Public Library; Leighton; Colbert County; Alabama
The Leighton Public Library is located at 8740 Main Street in Leighton, Colbert County, just off Old Hwy 20. If heading east from Muscle Shoals on Hwy 72, turn left on County Line Road which turns into Leighton's Main Street. Besides 6,300 books, the library lends DVD's and has available fax and copy machines as well as free wifi. It is open Tuesday – Friday from 1:45 pm – 5 pm and Saturday from 11 am – 2 pm. It is closed on Sundays and Mondays.
Jacob Grandstaff, University of North Alabama
“Leighton Public Library,” leightonpubliclibrary.com, Accessed November 16, 2015, http://leightonpubliclibrary.com/index.html. “Leighton Public Library,” libraries.org: A directory of libraries throughout the world, March 6, 2015, Accessed November 16, 2015, http://librarytechnology.org/libraries/library.pl?id=6642.
Public Libraries; Muscle Shoals; Colbert County; Alabama
The Muscle Shoals Public Library is located at 1918 East Avalon Avenue in Muscle Shoals, Colbert County, next to Muscle Shoals High School. It contains approximately 52,000 volumes and offers DVD's, audiobooks, computers, and free wifi to the public. It also offers a homebound delivery service free of charge. It is open Mondays 1 p.m. – 5 p.m., Tuesdays and Thursdays 10 a.m. – 7 p.m. Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., and is closed on Sundays.
“Muscle Shoals Public Library,” libraries.org: A directory of libraries throughout the world, March 6, 2015, Accessed November 16, 2015, http://librarytechnology.org/libraries/library.pl?id=4642. Image provided by: http://helenkellerhealth.com/the-shoals/muscle-shoals/ “Muscle Shoals Public Library,” http://www1.youseemore.com/muscleshoals/contentpages.asp?loc=35, Accessed November 16, 2015
Public Libraries; Sheffield; Colbert County; Alabama
The Sheffield Public Library is one of five public libraries in Colbert County. It is located at 316 N. Montgomery Ave. From Hwy 72 in Muscle Shoals, take E 2nd St. until N Montgomery Ave, then go north. The library is on the corner of N Montgomery Ave. and 4th St. It is open Monday – Friday 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. In 1890, a group of women came together and lended books out of their own personal collections. In 1919, the library found a home in the Red Cross building on the corner of 5th St. and Montgomery Ave. In 1948, the city of Sheffield let the library use the municipal building. That same year, the Friends of the Sheffield Library formed in 1948 as a non-profit corporation with the purpose of providing the library with its own building and to encourage the use of the library by the public. This organization purchased a building on the corner of 5th St. and Nashville Ave. and donated it to the city of Sheffield as a public library in 1963. In 1974, the library moved to a larger building. The Friends purchased the building next to the library in 1983. This building has since been turned into a conference room and local history room.
“Sheffield Public Library,” Accessed November 16, 2015, http://www1.youseemore.com/sheffieldpl/default.asp.
Colbert County; Alabama; Tuscumbia; Museums; Muscle Shoals Sound; FAME Studios; Muscle Shoals Sound Studio; Blues; Country; Rock n Roll; R & B; Music Hall of Fame; Clarence Carter; Percy Sledge; Wilson Pickett; Aretha Franklin; The Rolling Stones; Paul Simon; Bobby Womack; Mary MacGregor
The Alabama Music Hall of Fame, located off Hwy 72 in Colbert County, on the outskirts of Tuscumbia is the hall of fame that honors Alabamians who have made major contributions to American music. Over the years, it has provided an educational experience in which thousands of tourists, historians, school children, and music fans have toured to learn of the many contributions Alabamians have made to music. These accomplishments are not limited to any particular genre, nor are only musicians honored. Alabamian performers, songwriters, managers, and publishers all receive due recognition for their contributions. The accomplishments of successful individuals from Alabama in the music industry are recognized by the Hall of Fame through inductions, exhibits illustrating those accomplishments, and a walk of fame that includes permanent bronze stars for all inductees. Its location in the area known as The Shoals is no accident. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, the neighboring town of Muscle Shoals became nationally famous for its two recording studios, FAME and the Muscle Shoals Sound Studios where artists such as Percy Sledge, Wilson Pickett, Aretha Franklin, The Rolling Stones, and Paul Simon recorded many of their hits. A unique “Muscle Shoals Sound” developed over these years which according to blues singer Clarence Carter was “a blend of country, gospel and R & B.” By the mid 70s, the Shoals was home to eight stuidios. In the 1980s, the Muscle Shoals Music Association, a local professional organization of music professionals and the state legislature, under the leadership of state Sen. Bobby Denton, formed the Alabama Music Hall of Fame Board with a mandate to honor Alabama’s famous music achievers and to construct a venue in which to display the accomplishments of these talented individuals. In 1987, citizens of Alabama passed a state-wide referendum which authorized the construction of Phase One of the construction of a 12,500-square foot exhibit facility. More than 35,000 music enthusiasts attended the Alabama Music Hall of Fame's Grand Opening in 1990 which included performances by some of the state's most talented musicians. The Alabama Hall of Fame is open Tuesday – Friday 9 a.m. - 5:00 a.m. Directions and Admission: http://www.alamhof.org/visit/hours-and-rates/ Alabama Hall of Fame List of Inductees: http://www.alamhof.org/inductees/inductees/inductees-2/
“Alabama Music Hall of Fame,” 2015, Accessed November 17, 2015, http://www.alamhof.org/about/. Elliot, Debbie. “The Legendary Muscle Shoals Sound: Alabama Studios Rolled Out Big Hits of '60s and '70s,” NPR, September 20, 2003, Accessed November 17, 2015, http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1437161.
Tuscumbia; Colbert County; Alabama; Andrew Jackson; Old Jackson Highway; Stagecoach Stop
The Coldwater Stagecoach Stop is located 302 South Dickson St. in Tuscumbia. It was built as early as 1815 as a small log cabin. It served as a stagecoach stop on the Jackson Military Road and is believed to be one of several cabins operated as a hotel by Michael Dickson, the first white settler to Tuscumbia.
“Natchez Trace Parkway,” Accessed November 17, 2015, http://www.scenictrace.com/coldwater-stagecoach-stop/
Muscle Shoals Sound; Sheffield; Tennessee River; Colbert County; Alabama; James Brown; Joan Baez; Jimmy Buffet; Bob Dylan; The Oak Ridge Boys; Julian Lennon; Melissa Etheridge; Little Milton
Cypress Moon Studio is located at 1000 Alabama Avenue in Sheffield. The studio overlooks the Tennessee River. There is parking with picnic tables right across from the studio by the river. The Muscle Shoals Sound Studio moved from its original location at 3614 Jackson Highway in Sheffield to this building in 1978. The building belonged formerly to the Naval Reserve before the Muscle Shoals Sound Studio converted it into a multi-studio complex. Many of the most important recording artists of the era created their gold and platinum records here, including James Brown, Joan Baez, Jimmy Buffet, Bob Dylan, The Oak Ridge Boys, Julian Lennon, Melissa Etheridge and Little Milton. The building now houses a film production company, but the historic recording studio is still in use.
"Cypress Moon Studio," Natchez Trace Parkway, http://www.scenictrace.com/cypress-moon-studio/.
Colbert County Reporter / Standard & Times
Historic Newspapers; Historic Businesses; Commercial Row,;Tuscumbia; Colbert County, Alabama; Standard and Times; Colbert County Reporter; Tuscumbia Historic District
The Standard & Times was founded in 1829. The building still stands at 106 W 5th Street as part of the original seven buildings that comprised the historic Commercial Row where it continues to serve as a newspaper office for the Colbert County Reporter. The original printing press of the Standard and Times still sits in the back of the Colbert County Reporter, along with other vintage printing equipment (see photos).
Historic Businesses; Seed Store; Tuscumbia; Colbert County, Alabama
According to the current owner of Coldwater Seed and Supply, it is one of the oldest, continually-operating seed stores in Alabama. It was founded in 1930.
Historic Businesses; Sheffield; Colbert County; Alabama, Hardware; Historic Buildings
Sheffield Hardware is located directly across from the Sheffield Library at 309 North Montgomery Avenue. The building was built in 1896 and became the original Sheffield Hardware in 1898. In the 1930's, the building became McClellan's Five and Dime Store until the 70's. It was largely unoccupied except for storage until the owners of the new Sheffield Hardware renovated the building in 2014. The historic building opened once again for business in 2015.
Conversation with store manager, December 5, 2015
Hisotoric Buildings; Historic Business; Commercial Row; Tuscumbia; Colbert County; Alabama; Women's Clothing Store
The building that now houses Audie Mescal Womens Clothing is one of the oldest commercial buildings in Colbert County, belonging to the original seven buildings that made Commercial Row in the 1830s. It was in this building that Helen Keller's father, Arthur H. Keller edited his newspaper, "The North Alabamian."
Colbert County Tourism, December 4, 2015.
Historic Businesses; Historic Restaurants; Fifties Diner; Sheffield; Tuscumbia; Colbert County; Alabama
Southland, located at 1309 S. Jackson Highway in Sheffield was founded in 1950 primarily as a BBQ place and evolved over the years to offer a more diversified menu. In 2012, the building that housed Southland was bought by Steve Gaskins who now owns and operates Stephano's. However, the original Southland sign still remains. Stephano's offers a wide variety of dishes and combinations, ranging from popular Italian dishes, to local favorites like BBQ and freshly-made desserts. Stephano's has kept many of the same dishes and combinations from Southland's menu.
North Alabama Abstract & Guaranty Company
Historic Buildings; Businesses; Tuscumbia Historic District; Downtown Tuscumbia; Clark House; Colbert County; Colbert County Courthouse; Alabama
The building that currently houses the North Alabama Abstract is known as the Clark Building. It is a part of the Colbert County Courthouse Square Historic District. The district is part of the National Register of Historic Places. This brick building was built in 1926. The photo of the old smokehouse is taken from behind the building.
"Colbert County Courthouse Square Historic District," Accessed December 7, 2015, http://www.digplanet.com/wiki/Colbert_County_Courthouse_Square_Historic_District.
2005.36.399: James W. Watts to Lou Young, 1860 May 13
1860; Waco; Texas; Lou Young; James W. Watts; Sister; Friend; Lucy; Sally; School; Education; Drought; gentleman
Describe the letter in detail here . . . .
P.M.B. Young Collection, Bartow History Museum
2005.36.407: James W. Watts to Tom, 1858 September 21
A very short letter, in response to one from Tom. Watts said he agreed with the plan for the perez (?) as all parties agreed. One handwritten page.
2005.36.122: Jeannie to Louisa Young, 22 May 1859
1859; Charleston; South Carolina; Jeannie; Calhoun family; Family; Emotions; Sickness; Homesickness; Social Relations; Entertainment
This letter expresses pain and disappointment related to the “very long time” since receiving a letter. Jeannie compares the love to a son to her love for Louisa. The letter also discusses the social life of Charleston, South Carolina.
