Small Alabama towns hit a few high notes

    I awoke this morning to find that I live within three miles of one of the 10 "coolest" small towns in America, according to a report from Frommers, the travel guide.  Collinsville, CT, was chosen because it is attracting more and more young people, giving the town a renewed vibrancy.  In recent years, a pub has opened to positive reviews and constant traffic.  So too has a nice bakery; the town already had a large market and deli.  People who live in one of the attractive older homes in Collinsville don't need a car for many of their errands, but of course everyone has one.   There are some rumblings that the old Collins Axe Factory, from which the town derived its name, will be converted into residential units, but town officials and the building's owner insist no such plans have been made.
    Only one town in the southeastern U.S., Tuscumbia, AL, made it into the top 10.  One of the reasons was housing prices; a scan of available homes in the area indicates that it is difficult to find any selling price above $300,000.  Within the Tuscumbia city limits are just three golf courses, all nine-holers of modest sizes and challenges.  But Muscle Shoals, just six miles up the road, is home to high-quality golf courses, part of Alabama's Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail, and two of the longest in the U.S.
    The "Big Joe" course stretches to more than 8,000 yards from the back tees.  The par 5 12th hole runs to 716 yards, and the course rating, at 78.7, is as high as I have seen (the slope is a more modest 138).  The other course, The Schoolmaster, was named after President Woodrow Wilson, a former teacher and president of Princeton, who promoted the building of the Wilson Dam on the Tennessee River that provided northern Alabama with hydroelectric power and many beautiful manmade lakes, some of which frame Muscle Shoals' golf courses.  No pushover at an almost equally robust 7,971 yards, the Schoolmaster sports a rating of 78.0 and a slope of 143.
    If the Trent Jones courses prove too muscular, the community golf course at Cypress Lakes plays to just 6,605 yards from the tips, but its rating of 71.9 and slope of 133 indicate it is challenging enough.  Water comes into play on most holes.  A nice 4 bedroom, 3 ½ bath home in the community is currently listed at $419,000.
    Golf is certainly not the only "recreational" activity in Muscle Shoals.  In the 1960s and ‘70s, a music studio in town began attracting such recording artists as Aretha Franklin, Rod Stewart, Bob Seger, Paul Simon, Joe Cocker, The Rolling Stones, Leon Russell, Traffic, The Staple Singers, Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, and Clarence Carter.  Percy Sledge ("When a Man Loves a Woman") is a native of the town.  Muscle Shoals became associated with a unique style of music, a blend of country, gospel and rhythm and blues that characterizes the sounds of the town today.  Music festivals and concerts are plentiful throughout the year.