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NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WHNT) \u2014 The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum\u2019s exhibit, \u201cLow Rhythm Rising: The Muscle Shoals Sound,\u201d marked its first week open to the public Friday<\/a>. It\u2019s a love letter to the Shoals that celebrates the music and musicians of North Alabama.<\/p>\n Michael Gray, co-curator of the exhibit, said the reception from musicians was overwhelmingly positive.<\/p>\n \u201cWe truly got a great reception. The best support from everyone in Muscle Shoals,\u201d Gray said. \u201cSome of the musicians had never been here to the Hall of Fame and Museum. We would bring them here and show them the museum and say, \u2018These are our plans.\u2019 A lot of our job is stewardship and building trust. We\u2019re going to take care of your artifacts. We\u2019re going to tell your story correctly.\u201d<\/p>\n One of the best stories belongs to 82-year-old Spooner Oldham, a legendary Shoals musician who has created music with some of the industry\u2019s best. News 19 asked him about one photo showing him and Aretha Franklin.<\/p>\n \u201cWell, I\u2019ve never seen this photo. I saw one black and white from a distance, couldn\u2019t tell who I was, but I can tell on this one,\u201d Oldham said, noting the scarcity of photos from that era. \u201cA guy named David Garr took that photo. I\u2019m real pleased. Aretha and I were in our mid-20s, probably.\u201d<\/p>\n \ud83c\udfb5 Sound Bites is Your Local Entertainment Resource! Click here for all the latest art and entertainment stories \ud83c\udfb5 <\/strong> <\/a><\/p>\n The exhibit also tackles the question of what defines the \u201cMuscle Shoals Sound.\u201d Songwriter and Single Lock Records co-founder John Paul White had the best description of it.<\/p>\n \u201cMy answer to it when people ask what is the Muscle Shoals Sound, my opinion is that there is no sound,\u201d White said. \u201cThe thing I love about Muscle Shoals is that every artist that came here\u2014and if you know these musicians, you know why they came here\u2014every one said, \u2018What is the best thing for this record and this artist at this moment in time?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n The \u201cstreet cred\u201d that comes with a Muscle Shoals connection is real, according to musician Jason Isbell.<\/p>\n \ud83d\udcf2Download the WHNT News 19 App<\/a> <\/strong>to stay updated on the go. \u201cWhen I met my heroes\u2026 I met Kristofferson or John Prine or Neil Young or Springsteen or people like that\u2026 if I didn\u2019t have anything to talk to them about, I would tell them where I was from, and that always worked, every time,\u201d Isbell said. \u201cBecause everyone serious about the history of popular American music knows some of what went down in Muscle Shoals, and it gave me a legitimacy, whether I deserved it or not. Plus, it gave me something to talk about with those folks instead of, \u2018Oh, man, I love your music,\u2019 ya know, and then kind of stumbling off.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cLow Rhythm Rising\u201d is a long-term exhibition and will remain open through 2028.<\/p>\n Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/i><\/p>\n
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