During the 1960s and 1970s the music industry in the Shoals earned national recognition through the success of FAME Recording Studio and Muscle Shoals Sound Studio. Musicians such as Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones, Aretha Franklin, and Percy Sledge have all recorded hit songs at a Shoals recording studio. However, neither studio was the first official studio nor the first recording company in the Shoals. In fact, the first recording company in the Shoals, Tune Records, operated out of the back room of a bus station in Florence, Alabama. James Joiner, whose dad started a Florence-based charter bus company in 1939, wanted to expose the rich musical talent in the Shoals. So, with Kelson Hurtson, Walter Stovall, and Marvin Wilson, Joiner formed Tune Records and Publishing Company during the 1950s. Tune Records was the “first full-fledged record company in Alabama.” Using local radio stations, such as WLAY, to record songs, the company’s first regional hit, “A Fallen Star,” came in 1957. Joiner wrote “A Fallen Star” after watching a shooting star across the night sky, and relied on Bobby Denton’s vocals to do bring the song to life. As a result of the song’s success, musicians across the north region of Alabama traveled to Florence in order to sing for Tune Records. One teenager who cut songs with Joiner’s company was Rick Hall, who would later become Alabama’s most successful music producer at FAME Recording Studios. Due to the inability to produce another regionally successful hit, Tune Records closed down by 1960.
Jesse Brock, University of North Alabama
Text: Greg Carmalier, Muscle Shoals: The Incredible True Story of a Small Town with a Big Sound, DVD, Magnolia Home Entertainment, 2014. Christopher S. Fuqua, Music Fell on Alabama (Huntsville: Honeysuckle Imprint, 1991), 8.
On the first Friday of each month from March through December, Florence residents come together at historic downtown Florence to celebrate the town’s rich culture in the arts. The scene is a festive atmosphere and the admission is free. Streets are closed for vehicle transportations while the sidewalks and street corners are occupied by pedestrian traffic, booths, and music stages. Florence citizens and local businesses and organizations set up booths in order to sell photography, paintings, ceramics, foodstuff, and other artistic matters. On this night, many downtown stores and restaurants stay open after hours for in order to provide business and browsing. Stages are set up for local bands to perform to a mixed crowd of recognizable and new faces. The city of Florence has put on this event since 2005. Numerous organizations and departments had to agree in order to establish the First Friday festival. Downtown Florence Unlimited, which comprises of retail and service businesses, educational institutions, and non-profit organizations, collaborated with the City of Florence, Florence Main Street Program, the University of North Alabama, and the Florence/Lauderdale Tourism Department for the event to take off. Two partner organizations associated with Florence First Fridays are The Kiwanis Club and the Kennedy-Douglas Center for the Arts.
Text: “First Fridays Art Event in Downtown Florence,” Explore the Shoals, 2008-2009, 140. Downtown Florence Unlimited, “Partner Organizations,” Florence First Fridays, http://www.firstfridaysflorence.org/partners.html (accessed May 1, 2015). Images: “October First Friday in Florence,” Times Daily, http://www.timesdaily.com/collection_1a88741a-2d58-11e3-9a28-001a4bcf6878.html (accessed May 1, 2014).
Festival; Theatre; Film; University of North Alabama; Arts; Florence, AL
George Smith Lindsey attended Florence State Teachers College (now present day University of North Alabama) during the late 1940s. At Florence State Lindsey excelled both on the football field and in the theatre. One of the theatrical plays in which Lindsey performed was Oklahoma!. After graduating in 1952, Lindsey attended the prestigious New York theatre school—the American Theatre Wing—in the late 1950s. Shortly thereafter, in 1962 he signed a contract with the William Morris Agency and got roles on numerous television shows such as “Twilight Zone” and “The Alfred Hitchock Hour.” Following these minor roles, he earned the infamous role as Goober Pyle on “The Andy Griffith Show” for five years during the 1960s. After the cancellation of “The Andy Griffith Show,” Lindsey caused many Americans to laugh with his comedy sketches on the show “Hee Haw” for nearly twenty-years. In order to promote the art of theatre and to highlight talented individuals, George Smith Lindsey along with deceased UNA Communications and Theatre established the competitive George Lindsey Film Festival in 1998. For the past eighteen years, the University of North Alabama has hosted the film festival in the Spring. In March of 2015, the University of North Alabama (UNA) hosted the eighteenth Annual George Lindsey UNA Film Festival. Over three thousand local, national, and international entries were submitted at the 2015 festival, at which only one hundred were chosen to be screened. Awards are given to the first place winner in each category, and a special award is given to the best film made in the state of Alabama. Overall, according to Lindsey the festival strives to “take the energy that is in Hollywood and bring it to north Alabama.”
Text: University of North Alabama, “George Lindsey-Biography, University of North Alabama, https://www.una.edu/library/collections/george-lindsey---biography.html (accessed May 1, 2015). “George Lindsey TV & Film Festival set for April 1998,” in The 1st George Lindsey Television & Film Festival Memorabilia Book, compiled by Lisa Darnell, The George Lindsey Collection, Archives/Special Collections, Collier Library, University of North Alabama, Florence, Alabama. George Lindsey UNA Film Festival, “About the Festival,” Lindsey Film Fest, www.lindseyfilmfest.com (accessed May 1, 2015). “UNA Hosts First Lindsey TV, Film Fest,” in The 1st George Lindsey Television & Film Festival Memorabilia Book, compiled by Lisa Darnell, The George Lindsey Collection, Archives/Special Collections, Collier Library, University of North Alabama, Florence, Alabama. Images: Folder “Alumni: Lindsey, George,” University Collections,Archives/Special Collections, Collier Library, University of North Alabama, Florence, Alabama.
Festival; Music; Arts; Culture; Florence, AL
During the early 2000s, award winning American fashion designer Billy Reid established his flagship store in downtown Florence. In addition to his good taste in fashion, Reid also loves music. He has recognized that the town of Florence and the surrounding area has a rich music culture, both in the past and in the present with up and coming artists. Therefore, in 2008 he organized a weeklong event during the Fall of each year in downtown Florence that celebrated and exposed this unique culture. Local bands play concerts at Wilson Park and vendor booths line the streets selling art, food, and clothing. In all the event is full of “good music, good fashion, good food and good times.”
Text: Bobby Bozeman, “Billy Reid Shindig Introduces Shoals to Out-of-Towners and Vice Versa,” Times Daily, August 14, 2014. Lauren Ferguson and Ashley Williams, “Shindig Features Music, New Billy Reid T-Shirt Line,” The Daily South, August 15, 2014.
Since 1986, the city of Florence has hosted an annual two day festival dedicated to highlighting the local area’s rich art culture known as Arts Alive. Each year, the event has is organized through the hard work and efforts of a volunteer committee. During the event local, regional, and national acclaimed artists set up booths at Wilson Park and the Kennedy Douglas Center for the Arts in downtown Florence.The festival does not focus on one particular style of art. Instead, the festival showcases artworks from various categories—painting, stained glass, jewelry, sculpture, pottery, fiber art, needle work, photography, music, and more. One local artists claimed that the festival is both unique and important for the artist and community because provides the two different spheres an “opportunity to meet and talk.” In addition, the festival stresses the importance of art among the younger generation with the inclusion of a dedicated area for children artwork. Overall, the admission is free and the art is beautiful.
Text: Arts Alive Alabama, “Information,” Arts Alive, www.alabamaartsalive.com/information (accessed May 2, 2015). “Arts are Alive: Annual Festival Returns to Downtown,” Times Daily, May 12, 2014. “This Year The Arts Live,” Courier Journal, April 22, 2015.
Festival; Arts; Culture; University of North Alabama; Florence, AL
One of the world’s oldest spoken art form is storytelling and the Communication Department at the University of North Alabama acknowledges this. Beginning in 2011, UNA communications professor Dr. Bill Huddleston started to offer the course COM 480/580, which focuses on storytelling. Also beginning in 2011, the University of North Alabama and the Alabama Humanities Foundation, a state program of the National Endowment for the Humanities, co-sponsored an annual event known as Front Porch Storytelling Festival. The festival takes place in May on the University of North Alabama’s campus and various places in the city of Florence, such as Wilson Park and McFarland Park. During the festival, national, state, and local orators and musicians provide entertainment. In 2015, the first “Story Slam” took place. The Story Slam is an open competition to high school and middle school students, who share a five minute personal stories from their lives based on a themed subject. The winner of the Story Slam competition receives a five hundred dollar award.
Text: “A Class Act,” in folder “University Events: Front Porch Storytelling Festival,” University Collection, Archives/Special Collections, Collier Library, University of North Alabama, Florence, Alabama. Terry Pace, “Front Porch Storytelling Festival,” The Quad-Cities Daily, May 13, 2013. University of North Alabama, “Story Slam,” UNA Front Porch Storytelling Festival, www.una.edu/storytelling.student-competition-html (accessed May 1, 2015). Images: folder “University Events: Front Porch Storytelling Festival,” University Collection, Archives/Special Collections, Collier Library, University of North Alabama, Florence, Alabama.
Festival; Arts; Culture; St. Florian, AL
The town of Saint Florian, Alabama, has a strong German heritage. It was established in 1872 by a Catholic priest named J. H. Hueser. Hueser, the director of the Homeland Security of Cincinnati, Ohio, purchased over two thousand acres of land in north Alabama, hoping to spread Catholicism into the region. He sold the purchased land for eight dollars per acre to German Catholic families. The German residents established the Saint Michael’s Catholic Church, and the town was named after Mrs. Florian Rasch because she donated the bell for the newly established church. Saint Michael’s Catholic Church also acted as a school. The wife of the first preacher at Saint Michael’s Catholic Church, Annie Merz, taught German classes at the school during the 1870s. In addition to the church, the town had a blacksmith, a boarding house, a post office, a shoe shop, a brick yard, and a cotton gin. Nearly one hundred years after its establishment, on August 18, 1970 the resident’s in St. Florian decided to incorporate the town. Beginning in 2002, the residents in St. Florian celebrated their town’s German heritage with the establishment of the Oktoberfest festival, which takes place during the first weekend in October. The two day festival is located at the St. Florian Community Park. Many attendees wear traditional German clothing, listen to music, drink from the beer garden, and eat German food such as brats and potato balls. The proceeds from the festival goes toward the town’s operating capital for the senior center.
Text: Tennessee Valley Historical Society, “St. Florian,” Journal of Muscle Shoals Vol. X (1983), 143-144. Jill Garrett, “First Catholic Church in County,” in folder “McDonald Collection: Church Information-Vol. 7: Other Denomination-Catholic, Churches 7.2,” Box 37, Bill McDonald Collection, Archives/Special Collections, Collier Library, University of North Alabama, Florence, Alabama. Bobby Bozeman, “St. Florian Celebrates German Heritage with 12th Annual Oktoberfest,” Times Daily, October 2, 2014.
