Muscle Shoals Meets the 70s rewind

Part 23: Make it count, son

We were down to the final three songs of Muscle Shoals Meets the 70s night one when something happened that brought back a flood of memories. Michael Dillon Curington stepped up, Shoals friends. From what I hear, you can always count on Mike to step up. Well, in this case, he didn’t literally step up — Mike Dillon is the Fiddleworms’ drummer, y’all, so he was literally sitting down behind his kit — figuratively speaking, though, Mike stepped up in a big way. In the same vein as all the remarkable singer/drummers to come before him, Mike successfully commanded a room from the back. Impressive.

Y’all, there is nothing cooler than a frontman drummer. Nothing, I tell you. Talk about the massive level of skill and charisma needed — this marriage only works with the right conductor driving the train. You know what I mean, right? The drummer is the literal heartbeat of any band. Timing is everything and he’s the timekeeper. Then, to deliver vocals while driving the rhythm? It’s a pretty big deal and not for the faint of heart. It takes skill, it takes soul, it takes swagger. It took Mike to do Jerry Reed’s “Amos Moses” justice.

Holy smokes, Mike Dillon put the pedal to the metal and gave us all that gravel and all that swagger that made ole Cledus larger than life. My my my at Mike’s growl and howl skills. I could really use some lessons, too, on Mike’s masterful maniacal laugh. There is so much from this third to last performance of night one of Muscle Shoals Meets the 70s that breathed new life into me.

I'm going to be real with y'all, it's artists like Jerry Reed who gave me my country sass. Yep, Uncle Jerry had a humor about him and was rough around the edges in all the right ways. Goals. He was an entertainer and he himself was a character. Thinking about "Amos Moses” now, makes me remember all those times I stood in front of the mirror with a hairbrush in hand doing my best Jerry Reed impressions. When you’re hot, you’re hot, friends.

Make it all count, Shoals friends.

Thank you, Michael Dillon Curington. Thank you, Fiddleworms. Thank you, Seventies.

More to come … stay tuned.

Dig Worms, friends.

Photo credit: Devona Hawkins