The city of Florence, Alabama, located on the Tennessee River, frequently makes the Southern Living list of Best Small Towns. The University of North Alabama hosts athletic and cultural events. Tourists are drawn by the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail, fishing and water sports, history and architecture.
Shindig Revival, held this October 11–13 in the thriving downtown, marked the return of a unique event in the city for the first time since the pandemic. On a scale that might seem more likely in a big city, the weekend event brought together the best of music, food, and fashion. This year’s Shindig also marks the 20th anniversary of the Billy Reid fashion brand.
The 2024 Shindig organizers included events open to the public, with performances in Wilson Park by The Brook and the Bluff and by SistaStrings, named best instrumentalists in 2023 by the Americana Music Association. Several local restaurants hosted Florence Late Night, following a Shoals Theater performance by The Kills and Phosphorescent.
On Saturday after a brunch hosted at the Stricklin Hotel, Award-winning fashion designer Billy Reid was in conversation with “The Godmother of Fashion” Fern Mallis, creator of New York Fashion Week. The interview had some light moments as Mallis’ internet review produced some inaccurate biographical details, but she went on to ask about Reid’s family and their influence on his career path, mentors in his career, his relocation to North Alabama, and the recognition and awards he has been given in the fashion world. Mallis also noted that Women’s Wear Daily had recently run a cover story on Reid in celebration of his 20th anniversary.
Quoting an article describing him as “rooted in Southern hospitality and wardrobe staples,” Mallis asked about Reid’s design philosophy.
He said, “Clothes should live with you. Ten years from now they should still be relevant.” He acknowledged that this philosophy had evolved. He mentioned the archives in his shop and said he likes to emphasize fashion that is timeless and ageless. He pointed out that he was wearing a shirt from the collection ten years before. Mallis added, “You can only have a business that grows if you learn every day.”
When Mallis asked where he got his ideas about Southern hospitality, Reid credited his mother’s influence but pointed out that he didn’t think hospitality was exclusive to the South. “It’s how you treat people.”
Formerly based in New York, Reid found himself retooling his business after the 9/11 attacks, which coincided with Fashion Week, wreaking havoc on many in the fashion industry. The award-winning designer relocated his home and his business to Florence his home.
“My idea was to build an American fashion house in the Deep South right out of the Shoals,” said Reid. “We invited editors down from New York and Los Angeles and brought them here. We wanted to show them what we were working on, and we wanted to promote the area and the music history. We felt if we could get these folks down here, turn on the hospitality, and immerse them in the culture, the music history, what we were doing as a brand, that they would go out and tell people. And it worked.”
Reid hosted the first Shindig in 2008. From its inception, the event capitalized on the area’s musical resources, with a performance by The Civil Wars, street performances by Those Darlins and the Pine Hill Haints, as well as a guided tour of Muscle Shoals’ iconic FAME Studios.
After the Shindig’s first year’s success, they concluded, “Maybe we should do this again.”
In subsequent years, the event brought in such-well known acts as Candy Staton, Justin Townes Earle, The War and Treaty, Margo Price, and Kacey Musgraves. They also reached across music genres, hosting the New Orleans-based Preservation Hall Jazz Band and the Del McCoury Band, a bluegrass institution the same year.
The organizers regularly include acts with local or regional connections, including Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, the Secret Sisters, and St. Paul and the Broken Bones. Brittney Howard and the Alabama Shakes appeared shortly after the debut of their first album and returned for a surprise performance after their Grammy win for their second album. In 2013, the documentary film Muscle Shoals premiered at Shindig.
Reid said, “For years, we had been trying to tell the story of the music history of our community. We did a good job giving our Chamber of Commerce speech, but when Mick Jagger and Aretha Franklin are telling the story, it has a lot more credibility.” He noted the many stepping stones that have built the community and created energy.
Cuisine has always been an important part of Shindig. This year’s Revival served up some of that Southern hospitality at the Tailgate Party at McFarland Park on the banks of the Tennessee River. This year’s event featured chefs Adam Evans, a Muscle Shoals native and James Beard Award winner; Josh Quick of Odette’s; Sean Brock, another James Beard Award winner with restaurants in Nashville; and five-time James Beard nominee for Best Chef in the South Bill Briand, who is opening Little Bird in Fairhope, Alabama.
On Saturday evening, the Shoals Theater was the scene of the 20th anniversary runway show for the Billy Reid collection. Reid greeted the audience and introduced Abraham Alexander, the classical guitarist and vocalist for the runway show. Alexander performed other original songs sharing his own background–living in Athens, Greece, until he was eleven. He also described his own adoption, noting that “blood is not always thicker than water,” leading to his song “Blood Under the Bridge.”
Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, touring in support of Woodland, their first studion album im six years, headlined the evening. The genuine troubadours opened with “I Was Thinking Tonight about Elvis” and then invited Paul Kowert to join them on upright bass. The set list balanced favorites from their career both as Gillian Welch and as David Rawlings Machine. They played, “Ruby,” “Red Clay Halo,” and “That’s the Way It Goes,” and Grammy-nominated “Cumberland Gap.”
Welch joked, “I’m glad we don’t normally play after runway shows. It’s hard to get dressed,” then noted that someone had recently described them as “nicely disheveled.” She quipped, “I’m honestly trying to look as good as I can.”
Introducing “The Midnight Train” as “one of our zippier numbers,” Welch recalled playing in Florence many years ago in a venue with a pool table, recalling hearing the balls breaking in the middle of a sad and lonesome song.”
When Welch brought out her banjo, Rawlings called it “one of the few tricks we have,” pointing to the harmonica as their other.
They played several songs from the new album, including “Trainload of Sky,” “Hashtag,” “What We Have,” and Lawman and “The Day the Mississippi Died.” They closed with the crowd favorite “Miss Ohio” and the old-time classic “I’ll Fly Away,” before returning to the stage for an encore with “Time (The Revelator)” the title song from their 2001 album.
The evening ran over into the wee hours with music, food, and drinks in Mural Alley behind the company headquarters, featured Muscle Shoals and Los Angeles up-and-coming recording artist, Walt^n playing his hip hop/folk songs from the rooftop, with band members from the Alabama Shakes, Motel Radio, and Carver Commodore, as well as Walt^n’s father Billy Reid sitting in.
The evening ran over into the wee hours with music, food, and drinks in Mural Alley behind the company headquarters, featured Muscle Shoals and Los Angeles up-and-coming recording artist, Walt^n playing his hip hop/folk songs from the rooftop, with band members from the Alabama Shakes, Motel Radio, and Carver Commodore, as well as Walt^n’s father Billy Reid sitting in.