The Florence Main Street Program, a non-profit organization, strives to renovate the downtown sector of Florence, Alabama. One of the organization’s recent projects is the beautiful mural located on the exterior wall of Fred’s Super Dollar store located at 321 North Court St. The project required a two-step process during the years 2013 and 2014 and cost a total of $14,000. Beginning in 2013 Shoals artists Tim Stevenson, Robin Campbell, and Ronnie Riner designed and painted the mural’s panels, which according to Stevenson “captures the quality of life enjoyed in the Shoals.” The mural’s seven panels offers a glimpse into life in the Shoals and represents the rich culture in the region. The first phase of the project consisted of five panels. The first panel depicts the Forks of Cypress, the house of James Jackson. The second panel is of The University of North Alabama. The flowing waters of the Tennessee River are painted on the third panel, while the fourth panel shows a front porch scene. Stevenson designed the first phase’s final panel, which shows a Renaissance woman playing the fiddle, in order to express how “music is the heart beat of the area.” In the following year Stevenson, Campbell, and Riner completed the second phase of the mural, which consisted of two panels. The sixth panel’s design consisted of arrowheads, pottery, and feathers, and acted as an homage to the region’s Native American culture. The last panel shows a man and his dog walking along the water banks. Overall, the mural’s artwork represents five components of Florence—local history, education, music, the Tennessee River, and Native American culture.
Text: Jennifer Edwards, “Muralis Interruptus in Florence,” Times Daily,July 7, 2013.
Theatre; Arts; Culture; Music; Florence, AL
According to Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps, an opera house operated in Florence during the late 1880s and permanently closed its doors during the early twentieth century. Between 1894 and 1905 the venue was known as Turner Opera House. During the years of operation, the opera house had numerous managers, such as John B. McClure. Many national recognized actors and artists, such as the Conklings, Mr. John Thompson, Mr. Rowland D. Williams, and General John B. Gordon, put on dramas, comedies, and musical concerts. In addition, local talent from the Shoals put on shows and events. For example, actors from Florence and Sheffield put on the opera “H. M. S. Pinafore” on January 24, 1896. On regular occasions the proceeds of events went towards local charities, such as the construction of Confederate Monument and City Infirmary.
Text: “Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps,” Florence Lauderdale Public Library, Local History Room Collection, folder “Opera House,” Florence, Alabama. “Opera House. Two Good Attractions for February 22nd, and March 15th,” Florence Herald, February 1, 1984, Florence Lauderdale Public Library, Florence, Alabama, Local History Room Collection, folder “Opera House,” Florence, Alabama. “H. M. S. Pinafore. In the Opera House Friday, January 24th,” Florence Times, January 11, 1896, Florence Lauderdale Public Library, Local History Room Collection, folder “Opera House,” Florence, Alabama. “Gen. Gordon’s Lectures,” Florence Standard-Journal, May 6, 1898, Florence Lauderdale Public Library, Local History Room Collection, folder “Opera House,” Florence, Alabama. Images: Flyer for a 1895 play at the Florence Opera House, Nolen Collection, “Florence area 1880s-1920s: Photos,” Archives/Special Collections, Collier Library, University of North Alabama, Florence, Alabama.
Theatre; Arts; University of North Alabama; Florence, AL
On March 2, 2012, the University of North Alabama (UNA) in Florence, Alabama, conducted a grand ceremony for the George Lindsey Theatre. The university broke ground for the theatre exactly a year earlier in March of 2011. One individual in the crowd during the grand ceremony was George Smith Lindsey, the individual who the theatre was named after. Lindsey attended Florence State Teachers College (now present day University of North Alabama) during the late 1940s. At Florence State Lindsey excelled both on the football field and in the theatre. After graduating in 1952 with a Bachelor Degree in second education and physical education and serving in the Air Force, Lindsey attended the prestigious New York theatre school—the American Theatre Wing—in the late 1950s. Shortly thereafter, he earned the infamous role as Goober Pyle on “The Andy Griffith Show” during the 1960s and later caused many Americans to laugh with his comedy sketches on the show “Hee Haw.” Therefore, the University of North Alabama decided to name the newly constructed theatre after one of its most acclaimed alumnus. The theatre is located on the southwest corner of UNA’s campus on the Irvine Street. In all the theatre consists of over eight thousand square feet and is the “Shoal’s are premier theatre space.” Offices, conference rooms, classrooms, and the Borgnine Performance Hall are in the George Lindsey theatre. The Borgnine Performance Hall is a black box theatre (black walls and flat floor), that provides UNA students with versatile performance space. In addition, the theatre is equipped with state-of-the-art theatrical equipment. The total cost for the construction of the George Lindsey Theatre was two million dollars.
Text: University of North Alabama, “UNA to Host Grand Ceremony for Black Box Theatre March 2,” in folder “University Architecture: Fine Arts Center—George Lindsey/Ernest Borgnine Performance Hall,” University Collection, Archives/Special Collections, Collier Library, University of North Alabama, Florence, Alabama. University of North Alabama, “George Lindsey-Biography, University of North Alabama, https://www.una.edu/library/collections/george-lindsey---biography.html (accessed May 1, 2015). Michelle Rupe Eubanks, “Theater to be Named for George Lindsey,” in folder “University Architecture: Fine Arts Center—George Lindsey/Ernest Borgnine Performance Hall,” University Collection, Archives/Special Collections, Collier Library, University of North Alabama, Florence, Alabama.
Music; Culture; Florence, AL; Muscle Shoals, AL
During the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s (years generally known as the “recording years”), the success of FAME Recording Studio in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, brought national attention to the region. Musicians such as the Swampers, Joe Tex, Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett, The Osmonds, Duane Allman have cut hits at the legendary studio ran by Rick Hall. However, the studio did not originate in Muscle Shoals. Instead, the recording studio was founded in downtown Florence, Alabama, at the intersection of Tennessee St. and Seminary Street. Influenced by the success of the hit song “A Fallen Star” recorded by the Florence recording studio known as Tune Records in 1957, Rick Hall, Billy Sherrill, and Tom Stafford decided to collaborated together and establish the Florence Alabama Music Enterprises, or FAME. The location of the original FAME recording studio was in the second floor suit above the Florence City Drugstore. To make the rooms have the vibe as a recording studio, egg cartons were placed on the walls for soundproofing. During the early years, the recording studio brought in talented local musicians such as Dan Penn. However, Hall believed that he, Sherrill, and Stafford needed to put more hours into recording and producing songs. His intense approach to the music industry did not settle well with his partners. As a result, in 1960 the partnership between the three ended. Hall was given the rights to the FAME name and FAME publishing company and would go on to establish the nationally acknowledged FAME Recording Studio in Muscle Shoals. Stafford continued to operate the studio above the City Drug Store, which became Spar Music Studio. At Spar Music, local musicians such as Donnie Fritts, Spooner Oldham, Jimmy Johnson, David Hood, and Roger Hawkins joined together on daily basis to play music. However, Spar Music Studio did not produce a hit record and closed its doors during the early 1960s. A historical marker is the only symbol left for the birthplace of FAME because the building ceases to exist.
Text: Greg Carmalier, Muscle Shoals: The Incredible True Story of a Small Town with a Big Sound, DVD, Magnolia Home Entertainment, 2014. Christopher S. Fuqua, Music Fell on Alabama (Huntsville: Honeysuckle Imprint, 1991), 14-19.
Between the 1950s and 1980s the success of Shoals recording studios, such as FAME Recording Studio and Muscle Shoals Sound Studio, earned the Shoals region’s music industry national attention. Artists such as Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones, and Aretha Franklin recorded top charting hits at Shoals studios. During the twentieth-first century the Shoals music industry has continued to thrive. One reason for this is due to the success of Single Lock Records in Florence, whose name derives from the Wilson Dam, which at time of construction was the largest single lock dam in the world. Established in 2013 by John Paul White (The Civil Wars), Ben Tanner (Alabama Shakes and The Bear), and Will Trapp (a Shoals native and financial advisor), Single Lock Records is an indie label that focuses on local talent. Bands and musicians that have signed with Single Lock Records are The Bear, Belle Adair, St. Paul & The Broken Bones, Dylan LeBlanc, and Donnie Fritts. The record label uses Sun Drop Studios in Florence and hosts concerts at their small venue located at 116 East Mobile Street, Florence, Alabama.
Text: Greg Carmalier, Muscle Shoals: The Incredible True Story of a Small Town with a Big Sound, DVD, Magnolia Home Entertainment, 2014. Single Lock Records,” Alabama Chanin Journal, May 28, 2013, http://alabamachanin.com/journal/2013/05/single-lock-records/ (accessed May 1, 2015). Single Lock Records, “About Us,” Single Lock Records, http://www.singlelock.com/ (accessed May 1, 2015).
