Muscle Shoals Sound Studio Where seminal recordings from the late 60’s and the 70’s were made by artist from Aretha Franklin to the Rolling Stones to Paul Simon.
Discover the charm of the South on a road trip from Nashville to New Orleans through Alabama. You will find rich history, soulful music, and Southern hospitality at every stop. #SouthernRoadTrip
Muscle Shoals Sound Studio Where seminal recordings from the late 60’s and the 70’s were made by artist from Aretha Franklin to the Rolling Stones to Paul Simon.
While there are several routes that will take drivers from Nashville to New Orleans, only one truly captures the best of the southern United States: Interstate 65. This main north-south thoroughfare splices its way through Alabama, heading from its border with Tennessee through some of the state’s major cities before arcing toward Mobile Bay on the Gulf of Mexico and continuing into Louisiana. Along the route, travelers are exposed to some of the most soulful music in the country, unmatched southern flavours and monumental history. Here is why you should stop on the cities of Muscle Shoals, Birmingham, Montgomery and Mobile on a road trip through Alabama.
Located an hour’s drive west of Athens, where the I-65 enters the state, Muscle Shoals is well worth a side trip from the main highway. Resting on the left bank of the Tennessee River, this city has played an important role in the history of popular music.
It is home to FAME Studios, the recording studio founded by music producer Rick Hall where hit tracks by Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett, Otis Redding, Etta James, Gregg Allman and many others were laid down, and Muscle Shoals Sound Studio, where the likes of Cher, Bob Seger, Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, Willie Nelson, Lynyrd Skynyrd and The Black Keys have recorded.
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Be sure to visit both studios before stopping at the Alabama Music Hall of Fame (located in neighbouring Tuscumbia), which is home to exhibits honouring some of the state’s best singers, songwriters, musicians and producers, including Nat “King” Cole, Tammy Wynette, Lionel Richie, Wilson Pickett, Hank Williams and the country music band that took its name from the state — Alabama.
Birmingham for food fans
Just a two-hour drive from Muscle Shoals, Birmingham is the self-proclaimed Dinner Table of the South — and for good reason. Along with its selection of amazing restaurants serving everything from soul food to sushi, is it also home to seven James Beard Foundation award winners.
Start your culinary journey with a breakfast of sourdough pancakes topped with whipped ricotta, blueberry compote and sliced almonds at The Essential before gabbing a Havana latte from popular brunch spot The Frothy Monkey. For lunch, stop at Rodney Scott’s BBQ for the smoked chicken or turkey covered in the eatery’s famous white barbecue sauce, before heading for dinner at the Bottega Café — created by a James Beard winner — for the sunchoke soup with mascarpone and winter black truffle followed by the braised short rib with roasted cabbage, celery root purée and agrodolce onions.
While in Birmingham, be sure to also sign up for one of the food-themed excursions of the city. Birmingham Taste Tours offers a three-hour experience that focuses on southern cuisine and local tastes, while The Birmingham Historic Touring Company includes a tour of the city’s diverse gastronomic landscape.
Montgomery for history students
This year marks the 60th anniversary of the passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 in the United States, making 2024 the perfect time to visit Montgomery, which was the birthplace of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s.
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Less than an hour-and-a-half drive south of Birmingham, Montgomery is home to the 1883-built Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church, where a bus boycott was organized after Rosa Parks was arrested in the city after refusing to give up her seat to white passengers in 1955. You can also visit the Dexter Parsonage Museum, the one-time home of Martin Luther King Jr. and his family after he became minister of the Dexter Avenue church in the 1950s — and was soon propelled into the national spotlight as one of the faces of the rights movement.
Other important sites in Montgomery include The Equal Justice Initiatives’ National Memorial for Peace and Justice and Legacy Museum, which documents how lynching was used as a tool to terrorize Black Americans, and the Freedom Rides Museum and First Baptist Church. That museum and church chronicle how a racially mixed group of college students were beaten by white supremacist at a bus terminal in Montgomery, and then — while meeting with King in a church — were surrounded by an angry, aggressive crowd of 3,000 white supremacists.
Discover the charm of the South on a road trip from Nashville to New Orleans through Alabama. You will find rich history, soulful music, and Southern hospitality at every stop. #SouthernRoadTrip
Alabama Tourism
Mobile for fun seekers
The next big city on the I-65 corridor before it heads into neighbouring Louisiana is Mobile, a two-and-a-half-hour drive southwest of Montgomery. Located on Mobile Bay on the Gulf Coast, the city is a mix of southern flair and beckoning fun.
Founded more than 300 years ago, Mobile was once the capital of the French colony of Louisiana before it moved to New Orleans, and, as such, it is the birthplace of Mardi Gras in the U.S. — boasting a celebration even older than New Orleans’. Even today, the two weeks prior to Easter see at least one daily parade in the city.
You can learn all about its carnival spirit at the Mobile Carnival Museum, which is home to 14 galleries and several video presentations about its history in the city, or by going on a guided or self-guided excursion with Mobile Mardi Gras Trail Tours. It recounts the history of Mobile with a special focus on Creole culture, secret societies and Gilded Age ballrooms.
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Be sure to also check out the city’s culinary scene, with several options to sate any appetite. Over three hours, Bienville Bites Food Tour lets you sample award-winning cuisine from seven restaurants in historic downtown. As well, the city’s Gulf Coast location lends itself to some amazingly fresh seafood from locations such as Mobile landmark Wintzell’s Oyster House, the nearly 40 years old Original Oyster House, and Ed’s Seafood Shed, home to the Yo Mama’s Platter piled high with shrimp, white fish, baby cakes and oysters and served with a bowl of gumbo, southern greens, fries and hushpuppies (a savoury, deep fired cornmeal ball).
Go to Alabama.Travel for more ideas on what to see and do during a road trip along Interstate 65.
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