What a fascinating documentary!
I lived in Georgia for the first 18 years of my life and have been back there at least twice a year since, yet I never knew about this place, four hours from home.
Aretha Franklin, Etta James, Percy Sledge, the Allman Brothers, the Rolling Stones--these are just a few of the musicians who got their start or played in the town of Muscle Shoals, Alabama. There's something soulful and magical about this place, something "you can feel even if you're blind," one said.
Ironic, that comment--because it's also the home of Helen Keller!
The photography captures the landscape I know so well--the red dirt and kudzu, the rivers and streams and view of mountains.
Even during the years of racial segregation and George Wallace saying "Segregation Forever!" and signs saying "Keep Alabama White," there was no segregation among the musicians of Muscle Shoals, Alabama. "When you're working on the common thing, it don't matter what color the skin is," one said.
I'll definitely route my October road trip to go through Muscle Shoals.
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