The shape-note notation was an American pedagogical tool designed to increase the music education of the average citizen who did not have the financial resources or time to learn the traditional round note notation. New Englanders William Smith and William Little patented the shape-note notation in 1796 and published The Easy Instructor, the first shape-note tunebook, in 1801. Smith and Little used four geometrical shapes to symbolize individual music notes on the staff instead of the traditional round note heads. Smith and Little’s use of syllables to designate and sing pitches is called solmization. The four-syllable solmization system in The Easy Instructor allotted a right sided triangle to indicate the note fa, an oval symbolized sol, a square was assigned for la, and a diamond represented mi. Smith and Little initially created the system as a response to the widespread musical illiteracy among America’s common folk. The effects of this music illiteracy were most evident in Protestant church services during the eighteenth century, when congregations practiced a singing technique called “lining out.” Lining out, also known as “call and response,” involved a minister singing the words of a song as he saw fit, and the congregation repeating the words and melody. While lining out enabled them to sing, it did not require participants to be literate in music and many believed that it produced poor quality music. For instance, in 1721, music reformer Thomas Walter characterized call and response music as “hideous and disorderly … beyond expression bad … miserably tortured, and twisted, and quavered … a horrid Medley of confused and disorderly Noise.” Not long after The Easy Instructor was published in 1801, other music composers acknowledged the shape-note notation’s pedagogical effectiveness in teaching music literacy. Many composers adopted the rudimental introduction and the system to notate songs. Over thirty-eight four shape-note tunebooks were composed between the years 1801 and 1855, many due to the Second Great Awakening. The Second Great Awakening spawned hundreds of new hymnals. Since camp revivals relied upon communal singing, shape-note tunebooks provided a means for the congregations to participate in hymn singing. Some religious denominations, such as the Primitive Baptists and the Churches of Christ, realized the effectiveness of shape-notes, and, as a result, adopted shape-note notation in worship hymnals for years following the Second Great Awakening. From 1801 to the 1830s, the shape-note system was taught in singing schools established in urban and rural communities in both the North and South. These singing schools, taught by individuals considered to be vocal masters taught the schools, usually lasted from one to two weeks and relied on shape-note tunebooks to teach attendees the fundamentals of music. After the completion of singing school, many pupils went on to establish communal monthly shape-note singing events, normally lasting a few hours during the afternoon. In addition to these monthly meetings, shape-note singers started to organize state wide conventions that met anywhere from two to three days and targeted a wider geographical area than monthly local singings. Overall, these singing schools, communal singings, and conventions during the nineteenth century spread knowledge of shape-notes in American culture. With the popularity of tunebooks and singing schools came new developments. Some shape-note composers believed that Smith and Little’s four-note system could be improved. One Pennsylvania composer, Jesse B. Aikin, believed all seven notes in the music scale should be taught with shape-notes. In 1846, Aikin’s tunebook The Christian Minstrel, continued to use Smith’s and Little’s geometrical shapes for the notes fa, sol, la, and mi; but he implemented new shapes for the notes do, re, and ti. Aikin “used an equiangular triangle for Doe, a wine glass for Ray, and a fan for See.” Three elements played a factor in why the South far more than the North, enthusiastically embraced, shape-notes during the nineteenth century. First, they were linked with the democracy of music itself. Second, during the Second Great Awakening the singing of hymns unified Southern people in revivals. Last, with the demand for tunebooks during the Awakening, tens of thousands of shape-note tunebooks in the South during the nineteenth century. From the end of the Civil War until the turn of the century, Southerners strove to redevelop their culture and identity. Shape-notes were vital elements in both religious and secular settings during this time period in the South. By the late nineteenth century, many Primitive Baptists, Free Will Baptists, and Churches of Christ in the South adopted shape-notes in worship hymnals. Few musical genres in America have escaped the influence of shape-notes, especially in the South. Many southern gospel, country, and bluegrass musicians learned how to read music and gained the ability to harmonize their voice after studying shape-note tunebooks and attending singing schools. The spread of shape-notes as a result of the southern gospel movement greatly influenced both country and bluegrass music. As children, members of the Carter Family, the Delmore Brothers, and the Louvin Brothers, all three considered key innovators of country music during the twentieth century, attended singing school where they sang music from shape-note singing schools. Also at singing schools, the families learned how vocally harmonize with one another, which helped their music become hit records. Also, Bill Monroe, the father of bluegrass music, developed his high pitched singing voice that is considered to be a distinctively bluegrass sound, while attending singing schools as a child in Kentucky. A twenty-first century country duo from the Shoals, the Secret Sisters, personally acknowledged that their vocal harmonies were deeply rooted in the Church of Christ worshiping services from shape-note hymnals. In all, the notation entered into American culture during the nineteenth century and continues to affect both religious and secular music. The shape-note notation is the root of American music and is the first American music innovation to influence Europe’s music culture.
Text: David Taddle. “Solmization, Scale, and Key in Nineteenth-Century Four-Shape Tunebooks: Theory and Practice.” American Music 1 (Spring, 1996). Joyce Irwin,.“The Theology of ‘Regular Singing.” The New England Quarterly 51, no. 2 (June, 1978). Irving Lowens and Allen P. Britton. “’The Easy Instructor’ (1798-1831): A History and Bibliography of the First Shape Note Tune Book.” Journal of Research in Music Education 1, no. 1 (Spring, 1953). The University of Mississippi Music Department, “The Old Way of Singing,” The University of Mississippi, http://home.olemiss.edu/~mudws/oldway.html (accessed on September 9, 2014). Richard Dalzell, “American Shape Notes: Background, Development, Practice and Present Status,” Ph.D. diss., University of Kansas, 1978. The Center for Church Music: Songs and Hymns, “Lowell Mason,” http://www.songsandhymns.org/people/detail/lowell-mason (accessed on November 22, 2014). Marian J. Hatchett. A Companion to the New Harp of Columbia. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 2003. Nathan Hatch.The Democratization of American Christianity. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1989. Neil V. Rosenberg. Bluegrass: A History. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1985. The Secret Sisters, interviewed by Skip Matheny, Nashville, TN, 2012, http://www.americansongwriter.com/2012/09/drinks-with-the-secret-sisters/ (accessed February 3, 2015). George Pullen Jackson, White Spirituals in the Southern Uplands: The Story of the Fasola Folk, Their Songs, Singings, and ‘Buckwheat Notes’. Hatboro, Pennsylvania: Folklore Association, Inc., 1964 Images: George Pullen Jackson, White Spirituals in the Southern Uplands: The Story of the Fasola Folk, Their Songs, Singings, and ‘Buckwheat Notes’ (Hatboro, Pennsylvania: Folklore Association, Inc., 1964): 15. Douglas Harrison, Then Sings My Soul: The Culture of Southern Music (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2012), 5.
The Episcopalian movement in America began in the late 1700’s and spread into northwest Alabama during the 1800s. The oldest Episcopalian parish in the area is Trinity Episcopal Church in Florence, Alabama. In the 1820s the early congregation met at school houses, hotels, and private homes. It was not until the arrival of South Carolina Reverend Thomas Cook in the Shoals did a plan for constructing a church building emerge. Cook helped raise nearly fifteen thousand dollars for the construction of a building. As a result, the first church structure was completed in 1838. This edifice was located on a lot donated by local resident James Jackson, and sat on the corner of College and Cedar Streets in Florence. Seven years later in 1845, the first Bishop of Alabama, Reverend Hamner Cobbs, concentrated Trinity Episcopal Church. Trinity Episcopal Church closed during the Civil War. In fact, all Episcopal churches in the state of Alabama closed during the war by Federal authorities because the ministers were ordered to omit prayer for the President Abraham Lincoln. Nearly thirty years after reopening its doors to the public, in 1893 a fire caused for the church to burn down. One of the few items salvaged was the church’s bell, which is in the present day church’s belfry. Following the fire, Florence resident Mrs. William Hardin gave the congregation a lot of land on the corner of Pine and Tuscaloosa Street downtown Florence. On this land, a new brick structure was completed in 1894. Five years later, Bishop Richard Wilmer consecrated the new church building on June 12, 1898. The brick structure is one of the finest examples of Gothic architecture in Lauderdale County. The building consist of a carved wood altar, chancel furnishings, and beautiful stained glass windows. Some of the renovations include the Parish House’s construction in 1929 and the additions of an education building and a Mullen Hall in 1967.
Text: Oscar D. Lewis, “Trinity Episcopal is One of City’s First,” in folder McDonald Collection: Church Information Collection-Vol. 8: Other Denominations-Episcopal, Churches 8.2,” Bill McDonald Collection, Archives/Special Collections, Collier Library, University of North Alabama, Florence, Alabama. Jill Knight Garrett, A History of Lauderdale County, Alabama, 145-146.
The First Presbyterian Church of Florence is the oldest continually operating congregation in Florence, Alabama. Early Presbyterian settlers of Florence bought land lot 84 from the Cypress Land Company in 1818 for a total of $1,600 and built a wooden structure that acted as the church. During the early years of existence, prominent members of the Florence community claimed to be members of the church. For instance, Ferdinand Sannoner (the town’s land surveyor) and John Coffee (War of 1812 Veteran and a founder of Florence) both financed the construction and were members of the church. In 1824 the congregation replaced the wooden structure with a brick building. This new building consisted of a gallery for slaves and designated pews for children. Also during the early years in Florence, the First Presbyterian Church housed other denominational worships due to the structure being the only church building in town. William Mitchell served as the church’s pastor from 1851 to 1872. One of the most interesting stories of Florence history derives from Mitchell’s actions in First Presbyterian Church during the Civil War. Union troops occupied Florence on numerous occasion during the war, which was the case on July 27, 1862. On this summer day, Rev. Mitchell entered the pulpit and faced a congregation filled with Florence citizens and Union troops. Before his sermon Mitchell prayed for the well-being of the President of the Confederacy, Jefferson Davis, and the success of the Confederate army. After Mitchell’s prayer Col. John Harlan arrested Mitchell and sent the reverend to the Union prison camp in Alton, Illinois, for six months. Mitchell later returned to Florence and continued preaching at First Presbyterian Church. Despite the Civil War and Reconstruction, the First Presbyterian Church never moved from its original location. However, since the 1890s there have been numerous renovations and expansions. The most recent being in 1971 when a three story classroom, an office, and a fellowship hall were added to the church. Today, in addition to proving worship services, the church houses wedding venues and many Florence community organizations use the building as a meeting place.
Text: Carolyn Barske. Images of America: Florence (Charleston: Arcadia Publishing, 2014), 96. Jill Knight Garrett, A History of Lauderdale County, Alabama, 145. Bill McDonald, “Mitchell Best Known for Prayer,” Times Daily, January 4, 2001, in folder “McDonald Collection: Church Iformation Collection-Vol. 8: Other Denominations-Presbyterian, Churches 8.4,” Bill McDonald Collection, Archives/Special Collections, Collier Library, University of North Alabama, Florence, Alabama. First Presbyterian Church, “Our History,” http://www.fpcflorence.org/our-history.html (accessed May 1, 2015).
Wood Avenue Church of Christ is one of the oldest Churches of Christ in Lauderdale County. The Church of Christ denomination emerged out of the American Restoration Movement, a movement to reestablish America’s Christianity on the teachings of the New Testament and lasted from 1801 to 1906. Restoration followers were known as Stoneites and Campbellites, named after the two prominent leaders of the movement, Barton Stone and Alexander Campbell. Congregations set up by followers of Campbell called themselves Disciples of Christ, while those established by Stoneites were called Churches of Christ. The beliefs of the Restoration Movement made their way into the Shoals during the 1820s and 1830s through efforts of Restoration ministers, who ultimately shaped the religious culture in the region. The first two Restoration ministers to enter the Shoals were Ephraim D. Moore and James Evans Matthews. However, the Restoration Movement in the Shoals did not take place without opposition. Baptists and Presbyterians entered the Shoals during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries and did not approve of the activists’ efforts. For example, in 1830 the Muscle Shoals Baptist Association printed a resolution that defined the Restoration Movement as a “divine operation of the Holy Spirit either disavowed or so obscurely avowed, as to amount to disavowal. We see experimental religion ridiculed and reprobated.” In addition to the vocal opposition from various denominations, in his article “History of the Church of Christ in Northwest Alabama, 1866-1880,” Shoals region historian Wayne Kilpatrick argued that the Civil War ultimately hindered the Restoration Movement in the Shoals region. Kilpatrick claimed that many churches in the Shoals, including Restoration congregations, experienced a drop in membership during the war, which Kilpatrick defined as the “silent years” of the Restoration Movement. Nevertheless, following the end of the war, Churches of Christ started to organize. One of the earliest Churches of Christ in Lauderdale County, Popular Street Church of Christ, organized in 1886 and T. B. Larimore (the founder of Mars Hill Bible School) was a congregant. For the first four years, the congregation met in personal homes until a building was built in 1890 on Popular Street in Florence. The church was at this location eighty years, until on March 1, 1970, when the church relocated to the current location on Wood Avenue. After the relocation, the congregation decided to change the name of the church from Popular Street Church of Christ to Wood Avenue Church of Christ. The Gothic designed brick structure that acts as the current church today was designed and built by local master mason, the Putman brothers.
