A big part of Alabama’s music and pop culture fame comes from a romantic jazz standard, “Stars Fell on Alabama,” that has decidedly non-Alabama roots. The composer was born in Massachusetts, and the lyricist was born in Lithuania and grew up in New York City, but their song, which commemorates a spectacular meteor shower in 1833, can set the theme for tour stops across the state.
Just as Bing Crosby, Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, Billie Holiday, Doris Day, Jimmy Buffett and a hundred others have sung, you may feel the warmth of lyrics such as
My heart beat like a hammer
My arms wound around you tight
And stars fell on Alabama
Last night.
From the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains in the north all the way to the sandy beaches of the Gulf of Mexico, many places await to entertain a group with music and some cultural enrichment, too. Seeing a meteor shower would be a bonus.
The Muscle Shoals Sound
Stars of the entertainment sort certainly have gravitated to the Shoals, the collective name for four cities in northwest Alabama (Florence, Sheffield, Tuscumbia and Muscle Shoals) because of two internationally renowned recording studios — FAME Recording Studios in Muscle Shoals and the Muscle Shoals Sound Studio, often simply called 3614 Jackson Highway. From the outside, neither is impressive, but what’s inside will blow you away. Both offer tours.
At FAME, you are wrapped in soulful memories of Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett, Otis Redding and others who created songs that have sold millions of copies. The Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section (also known as the Swampers) were the connective tissue at 3614 Jackson Highway when Cher, the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, Leon Russell, Linda Ronstadt and dozens of others recorded songs that swirl through your memory.
The nearby Alabama Music Hall of Fame in Tuscumbia honors luminaries who have direct ties to Alabama. Among them are Nat “King” Cole, Hank Williams, W.C. Handy (“Father of the Blues”), the Louvin Brothers, Tammy Wynette, Jimmie Rodgers (the father of country music), Lionel Richie, Percy Sledge, Emmylou Harris and, of course, the group named Alabama.
A popular live music destination for groups in the Shoals is the Rattlesnake Saloon just west of Tuscumbia. The burgers and beer are good, and the music reverberates through the countryside because the saloon is tucked underneath a gigantic rock overhang. Yes, you get entertained in a cave. The biggest hotel in the area is the Marriott Shoals Hotel and Spa, which offers live entertainment in the appropriately named Swampers Bar and Grill.
Before leaving the Shoals, absorb some cultural history at the W. C. Handy Birthplace, Museum and Library in Florence. Handy was born here in 1873. His affinity for music, his significant travels and his appreciation of Black entertainment styles led to his growth as a musician and composer. Among his compositions are the “The St. Louis Blues,” “The Beale Street Blues” and “The Memphis Blues.”
Beats and Blooms in Huntsville
Huntsville, only about 75 miles east of the Shoals, is the area’s major city. It comes complete with many lodging choices, plenty of dining opportunities, and notable entertainment and cultural destinations, including two venues that opened in recent years. They are the Orion amphitheater and the Mars Music Hall.
The 8,000-seat Orion amphitheater books a variety of acts (on the 2024 calendar: Kings of Leon, Sturgill Simpson, Billy Strings and John Legend) and special events (examples include summertime Sip and Stroll evenings with food and music, a farm-to-fork picnic and a Christmas market). The Mars Music Hall can accommodate 1,575 music lovers with an open floor plan and a balcony overlooking an oversized stage, all inside the Von Braun Center. Groups can arrange a whole evening by combining a concert with time at Rhythm on Monroe, a restaurant and rooftop bar with views of downtown Huntsville.
The Huntsville Botanical Garden offers a quiet contrast to the intensity of a concert at the Orion or in the Mars Music Hall. The garden is an urban oasis that began with 35 acres of city-owned land in the 1980s. It now offers 188 acres of meadows, wetlands and forests laced with relaxing walkways and decorated with outdoor sculptures. Inside its education center is what it describes as the world’s largest open-air butterfly house.
