Play in Nashville’s Big Back Yard
Like most neighborhoods in the South, homes and their back yards are often a place of refuge and gathering. And Nashville’s backyard is huge and full of so many things to experience. Extending from Northern Alabama to just south of Nashville, named Nashville’s Big Back Yard, this playground offers something for everyone.
The singing river that is Muscle Shoals
The southern part of the big back yard begins in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, where the waters of the Tennessee River have produced masterpieces leaving an indelible mark on society. Many speak of the ancestral sounds produced by the water, a blend of nature and legend, once called the “Singing River” by the Yuchi tribe.
Whether you believe in this or not, you can’t dismiss the fact of what has come from its legendary recording studios. FAME Studios and Muscle Shoals Sound Studio produced Aretha Franklin, The Rolling Stones and Wilson Pickett. FAME continues to be a working studio, with recent sessions including St. Paul and the Broken Bones, Alecia Keys, while Muscle Shoals Sound Studio.
My favorite story comes out of Muscle Shoals Sound when The Staple Singers recorded “I’ll Take You There” using The Swampers (the studio band) as the band. Stax Records released the single which was a defining moment for the studio and for Stax.. Listen to it here, and listen for Marvis Staples ask for ‘help’ from “Little David” better known as bass player for The Swampers. I dare you to sit still.
The original Swampers were Barry Beckett on keyboards; Roger Hawkins on drums; David Hood on bass; and Jimmy Johnson on guitar. Hood is the only remaining original alive in 2025. Their Southern charisma was the draw for the likes of Etta James, Paul Simon (“Kodachrome” recorded at Muscle Shoals), Lynard Skynard, The Rolling Stones (“Wild Horses”) and Cher.
FAME Recording Studio, 603 E Avalon Ave, Muscle Shoals, AL
Tours available during operating hours.
Muscle Shoals Sound Studio, 3614 N Jackson Hwy, Sheffield, AL
Studio tours available from 10:30 a.m. until 3:30 p.m. (tours begin on the hour).
Inside FAME Recording Studio.
Outside Muscle Shoals Studio, a la Cher’s legendary album.
The simplicity of Frank Lloyd Wright in Florence
The second you walk into a house that was designed by legendary architect Frank Lloyd Wright, you know. It’s organic style, ushers the outside in and beams with natural light and simplicity, the rooms are efficient and livable. Space is utilitarian, nothing wasted.
The Rosenbaum home in Florence is Usonian style, constructed in the 1930s-1950s for the American middle class. Homes that were affordable and beautiful. The layout was simple with flat roofs and car port replacing a garage.
The only Wright home in Alabama, this structure was built for newlyweds Stanley and Mildred Rosenbaum in 1939 at 1,540 square feet. As their family grew, they asked Wright to add an addition 1,084 square feet. The Usonian homes were built as to expand as the family grew.
Rosenbaum House, 601 Riverview Dr., Florence, AL
Tours: Tuesday - Saturday, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.; Sunday, 1 p.m. - 4 p.m. Last tour daily, 3:15 p.m.
Tickets: $10, adult; $5, seniors
No reservations needed unless groups of 10 or more.
Visit an elephant sanctuary
Although I visited fully intent on seeing elephants, I did not in person but via video.
The center is an educational facility in Hohenwald, Tennessee, that provides lifetime care for elephants rescued from around the world. Visit and learn about the elephants - their welfare, behavior - as well as the work of sanctuary. Sit and watch the elephants through a life-stream.
They offer educational events and programs which support the elephant’s habitat.
27 East Main Street, Hohenwald, Tennessee. Open Tuesday - Saturday. Free.
For the love of Leiper’s Fork
Stay longer than a day in the lovely village of Leiper’s Fork. This tiny place along the Natchez Trace Parkway is a thriving community of small businesses and artisans that have resurrected the place they love. Some consider it a mini-Nashville, only devoid of the rush and crowds. It’s a place where country music icons come to fish, artisans hone their craft and restaurants serve comfort food like barbecue and biscuits.
This hamlet will not remain as it is now, so don’t put off a visit to this beautiful Southern village.
Home and room rentals with Fork and Field are unique, elegantly decorated, and many, within a short walk from the downtown area. Reservations are encouraged well in advance of travel.
What to eat, drink and do in Leiper’s Fork
The RedByrd | You’ll miss it if you’re not looking. For coffee with a side of music and charm, musicians Sadie Shaw-Brooks and Kyle Brooks will craft a perfect cup of joe. 4348 Old Hillsboro Rd
Leiper’s Fork Market | Next door to The RedByrd, it’s a breakfast joint masquerading as a gas station. Don’t let the pumps fool you; walk to the back of the market, grab a sausage biscuit to partner with your coffee and hang around at the community dining table. 4348 Old Hillsboro Rd
Fox & Locke | Reserve a table inside and enjoy good Southern comfort food. Musicians take the stage on the weekend, and open mic night is every Thursday night beginning at 6:30 p.m. You never know who’ll take the stage.
4142 Old Hillsboro Road. Closed Mondays and Tuesdays.
Country Boy Restaurant | Located downtown, enjoy a fabulous cup of coffee with the Big Bad Breakfast. Feels like breakfast at grandma’s house.
Leiper’s Fork Distillery | Enjoy a tasting of small batch whiskeys at the distillery, located just outside of the city limits.
3381 Southall Rd. Closed Mondays and Tuesdays.
David Arms Gallery | Located inside of a nineteenth century barn, David Arms’ gallery is filled with pottery, jewelry, handmade furniture, ceramics, blown glass, and paintings. A beautiful space. Considered a suburb of Franklin, Tennessee, Leiper’s Fork is a creative hotspot, and Arms, along with many others, have chosen this small location to showcase work.
4157 Old Hillsboro Rd. (photo, bottom left)
Leiper’s Creek Gallery | Lisa Fox (photo, middle), artist and owner, shares her excitement for the arts with everyone who walks inside this once-upon-a-time gas station. “I always try to maintain a very eclectic mix from contemporary work to traditional and impressionistic, to abstract. That's just always been my jam. I like to show how that stuff can go together. People don't have to do their house all abstract or all traditional, I think that's kind of boring,” she explains. “If you can pop in your own personality with just things that you love, there's ways to find a common thread to make it all go together.” She continues to say that her first mission of the gallery is to welcome everybody into it and make them feel at home and comfortable. I had been in too many galleries, where I got looked up and down, to see if I was worthy? Is she gonna buy something or not and actually get mistreated? That is not gonna happen here.”
4144 Old Hillsboro Rd.
Patina Home and Garden | Located in downtown, adjacent to David Arms, Patina Home and Garden is one of the newest additions to the small community. Brooke Giannetti (photo, bottom right) and her husband Steve moved from their California home to the countryside of Tennessee. Brooke explains that while her husband was working on a project in Leiper’s Fork, he “fell in love with the area. This place is great.” Another project brought them back, and they decided it was time to buy land and move. “Right before we were about to move, the people who own this building reached out and asked if we would be interested in opening up a store. We thought, ‘What a wonderful way to become part of this community, and so that's what we did.’ Their farm sits on about 100 acres where their daughter Layla joins them, building a farm with biodynamic and organic practices. Her products are sold in town - micro-greens, eggs, flowers and more. Visit the downtown store, but if you’re interested in seeing their farm, classes and events are held there, including Layla’s pottery classes. Do they miss California? “No,” she says, without skipping a beat. Visit the website for events.
4149 Old Hillsboro Rd.
On stage at Fox & Locke