Text: Wayne Kilpatrick, “History of the Church of Christ in Northwest Alabama, 1823-1861,” Journal of Muscle Shoals History Vol. XI (Tennessee Valley Historical Society, 1986): 36. Wayne Kilpatrick, “ History of the Church of Christ in Lauderdale County, 1866-1880,” The Journal of Muscle Shoals History Vol. XI (Tennessee Valley Historical Society, 1986): 67-85.
Goodsprings Cumberland Presbyterian Church
Along with thirty-five members, Reverend Felix Johnson organized Goodsprings Cumberland Presbyterian in Rogersville, Alabama, on September 18, 1839. During its history the church’s congregation has had to deal with two historical events—the Civil War and the Great Depression. During the Civil War, in April of 1861, some members broke off and established a new church in Center Star, Alabama. The members that continued to attend Goodsprings Cumberland Presbyterian rebuilt their church and relocated just north of Huntsville Road. In the 1930s the church had to relocate a second time due to the Tennessee Valley Authority’s construction of Wheeler Dam. One of President Roosevelt’s New Deal alphabetic organization, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) provided electricity to rural Southern regions. However, in order to provide electricity, TVA constructed dams, which caused many people to lose their property. The Goodsprings Cumberland Presbyterian congregation was a victim of this. The congregation decided to sue TVA and according to church minutes records dating February 8, 1937, the congregation won the court case. The minutes reveal that the “suit was decided in our favour and have collected $1350.” The congregation used this money to build the current structure.
Text: The Elgin Book Committee, History of Elgin Crossroads & Nearby (Walden, Tennessee: Waldenhouse, 2003), 294-295. Image: The Elgin Book Committee, History of Elgin Crossroads & Nearby (Walden, Tennessee: Waldenhouse, 2003), 294-295.
First United Methodist Church is one of Florence’s oldest congregations. The congregation’s first meeting took place in a log home on September 8, 1822, and consisted of eight people. The log home was the property of the congregation’s first minister, Reverend John Cox, and was located on West Tuscaloosa Street. Also, worship services were conducted in Florence resident Thomas Farmer’s home. Some of the early charter members of the church were Reverend Cox, his wife Frances, their three children (Thomas, James, and Mary), John Kerr, newspaper editor Dr. Shadrack Nye, and Joseph Paddleford. In 1823 a Methodist circuit rider named Nathaniel R. Jarret was appointed the minister of the congregation. However, it was not until 1826 when the congregation had the funds to build a church building. The first church building, a 24 x 30 foot structure, was built on the intersecting corner of West Tombigbee and Locust Streets. After the congregation required land located on the corner of East Tuscaloosa and North Seminary Streets from the Cypress Land Company in 1827, the congregation placed the church building on logs and rolled it to the new site, where the current church stands today. The first addition to the building came in 1834, when a sanctuary that could hold five hundred people was added. This made the church the largest meeting place in Florence. According to records, there were forty-six total congregation members in 1834. Out of those forty-six, three were colored. The next major renovation to the church took place in the early 1900s. Around 1905, a new brick structure was built on the site, however this burned in a fire in 1920. Two years later the members of the church had erected a new building on top of the ashes. The sanctuary was not completed until 1924, and during those four years the congregation conducted worship services at the old Coffee High School. During the Great Depression the church experienced hardships due to its mortgage. The congregation could not afford to pay the mortgage for the church during the times of financial constraints and the building was on the brink of closing down and being sold off. However, local Jewish entrepreneur and philanthropists Louis Rosenbaum negotiated with the National Bank of New York for a loan and wrote a personal check, which together managed to stop the selling of the church. The church kept its doors open during the Depression years and continues to be a meeting place of worship in Florence. Today, the brick structure includes a seven million dollar expansion that provides ministry to all ages and acts as a children’s nursery.
Text: “The First United Methodist Church, Florence, Alabama-A Brief History,” in Bill McDonald Collection, Box 36, Archives/Special Collections, Collier Library, University of North Alabama, Florence, Alabama. Jill Knight Garrett, A History of Lauderdale County, Alabama, 142. Carolyn Barske, Images of America: Florence (Charleston: Arcadia Publishing, 2014), 100.
Prior to 1898 the Catholic population in Florence, Alabama, traveled to Tuscumbia’s Our Sacred Heart. The pastor of Our Sacred Heart, Father Bassen, characterized Florence as a mission of the Catholic Church. As a result, St. Joseph Catholic Church was established in 1898 in Florence. Before the congregation had the funds to build a structure, they conducted mass in the home of Joe Beckman. During the 1880s, Mrs. Lena Peters donated property on Laughton Heights for the congregation to build a little framed church, which was erected in 1889 and also served as a school. The church’s construction was done by St. Florian resident Mr. Stumpe. The first pastor of Saint Joseph Catholic Church was Reverend Gamblert Brunner (an original member of Sain Bernard Abby in Cullman,Alabama), who served at St. Josephs from 1889 to 1907. During his time as pastor, Brunner constructed a rectory that served as the pastor’s home until the 1970s. Bishop Edward Allen dedicated the church on June 8, 1902. Throughout its history, the church has had numerous pastors and renovations. Three during the 1930s were Rev. Henry Watson, Father Alfred Trottman, and Father Anselm Spitzer. During the years of World War II, Father Isidore Fussnecker made efforts to reach out to the black population in the area. In the late 1950s Father Paul Koehler became the pastor of the church. Koehler implemented renovations to the church. For instance, he added additional wings to the school, a Parish hall, and a modern convent. The greatest renovations happened during the 1970s. The old church, considered too small, was demolished and a new church erected in 1974. The new church building is made of brick and consists of a tower, a statue of Saint Joseph the Worker, and a huge cross. Today, the church is one of the chief religious and educational centers for Catholics in northwest Alabama.
Text: Rose Gibbons Lovett, excerpt from Catholic Church in the Deep South (The Diocese, 1980), in folder “McDonald Collection: Church Information-Vol. 7: Other Denomination-Catholic, Churches 7.2,” Box 37, Bill McDonald Collection, Archives/Special Collections, Collier Library, University of North Alabama, Florence, Alabama. “A Brief History of St. Joseph’s Parish Florence, Alabama,” in folder “McDonald Collection: Church Information-Vol. 7: Other Denomination-Catholic, Churches 7.2,” Box 37, Bill McDonald Collection, Archives/Special Collections, Collier Library, University of North Alabama, Florence, Alabama.
Established in 1872, St. Michael’s Catholic Church was the first Catholic Church in Lauderdale County. The church was organized in St. Florian, Alabama, a community founded by German Catholic settlers. A prominent Catholic minister in the southwest region of Tennessee, Reverend J. House, bought over two thousand acres of land in north Alabama. It was on this land that St. Florian was founded and the Catholic Church was erected. Consisting of a large frame, the first church was completed in 1872 on the south side of Military Road and was pastored by the German priest Father Michael Merz until 1876. Merz’ sister, Annie, attended St. Michael’s Catholic Church and became the first teacher at the church’s sponsored school. Due to the town’s cultural background, the school regularly taught classes in German. In 1878 the congregation relocated the church across the Military road, at which is still the current location. Due to growth in attendance the congregation needed a larger church, so the construction process to erect a new church structure began in 1914. From 1914 to 1918, parishioners voluntarily contributed to the erection of the new church. Stones from Shoals Creek were carried to the construction site and a local Shoals stone mason, Casper Haeger, laid the foundation. Also, members of the congregation cut down trees in wooded areas and took them to the local sawmill owned by Ed Rasch. Today, one of the most astonishing sights at the church is the nineteen stained glass windows--twelve large and seven small. These windows, made in Munich, Germany, were purchased in 1924 as a memorial for the early settlers of St. Florian.
Text: Jill Garrett, “First Catholic Church in County,” in folder “McDonald Collection: Church Information-Vol. 7: Other Denomination-Catholic, Churches 7.2,” Box 37, Bill McDonald Collection, Archives/Special Collections, Collier Library, University of North Alabama, Florence, Alabama. “Church Started in 1872,” in folder “McDonald Collection: Church Information-Vol. 7: Other Denomination-Catholic, Churches 7.2,” Box 37, Bill McDonald Collection, Archives/Special Collections, Collier Library, University of North Alabama, Florence, Alabama.
