Producer Sam Phillips, the “Father of Rock ’n’ Roll” who discovered Elvis, Johnny Cash and many others, was an Alabama native who began his music career as a radio DJ in Muscle Shoals.

Nat King Cole, born in Montgomery, broke ground in 1956 when he debuted as the first black man in America to host a prime-time TV program, “The Nat King Cole Show.”

The last single released by Hank Williams Sr. in his lifetime was titled “I’ll Never Get Out of this World Alive.” It became a No. 1 hit shortly after his death in January 1953.

In Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Sweet Home Alabama,” the line “Now Muscle Shoals has got The Swampers” refers to a nickname for the famed studio musicians of the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section.

Formed in 1930, the Auburn Knights Orchestra is believed by some to be the oldest college-age big band organization in the world.

Birmingham’s Original Gospel Harmonettes disbanded from 1959 to 1961 when singer Dorothy Love Coates left to become a civil rights activist.

Bluesman Ed Bell, born in Fort Deposit, also recorded in the 1920s under the pseudonyms “Barefoot Bill” and “Sluefoot Joe.”

Country pioneer Jimmie Rodgers got the nickname “The Singing Brakeman” when he started working for the Mobile and Ohio Railroad at age 14.

Legend has it, guitarist Ike Zinnerman of Grady taught Robert Johnson to play so well, some believed Johnson sold his soul to the devil.

Born in 1902, Vera Hall is best known among younger generations for being sampled by Moby for his 1999 smash hit “Natural Blues.”

Montgomery native Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton was the first to record “Hound Dog” (later made legendary by Elvis Presley).

Discovered in Mobile, Beth Neilsen Chapman wrote and recorded “Sand and Water,” later covered by Elton John to honor Princess Diana.

New Orleans’ Mardi Gras might be more famous, but Mobile’s was the first, dating all the way back to 1703.

The Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section played on more than 500 recordings, including Aretha Franklin’s “Respect” and “Brown Sugar” by The Rolling Stones.

Wilson Pickett, best known for his hit “Mustang Sally,” was raised in Prattville as one of 11 children. Today, a historical marker honors him in downtown Prattville.

The original Muscle Shoals Sound Studio was made famous on the cover of Cher’s album 3614 Jackson Highway and is now listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.

The four-part harmony popularized by the group The Blind Boys of Alabama is often referred to as “the Alabama style.”

Clarence “Pinetop” Smith of Troy is credited with the first known use of the phrase “boogie woogie” in a recording. His song “Pinetop’s Boogie Woogie” helped launch a craze in the 1930s and 1940s.

The city of Tuscaloosa honored native daughter and “Queen of the Blues” Dinah Washington by renaming 30th Avenue in her honor.

At the Alabama Music Hall of Fame’s recording studio, you can sing over prerecorded songs from the Muscle Shoals Sound era.