Arriving at Northwest Alabama Regional Airport in Muscle Shoals means nearby cities such as Florence, Huntsville, and Decatur are all an easy drive away. Muscle Shoals is a small town on the Tennessee River that changed the sound of American music, with studios that recorded Aretha Franklin, the Rolling Stones, and countless others. Together with Florence, Sheffield, and Tuscumbia it forms the Shoals, a friendly cluster of river towns where the pace is slow and the history is loud. Standout experiences around Muscle Shoals: - Tour FAME Studios, where the Muscle Shoals sound was born - Visit the Muscle Shoals Sound Studio at 3614 Jackson Highway - See Helen Keller's birthplace at Ivy Green in Tuscumbia - Explore the Alabama Music Hall of Fame in Tuscumbia - Walk through Frank Lloyd Wright's Rosenbaum House in Florence - Stand on Wilson Dam and watch the Tennessee River churn through - Eat a burger inside a rock overhang at the Rattlesnake Saloon - Catch the W.C. Handy Music Festival in Florence each summer Muscle Shoals sits on the river, with Florence just across the bridge and Tuscumbia and Sheffield minutes away. Huntsville and its rocket center are about 75 minutes east, Decatur under an hour, and Nashville and Birmingham are each about two hours. Lake Wilson and Lake Wheeler offer fishing and boating close to town. The Shoals take music seriously, so bring a playlist, sit on a dock at sunset, and listen for the river.