The Mars Hill Church of Christ, established in 1871, is one of twenty-nine Churches of Christ in Florence. The Church of Christ denomination emerged out of the American Restoration Movement, a movement to reestablish America’s Christianity on the teachings of the New Testament, which lasted from 1801 to 1906. Restoration followers were known as Stoneites and Campbellites, named after the two prominent leaders of the movement, Barton Stone and Alexander Campbell. Congregations set up by followers of Campbell called themselves Disciples of Christ, while those established by Stoneites were called Churches of Christ. The beliefs of the Restoration Movement made their way into the Shoals during the 1820s and 1830s through efforts of Restoration ministers, who ultimately shaped the religious culture in the region. The first two Restoration ministers to enter the Shoals were Ephraim D. Moore and James Evans Matthews. Moore, born in North Carolina in 1782, converted after he read and heard about Alexander Campbell’s teachings. Moore settled near Florence, Alabama, in 1823 and established the first Restoration church in the Shoals, known as the Republican Congregation. However, three years after its founding the congregation still had only ten members. In 1826, James Matthews, a Kentucky Christian minister, moved to Florence and helped Moore spread the movement. In the fall of 1827, Moore wrote to Barton Stone of the success he and Matthews had in growing converts in the Shoals region. Recounting a week-long camp which resulted in forty Shoals’ residents professing their faith in Christ, Moore reassured Stone that “the good work is moving on in almost every direction.” However, the Restoration Movement in the Shoals did not take place without opposition. Baptists and Presbyterians entered the Shoals during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries and did not approve of the activists’ efforts. For example, in 1830 the Muscle Shoals Baptist Association printed a resolution that defined the Restoration Movement as a “divine operation of the Holy Spirit either disavowed or so obscurely avowed, as to amount to disavowal. We see experimental religion ridiculed and reprobated.” The resolution criticized the efforts of Stone and Campbell’s disciples as “effort(s) by man to pull down the old order of faith and practice taught by our Lord and His apostles, and establish on their ruins a new order.” After converting to a Restoration church, William Henry Wharton of Tuscumbia was “discarded…opposed, calumniated, misrepresented, abused, denied entrance into houses consecrated to the worship of the only living and true God” because of his support for Reformation ideology. In addition to the vocal opposition from various denominations, in his article “History of the Church of Christ in Northwest Alabama, 1866-1880,” Shoals historian Wayne Kilpatrick argued that the Civil War ultimately hindered the Restoration Movement in the Shoals region. Kilpatrick claimed that many churches in the Shoals, including Restoration congregations, experienced a drop in membership during the war, which Kilpatrick defined as the “silent years” of the Restoration Movement. Nevertheless, the silent years in the Shoals ended with the arrival of Theophilus Brown Larimore in 1868. T. B. Larimore was born on July 10, 1843, in Jefferson County, Tennessee, where he grew up fatherless and in poverty. Despite these challenges, Larimore enrolled in Mossey Creek Baptist College (present day Carson Newman University), a theological institution, at the age of sixteen. During his time at in college he did not experience a spiritual conversion. As a result of his lack of personal experience with religion while in college, when the war began Larimore enlisted in the Confederate army and served as a scout in the Company B of the 5th Tennessee Cavalry. After serving in the war, Larimore became a member of a Restoration church in 1864, and thereafter, the church became the center of his life. Shortly after becoming a member of a Restoration church, he taught theology at Franklin College in Nashville, Tennessee, for two years, and accepted a position as a teacher at Mountain Home Academy, a Restoration institution located in Lawrence County, Alabama, in 1868. Larimore’s early efforts to expand the Restoration Movement in the northwest region of Alabama, however, did not succeed. For example, as Larimore remembered, the congregation at Hopewell Church located in Lauderdale County, “let me try to preach once, and were so well pleased with that ‘sarmint’ that they let me off—suddenly!” Also in 1868, Larimore married Julia Esther Gresham, who had inherited twenty-nine acres in Lauderdale County from her family. On this land, Larimore established Mars Hill Church of Christ. Larimore and others purchased land for a new building and in 1904 a new structure was built. The congregation continued to worship in this building until the current building was completed in 1969. In addition to Larimore, some prominent ministers of Mars Hill Church of Christ were Paul Simon, Robert Walker, and Kenneth Davis.
Text: Wayne Kilpatrick, “History of the Church of Christ in Northwest Alabama, 1823-1861,” The Journal of Muscle Shoals History Vol. xi (1986), 32-34. Barton Stone, The Christian Messenger Vol.2, no. 1, 16-17. Kilpatrick, “History of the Church of Christ in Northwest Alabama, 1823-1861,” 36. Wayne Kilpatrick, “ History of the Church of Christ in Lauderdale County, 1866-1880,” The Journal of Muscle Shoals History Vol. xi (1986), 67-85. Lee Freeman, “A Brief Study of the Life of Elder Theophilus Brown Larimore “, in folder “McDonald Collection: Church Information Collection: Other Denomination-Church of Christ,” Box 37, Bill McDonald Collection, Archives/Special Collections, Collier Library, University of North Alabama, Florence, Alabama. Frank Richey, “T. B. Larimore—The Preacher,” The Alabama Restoration Journal Vol. 4, no. 2 (April, 2010), 3. Bill McDonald, “Story of Mars Hill’s first lady,” Time Daily, October 12, 2003, in folder “McDonald Collection: Church Information Collection: Other Denomination-Church of Christ,” Box 37, Bill McDonald Collection, Archives/Special Collections, Collier Library, University of North Alabama, Florence, Alabama. Mars Hill Church of Christ, “A Brief History,” Mars Hill Church of Christ, http://marshillcc.org/a-breif-history.html (accessed May 1, 2015).
The Center Star Methodist Church congregation is the oldest Methodist congregation in Lauderdale County. Throughout its history the congregation has moved over five times. Its origins began in 1818, when the Methodist Richland Circuit of Giles County, Tennessee, extended across the Tennessee line into Lauderdale County, Alabama. One resident who lived in Lauderdale County at the time, Reverend Wesley Smith, wrote in a letter: “About the year 1819, my family moved from Tennessee to Lauderdale County, Alabama, and settled on Blue Water Creek. We had not been there long until the ‘circuit-rider’ found his cabin and soon made it a preaching place. I well remember the old cabin with dirt floor and two split-long benches that were used to seat the little congregation of backwoods worshipers.” Two early preachers were G. D. Taylor and J. Boucher. In 1823 the name of this congregation became Driskell Chapel Methodist Church, named after its Reverend Ambrose F. Driskell. Also during 1823, the congregation met in the old Trousdale home in Center Star, Alabama. The congregation kept the name, Driskell Chapel Methodist Church until 1893. During 1893 the congregation relocated approximately one mile east, where the church sits today. When it moved, the church changed its name to Center Star Methodist.
Text: “Center Star Methodist Church,” Tennessee Valley Historical Society, Journal of Muscle Shoals History Vol. X (1983): 147. Jill Knight Garrett, A History of Lauderdale County, Alabama, 144
On May 22, 1852, the Liberty Baptist Church congregation organized the oldest existing Baptist congregation in Lauderdale County. In fact, it was the only Baptist church erected in the county until the First Baptist Church of Florence was built over thirty years later in 1888. According to church records, during its first few years the church’s membership was approximately fifty people. These members constructed a white wooden sanctuary in which the congregation held service until the 1890s. The original wooden building had two doors—one for the men and one for the women. Also, the seating in the sanctuary was segregated by sexes. In the same year as its charter (1852), the congregation became a part of the Indian Creek Association and started Baptist missions in the surrounding area. During the beginning of the Civil War the church had a total of one hundred and twenty-eight members. However, due to the war, services were discontinued from 1863 to 1865. Shortly following the war, the first Sunday School was organized in 1877. The present day church building was constructed in 1892 when the congregation built a brick structure to take the place of the original wooden building.
Text: Lorene Frederick, “Church History Actually History of Community: Liberty Baptist Pastor Compiles Interesting Record of Both Church and The District,” Florence Times, April 22, 1960, located in in folder “McDonald Collection: Church Information Collection-Vol. 7: Other Denominations-Baptist, Churches 7.1” Bill McDonald Collection, Archives/Special Collections, Collier Library, University of North Alabama, Florence, Alabama
Established during the 1830s, the Canaan United Methodist Church is the oldest Methodist congregation in Lauderdale County. Land for the church’s building and cemetery were given by an early settler in the county named Edmond Noel. Established for the rural planters on the bend of the Tennessee River, a tall framed building was constructed. Prior to the Civil War, slaves attended serves with their masters and sat in a designated gallery. The church itself played a role during the Civil War. During the war, soldiers under Union general James Wilson camped nearby and in 1865 Union troops bunked in the church. There was a skirmish between Union and Confederate troops at nearby Gravelly Springs Cemetery, and also a small skirmish took place on the grounds of the church. As a result, bullet holes once peppered the congregation’s pews. However, renovations in the 1970s remodeled the slave gallery and replaced the pews.
Text: William Lindsey McDonald, “Methodist Building in the Area,” in folder “McDonald Collection: The Church Register (Canaan)(Methodist Episcopal), Churches 10.1,” Bill McDonald Collection, Archives/Special Collections, Collier Library, University of North Alabama, Florence, Alabama. “Canaan Methodist Church,”Tennessee Valley Historical Society, Journal of Muscle Shoals Vol. X, 1983: 91-92. Image: “Canaan Methodist Church,”Tennessee Valley Historical Society, Journal of Muscle Shoals Vol. X, 1983: 91-92.
Methodist settlers first entered the northwest region of Alabama during the early 1800s during the Second Great Awakening. The lot of land that Tabernacle Methodist Church sits on was used for religious camp meetings during the Second Great Awakening. The church itself was not erected until the 1830s. An exact of construction date is unknown. The building’s original design was that of a simple log structure. One of the first ministers at Tabernacle Methodist Church was Reverend Henry Hill, who passed away in 1850. The church burned down twice prior to 1869. After the second fire, the congregation built the church building that still stands today. Prominent citizens of Lauderdale County, such as Henry A. Killen, helped furnish and finance the church. Also, in 1874 George Kennedy, who owned the property that the church was located on, gave the congregation legal title to the land. The church building today does not host weekly worship services. Instead, it is used for funerals and memorial services for those buried in the Tabernacle Cemetery.
Text: Jill Knight Garret, A History of Lauderdale County, Alabama, 140. Tennessee Valley Historical Society, “Tabernacle Methodist Church,” Journal of Muscle Shoals History Vol. X (1983), 146.
Early Baptists settlers in Waterloo, Alabama, met in a two-story log meeting house. This building was erected in 1845. The structure was 40 x 60 feet. During the week, children in the Waterloo community attended school in the church’s main floor, while the upper floor acted as a fraternal lodge. However, the church building was destroyed during the Civil War. Under the command of General James Harrison Wilson, the Union Cavalry dismantled the Baptists church. One Waterloo citizen, John W. Till, recalled that he “saw a part of the soldiers of a Michigan Regiment tearing down the church” and they used the materials from the church and “built out of them their quarters.” As a result of the destruction of the church, during the 1870s and 1880s the church’s congregation had to hold services in various homes in the Waterloo community. In 1904, the congregation’s minister, Reverend W. J. Webb, testified that the church building was completely destroyed and probably worth only one thousand dollars. As a result, the Trustees of the Church decided to sue the United States for a total of one thousand dollars for the account of damages by the Union forces. The court rewarded the congregation with six hundred and fifteen dollars. Today, the congregation continues to thrive.
Text: William Lindsey McDonald, “The Waterloo Baptist Church and The Missionary,” located in in folder “McDonald Collection: Church Information Collection-Vol. 7: Other Denominations-Baptist, Churches 7.1” Bill McDonald Collection, Archives/Special Collections, Collier Library, University of North Alabama, Florence, Alabama. Tennessee Valley Historical Society, Journal Of Muscle Shoals Vol. X (1983), 86.
One of the most talented wood craftsman in northwest Alabama is Robin Wade. His furniture studio in Lexington, Alabama, produces organic “American” wood furniture. Wade attended the University of North Alabama as a young man, and started his wood furniture business during the mid-2000s at the age of forty-nine. His approach to furniture making is not based on money, but instead “is a celebration of nature.” Wade’s process is unique. All of the wood that Wade uses is local Alabama wood that has fallen because of either natural causes or human intervention. His crew is on standby to pick up trees and logs and once the wood has been brought back to the shop it goes through a slow studio process, which can take up to three years. Wade allows for the wood to keep its natural beauty. He frequently donates pieces of wood to local businesses and organizations in the Florence area. For example, the Muscle Shoals National Heritage Area, Frank Lloyd Wright Rosenbaum House, Florence Lauderdale Public Library, and the Florence-Lauderdale Tourism Office building all have a donated piece of wood furniture.
