory days, Sun records has been through many incarnations, including being a laundry, but little has changed and the original recording booth is intact.
Presley’s sprawling country manor, Graceland, continues to draw tourists and is a pilgrimage for fans of the performer and movie star. His media room, which had three channels of news playing at all times is decorated in white leather with yellow and black accessories. His family are all buried here, made more poignant by the fact that Elvis died so young.

CLARKSDALE, MISSISSIPPI

At the intersection of Highway 61 and 49 just outside Clarksdale, folklore claims that Robert Johnson sold his soul to the devil in exchange for learning to play blues guitar – at least that’s what some folks believe. Through the outskirts of downtown runs the Sunflower River, which skirts around the town’s police department and some dilapidated buildings It might have a gritty appearance, but this town has kept an authentic vibe.
In the early 20th century, what was happening over on the Stovall Plantation only a few miles from the crossroads was a much more interesting proposition than what Satan offered. ‘Ole Man Stovall’ liked his music and would hire locals to provide entertainment at shindigs. 

One of those musicians was Muddy Waters, immortalised in Clarkdale’s Delta Blues Museum. Muddy Waters – or McKinley Morganfield – became such a sensation in Chicago with songs such as Hoochie Coochie Man. He went on to influence the formation of rock n’ roll and star such as the Rolling Stones were huge fans.
Another massive artist from the area was B.B. King. Born in Indianola, where there is a museum dedicated to him, he became a stalwart of the chitlin’ circuit of segregated venues and cafés for African Americans of the south. King would take Lucille, his black Gibson guitar, with him wherever he performed. In 1980 Gibson produced a B.B. King model which anyone could purchase.
If you want to get a sense of the not so distant past, stroll on over to Red’s Juke Joint on the other side of the railroad tracks from Morgan Freeman’s nightclub Ground Zero. It’s a bit rundown but the atmosphere is electric. And if you’re lucky you might get to catch contemporary local artist Lucius Spiller playing his guitar.

Help Musicians

This UK charity is dedicated to supporting professional musicians at times of crisis, providing health and welfare services and creative funding throughout their careers.
helpmusicians.org.uk

This is a feature from Issue 8 of Charitable Traveller. Click to read more from this issue.