Escapees Musical Roots Hangout

Escapees Musical Roots Hangout is coming to Heritage Acres RV Park in Tuscumbia, AL!

In the 1960s, the area in and around Muscle Shoals, Alabama became known as “The Hit Recording Capital of the World”. Famous bands and singers including Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett, Percy Sledge, the Osmonds, Mac Davis, and Duane Allman came to Muscle Shoals to record hit songs there. During this seven-day Hangout, hosted by Lifetime Members Dory & Bill Johnson SKP# 126254, you’ll retrace the steps of those musical superstars as you explore historic Muscle Shoals and other areas in northern Alabama, the state “where America finds its voice”.

After an introduction to the area’s rich musical history through the documentary film Muscle Shoals: The Incredible True Story of a Small Town With a Big Sound, you’ll see first-hand where it all started. Your guided FAME Recording Studios Backstage Tour will take you “behind the velvet rope” to FAME’s publishing office, Rick Hall’s personal office, and exhibits showcasing the studio’s multiple awards and instruments played in historic recording sessions, as well as visits to the studios where a who’s who of musical royalty recorded their early hits.

You’ll also enjoy a guided tour of the Muscle Shoals Sound Studio, founded in 1969 by the group of former FAME session musicians known as The Swampers. Here, you’ll see the studios where artists like Cher, Boz Scaggs, The Rolling Stones, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Bob Dylan, Duane Allman, Paul Simon, Art Garfunkel, Rod Stewart, Willie Nelson and Cat Stevens laid down some of their most famous tracks!

While you’re in the Muscle Shoals area, you’ll also tour Ivy Green, the birthplace and childhood home of Helen Keller, where you can touch the actual well-pump where Anne Sullivan first reached into the dark silent world of young Helen’s mind. And you’ll experience a docent-guided tour of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Rosenbaum House, the best remaining example of the famed architect’s Usonian Home concept, promising affordable family housing that would redefine how people thought of their living spaces.

Of course, you’ll have numerous opportunities to enjoy modern takes on that unique blend of country, gospel and R & B that makes up the “Muscle Shoals sound” during live music performances at FloBama Music Hall, Swampers Bar & Grill, and the open-air Rattlesnake Saloon (uniquely located in a cave!). And on the last night of the Hangout, you’ll be treated to an intimate solo performance of “blues-country roots music” by singer/songwriter and Alabama native Maxwell Russell, a Master Blues artist and inductee into the Alabama Blues Hall of Fame.