Text: Bobby Bozeman, “Local Craftsman Turn Discarded Wood into Works of Art, Functional Furniture,” Times Daily, August 11, 2013. Robin Wade Furnture, “Welcome,” http://robinwadefurniture.com/#welcome-to-rwf (accessed May 1, 2015). Robin Wade Furniture, “About Us,” http://robinwadefurniture.com/about-us/#about-rw (accessed May 1, 2015). Robin Wade Furniture, “Our Store,” http://robinwadefurniture.com/ourstore/ (accessed May 1, 2015).
Florence, Alabama, established on March 12, 1818, is nicknamed the “Renaissance City.” It is named after Florence, Italy, the birthplace of the Renaissance (a time period in which a cultural movement in the arts, religion, science, and politics emerged, began during the fourteenth century). The connection between Florence, Alabama, and the Renaissance time period is through Ferdinand Sannoner. In 1818, Sannoner, an Italian surveyor from Florence, Italy, first surveyed the newly established Alabama land. Therefore, in recognition of Sannoner’s early work with the town, when time came to decide on the city’s name, Florence was chosen. The citizens of Florence, Alabama, acknowledge their city’s ties to the Renaissance and celebrate its heritage in an annual festival—the Alabama Renaissance Faire. Beginning in 1987, the city of Florence, Alabama, has hosted the Alabama Renaissance Faire in October. The event takes place at Wilson Park, located in downtown Florence, and host between thirty and forty thousand attendees. The Southeast Tourist Society in Atlanta, Georgia, listed the event as one of the top twenty fall events in the Southeast region of the United States and it is one the largest non-profit Renaissance Faires in the country. The Faire is an all-volunteer event. Those in the Florence, Alabama community that want to help plan the Faire are put on a committee called the Roundtable. There are no requirements to be placed on the Roundtable and meetings are once a month from January to September. Out of the Roundtable, eighteen individuals are voted onto the Faire’s Board of Directors. The Renaissance event begins on the third weekend in October. During this weekend, a meal is set to a themed Renaissance time period and is attended by two hundred guests who purchase a twenty-five dollar ticket. This meal is known as the Renaissance Feast. Exactly a week after the Feast, the Renaissance Faire begins. During the faire, many of the volunteer workers and public attendees are dressed up in Renaissance attire. Throughout the entire two-day festival, Renaissance themed arts and events take place such as dances, sword fighting, costume workshops, sonnet writing contests, theatrical plays, and musical concerts.
Text: Billy Warren, “Alabama Renaissance Faire,” Encyclopedia of Alabama, www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-2486 (accessed May 1, 2015). Bobby Bozeman, “Feast Marks Start of Renaissance Celebration,” Times Daily, September 30, 2014. Bobby Bozeman, “Something Old is New Again: Alabama Renaissance Faire to Celebrate History this Weekend,” Times Daily, October 24, 2014.
Music; Festival; Culture; African American History; Lauderdale County, AL; Handy, W.C.
William Christopher Handy, born in Florence, Alabama, on November 16, 1873 and is considered to be the “Father of the Blues.” His musical legacy is a prime part of the music culture in the Shoals region, especially in his home town of Florence. To celebrate Handy’s role in America’s blues music, the W. C. Handy Music Festival was organized by the non-profit organization called Music Preservation Society, Inc. The Music Preservation Society, Inc. established in 1982 in order to “preserve, present, and promote the musical heritage of Northwest Alabama.” While the organization puts on numerous events throughout the year, the W. C. Handy Music Festival each July is the most prominent. The music festival has been recognized as a top twenty summer event by the Southeast Tourism Society. The first Handy Music festival, organized in 1982 by the Music Preservation Society, lasted for a summer weekend and musician Dizzy Gillespie headlined. Over the past decades, the annual festival has evolved into a ten day event that consists of over two hundred musical shows and concerts. The music showcases music in Florence and the surrounding cities in various parks, restaurants, libraries, museums, sidewalks, and lawns. Some of the musicians and bands that have headlined the festival throughout the years are The Blind Boys of Alabama, The Drive By Truckers, Clarence Carter, Percy Sledge, Donnie Fritts, Bonnie Bramlett, and Roy Ayers. The funding for the festival comes from grants, sponsorships, donations, and sales from festival memorabilia. Numerous corporations and businesses that team up with the Music Preservation Society and help sponsor the annual music festival are: Marriott Shoals Hotel & Spa, Florence/Lauderdale Tourism, Lauderdale County Commission, University of North Alabama, Alabama Bureau of Tourism & Travel, and the Tennessee Valley Authority.
Text: Music Preservation Society, Inc., “About US,” http://www.wchandymusicfestival.org/about.htm (accessed May 1, 2015). Music Preservation Society, Inc., “History of the Festival,” http://www.wchandymusicfestival.org/history.htm (accessed May 1, 2015). Music Preservation Society, Inc., “Our 2014 Sponsors,” http://www.wchandymusicfestival.org/sponsors.htm (accessed May 1, 2015).
Theatre; Arts; Culture; Florence, AL; Lauderdale County, AL
The Shoals Theatre, located in historic downtown Florence, Alabama at 123 North Seminary Street, first opened in 1948. At the time of its grand opening, the art deco style theatre was one of the finest in the Southeast. It originally sat 1,350 people and was one of four theatres in the world to have slide back chairs. On October 21, 1948, the first movie shown in the Shoals Theatre was That Lady in Ermine. Tickets for children cost ten cents and an adult ticket was forty-five cents. However, due to economic hardships the theatre closed on March 13, 1980. The last Hollywood film shown in the theatre was American Gigolo. Twelve years later in 1992 a California man by the name of Jackson Canup purchased the Alabama theatre. He spent nearly $200,000 on renovations, but was forced to sell the theatre after financial difficulties two years later. In 1996 the Shoals Association of Ministers took over the operations and was awarded two grants from the Alabama Historical Commission for restoration projects. In the 2000s, the Shoals Community Theatre Association purchased the theatre and currently puts on plays, movies, operas, comedies, ballets, and symphonies in the historic venue.
Text: Charles Van Bibber, “Shoals Theatre,” Cinema Treasure, in folder “Buildings—Shoals Theater,” Florence Collection, Archives/Special Collections, Collier Library, University of North Alabama, Florence, Alabama. Bernie Delinski, “Historic Shoals Theatre under New Ownership,” in folder “Buildings—Shoals Theater,” Florence Collection, Archives/Special Collections, Collier Library, University of North Alabama, Florence, Alabama.
2005.36.104: John A. Jones to Sister, 1859 May 27
1859; Greenville, SC; Grandma; Health; John A. Jones; Lou; Family Affairs; Family Life; Family Matters; Family Visitation; Marriage
4 handwritten pages, this letter is torn in the center and the author wrote vertically over the first page of the letter when concluding. This letter, while difficult to read, chronicles the general affairs of the family, including recent visitations and suggestions for marriage partners for Lou.
Montgomery, Montgomery County, Jazz, Blues, Swing Music, Radio, WWII, Television Shows, Alabama Music Hall of Fame
Nat "King" Cole (March 17. 1919 - February 15, 1965) Born Nathaniel Adams Coles, on March 17, 1919, in Montgomery, Alabama, crooner Nat Cole was known for his smooth, soft baritone and easygoing nature. When Nat was four years old, his father, Edward Coles, a Baptist minister, moved the family north to Chicago, Illinois. His mother, Perlina, who played the organ in her husband’s church, was one of his musical influences. As Chicago was a magnet for jazz musicians, Nat was also influenced by such artists as Louis Armstrong, and Earl “Fatha” Hines, who he would sneak out of his house to go listen to at the various clubs around the city. Dropping out of high school before graduation, Nat first played piano for his brother’s group, Eddie Cole’s Solid Swingers. Settling in Los Angeles after a national tour that he was part off failed, Nat joined with guitarist Oscar Moore and bassist Wesley Price in the late 1930s to form the King Cole trio, as Nat had acquired the moniker “King,” due in part to the Mother Goose nursery rhyme, ‘Old King Cole,” as well as a nod to his musical prowess. Originally, the group focused on instrumental tunes, with Nat offering vocals on occasion. Legend has it that Nat’s singing career took off when a drunken patron insisted that he sing “Sweet Lorraine.” While this story has been discounted, mainly by Cole himself, he nevertheless didn’t discourage it. Nat’s explanation of his transformation in simpler terms, stating, “I started out to become a jazz pianist; in the meantime I started singing and I sang the way I felt and that's just the way it came out.” By 1943, with the help of appearances on such radio shows as Swing Soiree, the Chesterfield Supper Club, and Kraft Music Hall, The King Cole Trio had scored their first major hit with Nat’s own composition, Straighten Up and Fly Right.” Later hits like “The Christmas Song” (1946), “Route 66” (1946), “Nature Boy” (1948, and “Mona Lisa” (1950), solidified Nat’s place as a solo act and moved him away from his jazz roots with The King Cole Trio. In 1956, Nat made history by becoming the first African American to host a show on American television, The Nat “King” Cole Show on NBC. The show lasted for just over a year, ending when the show’s producers were unable to find a national sponsor, due in part to reluctance to advance a show hosted by, and featuring, African American entertainers. Although not overtly vocal regarding the civil rights battle going on in America in the 1950s and 1960s, Nat was an advocate for equality, contributing money to the Montgomery Bus Boycott and bringing lawsuits against hotels that hired him to entertain, but refused to serve him. Nat’s career kept moving forward, as he combined his singing with a fledgling acting career, the highlight being the role of W.C. Handy in 1958’s “St. Louis Blues”, based on the life of Handy. It was around this time that Nat ventured into another new genre, Latin music, recording three albums exclusively in Spanish and Portuguese from 1958 to 1962. In December of 1964, after having experienced back pain and weight loss over the previous few months, Nat was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. A heavy smoker for most of his life, Nat continued to work in spite of the diagnosis and pain, releasing his final album L-O-V-E, as well as filming his last movie, “Cat Ballou,” starring Jane Fonda and Lee Marvin. Nat succumbed to lung cancer on February 15, 1965. Nat’s popularity has remained strong long after his death, aided in part by his daughter Natalie’s recording of her father’s 1951 hit, “Unforgettable,” which combined new vocal from Natalie with those of her father’s. Posthumously, Nat has been enshrined in the Alabama Music Hall of Fame (1985), the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame (1993), the Down Beat Jazz Hall of Fame (1997), the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (2000), and the Latin Songwriters Hall of Fame (2013), as well as being featured on a United States postage stamp in 1994. Long after his passing, Nat’s sound is still influencing new generations of singers and finding new listeners. Watch & Listen: "Nat King Cole - Unforgettable" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fy_JRGjc1To "Nat King Cole - When I Fall In Love (From Movie - Istanbul 1957)" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8lNgdpVakY "Memphis Blues Scene from 'St. Louis Blues' (1958)" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kvd76QiRs-4 "Nat Cole and early family interview" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_oXfIwSXIc "Nat 'King' Cole Interview" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3F5N3PSKik
John Griffin, University of North Alabama
Epstein, Daniel Mark. Nat King Cole. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1999 Santelli, Robert. The Big Book of Blues: A Biographical Encyclopedia. New York: Penguin Books, 1993 “Nat ‘King’ Cole.” http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-1552. Accessed November 29, 2016. Gilliland, John. Show 22 - Smack Dab in the Middle on Route 66: A skinny dip in the easy listening mainstream. [Part 1]. UNT Digital Library. http://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc19775/. Accessed November 29, 2016. All images courtesy of Mr. George Lair and the Alabama Music Hall of Fame, unless otherwise noted.
