The Tennessee River has a rhythm that has always defined northwestern Alabama. Those waters laid the foundation for the Shoals, eventually giving rise to the “Hit recording capital of the World”. The SEC Network recently brought our local culture to a national audience with the season nine premiere of the Emmy Award-winning series TrueSouth.

Hosted by John T. Edge and executive produced by Wright Thompson, the show explores Southern beliefs and identities through the lens of local food and community.

But, music is the true heartbeat of TrueSouth, and local sound drives every episode they produce. For the season premiere of Season 9 in the Shoals, session musicians came right here into our live rooms at FAME Recording Studios to lay down the tracks that score the broadcast.

Bringing the television production crew into FAME allowed the show to capture the authentic, living sound of Muscle Shoals today, directly connecting the legacy of our past with the musicians creating great music in our studios right now.

The episode knits the story of our local music together with the culinary landmarks of Florence, Sheffield, Tuscumbia, and Muscle Shoals. Viewers will see familiar neighbors like Trowbridge’s Ice Cream and Sandwich Shop, George’s Steak Pit, and Bunyan’s Bar-B-Q. The broadcast also highlights our friends over at Sun Drop Sound. We are deeply proud to see the people, the music, and the places of the Shoals woven together on screen.

The ninth season of TrueSouth Presented by YellaWood premiered on September 15 on the SEC Network.

You can stream the episode on demand on SEC Network+ and the ESPN App: https://www.secsports.com/truesouth

We hope you will watch and listen to the tracks our musicians laid down for this special feature, and bask in the continuing legend of Muscle Shoals.