Muscle Shoals

Muscle Shoals is a name recognized worldwide by musical buffs who are familiar with the term "The Hit Recording Capital of the World."

The city and the entire Shoals area earned that reputation by the volume of No. 1 hits that were recorded here.

It began in the 1960's when Rick Hall, a legend in the music industry, launched FAME Recording Studios on Avalon Avenue in Muscle Shoals. Among the bands and singers who became part of the local musical heritage were Aretha Franklin, the Osmonds, Mac Davis, Duane Allman, Wilson Pickett, the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Michael Jackson, Clarence Carter, Otis Redding, Paul Anka, Jerry Reed, Reba McEntire and Leon Russell. In 1998, the studio was added to the Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage.

The Muscle Shoals Board of Education building on Wilson Dam Road, formerly the Howell Graves Junior High School, is also on the register.

There are many other ties between the city and the music industry. In the song "Sweet Home Alabama" by Lynyard Skynyrd, a verse in the song states "Muscle Shoals has got the Swampers." The Swampers, which were also known as the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, were local studio musicians who played backup for many of the hits recorded locally. The Swampers were recently inducted into the Alabama Music Hall of Fame, which is in nearby Tuscumbia.

Before the recording music industry became the city’s trademark in the 1960s and ‘70s, Muscle Shoals was essentially farmland. There are still some cotton fields within the city today.

The Tennessee Valley Authority purchased Wilson Dam in 1933 and briefly made its headquarters in Muscle Shoals, as required by the congressional act that created TVA. The headquarters was later moved to Knoxville, Tenn. TVA still remains a big part of the city and area and there’s a walking trails open to the public on the TVA Reservation in Muscle Shoals.

The city is also known for its recreational facilities and has become a regular host for Dixie Youth World Series events.
History

Muscle Shoals is the fastest growing among the Quad Cities area of northwest Alabama, surpassing population trends of neighboring cities Sheffield, Tuscumbia and Florence.

Muscle Shoals is about 30 miles south of Tennessee and 20 miles east of Mississippi.

It’s unclear exactly how the city got its name, but there are three widely used theories. One theory is that there were piles of mussel shells found at one time along the shoals in the Tennessee River. Another theory is that the shape of the river, as it passes through the area, looks like the muscle in a man’s arm, resulting in the name Muscle Shoals. The other theory comes from several booklets that were published before Muscle Shoals incorporated in 1923. This theory states that the city’s name comes from the American Indians, who found the task of navigating upstream almost impossible because of the strong current. That led to the use of the word muscle, symbolic of the strength required to paddle canoes through the rapids.

Wilson Dam, which crosses the river at Muscle Shoals, was built in 1918 as the United States entered World War I. Two nitrate plants were also added to assist the country’s war effort, with the plants being powered by electricity produced at Wilson Dam. In peacetime, Henry Ford tried to buy the dam with a promise that he would turn Muscle Shoals into a 75-mile-wide city known for automobile manufacturing. He was unable to do so, however, and Muscle Shoals remains a small, yet progressive, city today.