Huntsville, Madison County, Country music, Grand Ole Opry, Alabama Music Hall of Fame, Radio, Redstone Arsenal
Ernie Ashworth (December 15, 1928 - March 2, 2009) Even though he had written songs for some of country music’s biggest stars, and that he himself had scored two top 10 hits, it wasn’t until after he had scored his one and only number-one single that Ernie Ashworth finally left his job working in the guided missile program at Redstone Arsenal in his hometown of Huntsville, Alabama. His life before, and after, was just as varied as his day and night jobs in 1963. Born December 15, 1928, Ernest Bert Ashworth began his career in music singing and playing guitar on local radio station WBHP-AM, from 1948 to 1949, when he moved to Nashville, Tennessee to continue his career in radio. It was there that he was signed by Wesley Rose of Acuff-Rose Music as a songwriter, writing songs recorded by such artists as Jimmy Dickens, Johnny Horton, and Carl Smith. However, after not making his mark as a singer, Ernie left Nashville in 1957 and returned to Huntsville, where he landed a job working at the Army’s Redstone Arsenal. It wasn’t until 1960 that Wesley Rose, who hadn’t given up on Ernie, arranged a recording contract for Ernie with Decca Records. Scoring three top-20 hits in two years, Ernie moved on to Hickory Records, a subsidiary owned by Acuff-Rose Music, which is where he found his greatest success as a performer. After a Top Five hit with “Everybody But Me” and a Top Ten hit with, “I Take The Chance” in 1962, Ernie found his success in 1963 with “Talk Back Trembling Lips,” his lone number-one song, which stayed on the country charts for 42 weeks. This success led to Ernie being invited to join the Grand Ole Opry as a member in 1964. While he continued to score more records that charted, none came close to the success of his signature song, although he continued to tour and perform on the Opry stage. It was then that Ernie’s career came full circle, as he once again found himself in the radio business, this time as an owner, with stations in Flomaton, Alabama, Ardmore, Tennessee, and Gallatin, Tennessee. In 1999, Ernie, who was always a popular figure overseas, scored a number-one hit on the UK Independent Chart with “Lonely Only Bar.” Ernie was inducted into the Alabama Music Hall of Fame in 2008. Ernie Ashworth died on March 2, 2009, in Hartsville, Tennessee following heart surgery, leaving behind a life in music few can match. Watch and Listen: "Talk Back Trembling Lips" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtCB6fftSwA "Ernie Ashworth Talks 'Talk Back Trembling Lips'" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddgmQBMu4x0 "The D.J. Cried" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpdt4Hrp2Lg "Everybody But Me" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDlz0hKdB_M
Ernie Ashworth official website http://www.ernieashworth.com/ Accessed November 1, 2016 Ernie Ashworth: Alabama Music Hall of Fame http://alamhof.org/inductees/timeline/2008/ernie-ashworth/ Accessed November 1, 2016 All images courtesy of Mr. George Lair and the Alabama Music Hall of Fame, unless otherwise noted.
Killen, Lauderdale County, Rock music, Elvis Presley, FAME Music Studio, Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, Arthur Alexander, Rick Hall, Alabama Music Hall of Fame, CMA Awards
David Briggs (March 16, 1943 - ) David Briggs has had a career that can best be described as impressive, topped off by working with Elvis Presley as his studio keyboardist, and later going out on tour with the King. But lest one think that he would rest on his laurels, David delved into new avenues of the music business, with success at every turn. David Paul Briggs was born March 16, 1943, in the small town of Killen, Alabama, located less than 20 miles from Muscle Shoals and its, at the time, nascent music industry. Music was an early part of Briggs’ life, and he took part in his first recording session at the ripe old age of 14. Soon, he was working with Jerry Carrigan, Terry Thompson, and Norbert Putnam, becoming a part of the original rhythm section for Rick Hall’s FAME Music Studio in their original studios in Florence, Alabama, and at the present studio, in Muscle Shoals. It was here that Briggs was able to work with such artists as Arthur Alexander (“You Better Move On”), Jimmy Hughes (“Steal Away”), and Tommy Roe (“Everybody”). In 1964, Briggs left the Shoals area, moving to Nashville. It was here that David happened to be in the right place at the right time. While recording his gospel album, “How Great Thou Art,” Elvis Presley asked David to fill in on keyboard as Floyd Cramer was running late. Impressed with David’s style and versatility, Elvis had him stay and play organ, even after Cramer had resumed his duties on the piano. It was a collaboration that would last until just before Presley’s death in 1977, and included Briggs joining Elvis in his 1975 Las Vegas engagement, and later, all his concert dates from 1976 through February, 1977. It was also during the time that he met Presley that David and fellow FAME rhythm section member Norbert Putnam opened Quadrafonic Studios in Nashville, recording with some of the biggest names in music, among them Neil Young, Joan Baez, Jimmy Buffet and the Jackson Five. Briggs sold his part of the studio in 1976 and later opened House of David Studios in an early 20th-century house located on Music Row. Briggs even retrofitted the house with a secret passageway from the basement garage to a tracking room just for Elvis in order that he could come and go without being mobbed by fans, a convenience Presley was not able to take advantage of before he died. In addition to his studio work, Briggs has served as musical director on the CMA Awards shows, and recorded commercials for such clients as Kentucky Fried Chicken, Coors, and Chevrolet. David Briggs was inducted into the Alabama Music Hall of Fame in 1999. Watch & Listen: "Conversations on Elvis - Norbert Putnam, Chip Young & David Briggs" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O26y8jqzS-0 "Arthur Alexander - 'You Better Move On' , David Briggs-piano, Terry Thompson-guitar, Forest Riley-acoustic guitar, Norbert Putnam-bass, Jerry Carrigan-drums" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLmh6hDo2_8 "Jimmy Hughes - Steal Away, David Briggs-piano, Terry Thompson-guitar, Norbert Putnam-bass, Jerry Carrigan-drums" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwESSxBVTuw "Everybody - Tommy Roe, featuring Nobert Putman-bass, David Briggs-piano, Bobby West-guitar, and Jerry Carrigan-drums." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OesKimDbcA
David Briggs: Alabama Music Hall of Fame http://alamhof.org/inductees/timeline/1999/david-briggs/, Accessed November 20, 2016 House of David website http://www.houseofdavidstudios.com/, Accessed November 20, 2016 Interview, David Briggs http://www.elvispresleymusic.com.au/articles/tcb-band-david-briggs.html. Accessed November 20, 2016 All images courtesy of Mr. George Lair and the Alabama Music Hall of Fame, unless otherwise noted.
Dothan, Houston County, Eufaula, Barbour County, Alabama Music Hall of Fame, Rock music, Southern rock music, Classics IV, Atlanta Rhythm Section,
Buddy Buie (January 23, 1941 - July 18, 2015) Buddy Buie may not be a name that most folks recognize, but his impact on the music scene of the 1960s to the 1990s is one that transcends name recognition. As a songwriter, producer, and concert promoter, Buddy had a hand in showcasing the talents of such artists as Roy Orbison, Wynonna Judd, B.J. Thomas, The Classics IV, and, most of all, The Atlanta Rhythm Section. Born January 23, 1941, in the small town of Marianna, Florida, Perry Carlton Buie (pronounced Boo-ee) moved with his family to the town of Dothan, Alabama when he was still a child. After dropping out of Auburn University, Buddy moved north to New York City to focus on a career in music, but soon settled back in the south in Atlanta, Georgia, where he resided for much of his music career. In the early 1960s, Buddy became the road manager for Roy Orbison. A few years later, he became the producer for the Classics IV, whose guitarist, J.R. Cobb, became a frequent songwriting partner with Buddy. While based in Atlanta, Buddy spent his songwriting time in a small fishing trailer that he had in Eufaula, Alabama. It was during this period that Buddy and Cobb wrote such hits as “Stormy,” “Spooky,” and “Traces.” While the success that he had with the Classics IV set him on steady ground, it was his founding of the group Atlanta Rhythm Section that best-defined Buddy’s influence and success on the music scene. In 1970, Buddy had opened a recording studio in Atlanta. Combining members of the Classics IV and the Candymen, Atlanta Rhythm section established themselves as a Southern Rock band in the realm of the Allman Brothers Band and Lynryd Skynryd. Buddy managed and produced many of their albums, and co-wrote their hit “So Into You,” along with keyboardist Dean Daughtry and Robert Nix. The 1980s and 1990s, while not as productive as the years with Atlanta Rhythm Section, Buddy, along with Cobb, was still actively writing, his most significant hit being Wynonna Judd’s “Rock Bottom”, which hit #2 on the country charts in 1992. In 2003, Buddy retired to Eufaula, his inspiration for so many of his hits. Buddy was inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame in 1984, and the Alabama Music Hall of Fame in 2010. Buddy Buie passed away after suffering a heart attack on July 18, 2015, leaving behind a lasting influence on pop and southern rock music that still resonates to this day. Watch and Listen: "Stormy" Classics IV https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18Sua_QTDs0 "Spooky" Classics IV https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qpo9KZYJ4sA "Traces" Classics IV https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyxpQO0YYQo "So Into You" Atlanta Rhythm Section https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmJWRLwQq7w "Rock Bottom" Wynonna Judd https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrFfRQsBqd0
Buddy Buie: Alabama Music Hall of Fame http://alamhof.org/inductees/timeline/2011/buddy-buie/ Accessed October 31, 2016 Buddy Buie obituary, al.com http://www.al.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2015/07/hall_of_fame_songwriter_buddy.html Accessed October 31, 2016 Buddy Buie obituary, Washington Post https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/music/perry-buddy-buie-songwriter-and-producer-dies-at-74/2015/07/23/b3f62650-30c7-11e5-8353-1215475949f4_story.html?utm_term=.0609191a1b97 Accessed October 31, 2016 All images courtesy of Mr. George Lair and the Alabama Music Hall of Fame, unless otherwise noted.