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FAME Recording Studio

Muscle Shoals AL

This FAME (Florence Alabama Music Enterprises) Recording Studios, which is still active recording top artists. They do tours every day, even when there is active recording going on, but no one was recording when we were there.
One of the early stars to record at FAME. His hit Mustang Sally sold over 1 million records.
Montage of some of the top stars that have recorded at FAME Studios.
The door to the studios
Studio A
Studio A ceiling for controlling sound
Comical notice on the key board. This is for serious musicians.
Sound booth for the singers in Studio A.
Studio B. Notice the louvered panels and the slanted wall, all for sound control/
Sound booth for the singers in Studio B.
Audio equipment
Studio B control room.

Alabama Music Hall of Fame

Tuscumbia AL

The Alabama Music Hall of Fame is fairly small, but it has a lot of neat displays about musicians who are Alabama natives.

Equipment from the Sun Studio in Memphis
Microphone used by Elvis, BB King, etc.
My father’s all time favorite country singer. He is regarded as one of the most significant and influential musicians of the 20th century. Killed in a car accident at age 30.
The Commodores outfits
Outfits worn by The Temptations.
Sonny James display.
Tammy Wynette, considered The First Lady of Country Music.
Hank Williams bust, and Hank Williams Jr display.
This is a wild one. A slightly over-the-top Pontiac Bonneville once owned by Happy Hal Burns, radio and TV star in the mid 20th century. His trademark line was “Beeeeeeee Happy”.
Inside of the car is adorned with pistols!
Alabama’s tour bus
W. C. Handy’s trumpet
We toured FAME Recording Studio in Muscle Shoals, and heard the original recording of Wilson Pickett’s Mustang Sally.
Muscle Shoals is famous for its recording studios, in use even today.

Elvis Presley

Tupelo MS

Tupelo MS is all about Elvis Presley. He was born in this small house on January 8, 1935.
In 1948 the Presley family packed up and moved to Memphis in a 1939 Plymouth.
The “Walk of Life” chronicles every year of Elvis’ life.
Elvis at 13.
Elvis’ childhood church.
Pretty cool mural along a wall on the property.
At the top of a hill, a platform called “Becoming”. Statues of a young Elvis sitting in front of the Superstar Elvis performing.
Elvis’ mother bought him his first guitar from this hardware store in 1946.
Downtown Tupelo mural.
Elvis’ favorite hangout – Johnnie’s Drive In.
Of course, we ate here, in The Elvis Booth!
These metal sculptures are all over town.

Lincolniana at Mississippi State University

Starkville MS

Council of War, 1868, depicting General Grant, President Lincoln and Secretary of War Stanton.
Council of War variation, 1868
Bronze bust of Lincoln without the beard
Lincoln-Douglas Debate, by John D. Whiting
Young Lincoln, by Norman Rockwell
Lincoln portrait by C.C. Beall
Lincoln in Prayer, by James Montgomery Flagg
Lincoln at Window, by James Montgomery Flagg
Lincoln portrait by F.C. Courter
Original 1860 campaign flag

Ulysses S Grant Presidential Library & Museum

Starkville MS

Mississippi State University houses the Ulysses S. Grant Presidential Library & Museum.
Ulysses Grant was our 18th president, served from 1869-1877.
2nd Lieutenant Grant at US Military Academy, West Point
Grant rose from relative obscurity to national acclaim in the wake of his victory at Fort Donelson and his success at Vicksburg, Mississippi, the “Gibraltar of the West”.
Ulysses Grant, President of the Unites States.
This is a copy of a painting young Grant made while a cadet at the US Military Academy, circa 1842. The original painting hangs at the US Military Academy, West Point NY.
The Grant family
President Grant and First Lady Julia Grant.
After leaving the White House Grant and Julia travelled extensively around the world.
Grant died in 1885, and is now buried at the General Grant National Memorial in New York City.