THE SHOALS – In this second part of our tour of the Alabama Music Hall of Fame on Highway 72 in Tuscumbia, we continue our interview with Chairman, Rodney Hall.
The Alabama Music Hall of Fame, lost all funding from the State of Alabama a little over 2 years ago. And prior to that, over the last 5 years, the funding had been severely reduced. A lot of this was because of the sharp downturn in Alabama’s tax revenue during the Great Recession. It is rumored that another reason for cutting off the money-spigots was because other areas in the State didn’t like the fact that they were being left out. Some politicians, it has been whispered, wanted the Museum moved to their city, and created a difficult situation for the Colbert County facility. There have been rumors that some individuals made a fortune through their connections with the Hall of Fame, while the Hall’s coffers languished. We may never know what actually happened. But as it is said,” That was then, and this is now”. The Alabama Music hall of Fame rolls on. Just a bit slower now until it gets it’s feet more firmly on the ground.
Rodney Hall explains AMHOF changes to Quad-Cities Daily’s Steve Wiggins
In our interview with Hall, he had many positive, encouraging things to tell. The question of whether the State might resume at least some funding for the museum, “He said he thinks it’s a good possibility. “I think that they’re starting to see that this museum is a huge asset to the State and that they can’t let it just deteriorate into nothing. Which is what they have been doing. They’ve (State governmental executives) seen the movie (MUSCLE SHOALS) and they would like to take advantage of the amazing amount of press that Alabama’s about to get. Note: the film is set to open to the general public in New York in September: Europe in October.
He said that the Tuscumbia facility may indeed move some exhibits to other locations around Alabama. Hall was candid, “It’s a possibility. That’s been one of the complaints about the Hall of Fame is that it’s not been a true statewide museum. And other parts of Alabama would like to share, but they don’t feel part of it. 
They think it’s a Muscle Shoals museum, which if you go and look at the area size of the Muscle Shoals section here, and then compare the number if hits that came out of Muscle Shoals compared to the number of hits of all the other people had together, then you would see that the area is proportionately too small. Muscle Shoals, when taken this way, is actually under represented. ” But, nevertheless, in order to get a life saving infusion of money from state government, some changes are going to have to be made.
Rodney Hall greets a Hall of Fame visitor who stopped by with his family to see the famous museum
Here’s an example of just how famous the Alabama Music Hall of Fame is to people outside of the area… Outside of the State… As we were winding down our interview with Hall. While were talking about Country Boy Eddie, and some artifacts in exhibit there, somebody strolled around the corner from the entrance hall. Rodney didn’t know them, this reporter didn’t know them. Nobody knew them. Why were they inside the place? The reason for this was that they had driven up to the museum, pulled on the unlocked front door, and walked in. The man politely asked if the Alabama Music Hall of Fame was open for visitors. They evidently didn’t realize that it was closed, being from Altadena, California as such. The man and his family were taking a vacation trip and had just driven down from Nashville, where his two sons, musicians, got to tour some of the more famous places up there. Naturally, he said, that being so close to Muscle Shoals, they felt that they had to drive down to see FAME Studios, Muscle Shoals Sound Studio, and of course the Alabama Music Hall of Fame. They were disappointed. But Rodney Hall came to these traveler’s rescue.
Rodney Hall gives a tour to some young musicians who traveled to the Museum from Altadena, California.
We said our goodbye’s and packed our camera gear to leave. Just was we were heading out into the main lobby of the Alabama Music Hall of Fame, we saw Rodney Hall greeting the travelers from California. A gracious guy, gave the family a personal tour.
Extremely rare Editorial: If this isn’t reason enough to get the Alabama Music Hall of Fame opened again, something’s very wrong.
See our first story in this series: Alabama Music Hall of Fame in transition – Chairman encouraged – PART I