When you roll south to Birmingham, the Birmingham Museum of Art offers another stop for reflection and appreciation. It is in the middle of the city, and it houses a diverse collection of more than 29,000 paintings, sculptures, prints, drawings and decorative arts pieces. Its holdings highlight Asian, European, American, African, Pre-Columbian and Native American art. An outdoor sculpture garden complements the galleries inside its three-story building.
On Stage in Montgomery
Shakespeare comes up twice when you head into central and south Alabama — William Shakespeare of literary fame and Hank Williams, nicknamed “the Hillbilly Shakespeare,” of country music fame. Both have a presence in Montgomery.
The Bard of Avon is the namesake of the Alabama Shakespeare Festival (ASF) that stages products of his quill as well as contemporary plays, musicals and new works. The festival’s Carolyn Blount Theatre houses two venues (the 750-seat Festival Stage and the 225-seat Octagon) set in an English-style landscape covering 250 acres. According to Playbill, Wynton Blount’s donation of $21.5 million for the facility was the largest single donation in the history of American theater.
It became the State Theatre of Alabama in 1977 after a humble beginning in a high school auditorium in Anniston in 1972. The 2025 calendar includes “Hamlet,” “Sherwood: The Adventures of Robin Hood” and “The Wizard of Oz.”
Of course, there’s a statue of William Shakespeare at the ASF, but there’s also a statue of the Hillbilly Shakespeare in downtown Montgomery. The life-sized bronze of the man who wrote “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry,” “I Saw the Light,” “Hey, Good Lookin’” and “Your Cheatin’ Heart” is on Tallapoosa Street not far from a private museum with all manner of memorabilia of the man, his music and his very short career.
A Mobile Mardi Gras
Take a hint from Hank Williams’s “Ramblin’ Man” and move on to Mobile to learn about another entertainment event with Alabama roots — Mardi Gras. Yes, Mobile has a solid claim to being the birthplace of Mardi Gras in Colonial America. That was in 1703, and the Mobile Carnival Museum tells that story well through dazzling costumes, jewelry, floats and photos.
While Mardi Gras in New Orleans is bigger, Mobile’s is no slouch. It has 40 parades spread through three weeks leading up to Lent. Visit Mobile describes the prolonged party as a family friendly celebration, where the favorite throw (that’s what souvenirs thrown from parade floats are called) is a Moon Pie.
The Mardi Gras flavor is available all year. The focus is on Mardi Gras Park, a large greenspace across from Fort Conde, a partial reconstruction of a French colonial fort. Permanent park fixtures include Mardi Gras-related statues such as a queen, a trumpet player and Joe Cain, the creator of Mobile’s modern Mardi Gras. He got the party started with an impromptu parade in 1866 while dressed as a fictitious Native American chief whom he named Chief Slackabamarinico (just call him Chief Slac).
Gulf Coast Hangouts
No musical exploration of Alabama is complete without getting sand in your flip-flops along the state’s 32 miles of white-sand Gulf of Mexico beaches. The place with the biggest musical heritage is the Flora-Bama, which — you guessed it — is on the Florida-Alabama state line. It’s basically a place with whatever you are looking for, whether it’s a restaurant, a beach bar, an oyster bar, a concert venue, a special event location or a church. Yes, there are church services every Sunday at 9 and 11 a.m., music included.
“There’s no shortage of live music on the beach,” said Kay Maghan, public relations director of Gulf Shores and Orange Beach Tourism, giving a special shoutout to the annual Frank Brown International Songwriters’ Festival.
“The Frank Brown Festival, named for a much-loved night watchman at the Flora-Bama, spread from the Flora-Bama to restaurants and bars all along the coast and features more than 200 songwriters for 10 days every November,” Maghan said.
Two more beach destinations to examine are the Hangout, which Maghan says books plenty of live music itself and is within walking distance of other restaurants with more entertainment, and Lulu’s, a sprawling, multi-level restaurant/bar/arcade created by Jimmy Buffett’s “crazy sister” Lucy.
