Muscle Shoals Meets the 70s rewind

Part 8: Sometimes the light’s all shinin’ on the Shoals

No, I never saw the Grateful Dead (live), y’all, but a few weeks back, I did seriously dig on some Dead with Jay Burgess backed by the world-famous Fiddleworms.

The night two, set one Muscle Shoals Meets the 70s performance of the Grateful Dead’s “Truckin’ ” served as a textbook example of what's great about this long-running philanthropic concert series. Friends, the word of the day is: Authenticity. These artists who come together for Muscle Shoals Meets events are authentic and their performances are authentic, too.

From the minute Jay set foot on Florence’s historic Shoals Theatre stage that night, it was crystal clear it wasn’t going to be your parents' (grandparents’?) Grateful Dead experience. Before Jay was even firmly positioned in front of the microphone, someone yelled out, “We love you, Jay!” and we all clapped and cheered in agreement for the founding member of the The Pollies. Then Jay said, “How’s it going?” and we lost it.

You see, the Muscle Shoals Meets audiences aren’t just your average run-of-the-mill music fans, y’all. I’m sure my perspective is a little skewed but from where I sit, as audience members, we’re kind of a big deal. We all play our part in making these Muscle Shoals Meets nights special. We help weave the night's magic and our energy is what seals the deal, y’all — that’s the beauty of live music in the Shoals.

Y'all, song after song during back-to-back nights with four sets total, the Fiddleworms were dang tight throughout Muscle Shoals Meets the 70s. It was so cool seeing Jay front the Fiddleworms even if it was for just a few minutes. Hearing Mitch Mann on “Truckin’ ” (backing) vocals with Jay was pretty spectacular, y’all.

This was one of those special performances of the two-night MSM stand where I could feel Fiddleworms’ guitarist Scott Todd’s excitement. I promise, Scott was smiling ear-to-ear and catching the eye of all his Fiddleworms bandmates and giving them a wink or a nod. They were all just radiating pure joy and so were we.

Just like us, these beloved Shoals rockstars have a blast at these shows. Who doesn't love jamming and hanging with their friends, right?

I was sad when the performance was over and it occurred to me: What a long, strange trip it’s been.

Stay tuned … more to come.

Dig Worms.

Photo credit: Devona Hawkins