Bob Mehr, Memphis Commercial Appeal
Published
8:31 pm UTC Feb. 8, 2021
As the National Museum of African American Music opens its doors, journalists from the USA TODAY Network explore the stories, places and people who helped make music what it is today in our expansive series, Hallowed Sound.
Muscle Shoals might have been a small city in North Alabama with just a few thousand folks, but the music made there has been heard by many millions the world over. Building its reputation in the early 1960s with recordings by local Black artists, FAME Studios flourished through the decade, becoming a lure for national R&B acts and international pop stars seeking the city’s singular sound. Here are five tracks, cut at FAME and Muscle Shoals Sound Studio, that show the range and power of the music made there.
Steppenwolf and beyond: Alabama guitarist’s magic ride
Updated Feb 06, 2021;
Posted Feb 05, 2021
Canadian-American rock band Steppenwolf pose outside EMI House in London, 20th October 1969. From left to right, they are (back) John Kay, Larry Byrom, Goldy McJohn, Jerry Edmonton, with Nick St. Nicholas in front. (Photo by Michael Webb/Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)Getty Images
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Here’s the celestial plane Larry Byrom existed on back then: He met Jim Morrison and Neil Young
in the same day. Around that time, Byrom also jammed onstage with Jimi Hendrix at a now legendary Hollywood club. He’s got a memoir’s worth of these crushed-velvet vignettes.
Lawn & Landscape
Crews at Earth Effects Outdoor Living are fairly tech-forward and have learned to embrace labor management software.
Photo courtesy of Earth Effects Outdoor Living
In today’s world, business owners are looking to technology to solve their everyday problems and help streamline operations.
Nate Moses, CEO of Precision Landscape Management, in Greenville, S.C., says good labor management software can be one of the most essential tools for a landscaping company.
“Like the CRM that you use for your business, it’s very involved and the more involved you are in it, the more you get out of it,” he says. “You have to utilize it almost on a daily basis to get the most out of it.”
Lawn & Landscape
Features - Irrigation
Drip irrigation has become more commonplace in recent years, and irrigation companies are keeping up by designing more products to increase efficiency and ease installation.
Photo courtesy of Enviroscape LA
An increasing global population, droughts and a move toward more sustainable options throughout the industry has led to drip irrigation becoming more popular.
Because of this, irrigation companies are working to provide products that are more advanced, environmentally friendly and speed up installation time for contractors.
Benefits beyond saving water.
The primary advantage of drip irrigation is ultimately water conservation.
“It’s the most efficient form of irrigation because it’s putting water directly where it’s needed,” says Peter Lackner, product manager at Toro. “And that’s especially true of subsurface irrigation where it’s putting water directly at the root level.”
Lawn & Landscape
Features - Cover Story
Building a solid business infrastructure has positioned Matt Lyum and Performance Landscapes to grow thoughtfully, train thoroughly and deliver quality.
Photo courtesy of Performance LAndscapes
“I guess the new word of the year is pivot,” says Matt Lyum, president of Honolulu, Hawaii-based Performance Landscapes. He started the company in 2002 when he drew up a three-year cash flow projection, personnel policy, safety manual and job descriptions. Admittedly, the number-crunching before he hired a single employee was not business-as-usual for the industry, particularly in his market. “Most people thought it was overkill, but it set us on a path of growth,” he says.