I new Eddie Hinton. Partied with Eddie Hinton. Wrote about Eddie Hinton, in Decatur, Alabama, in the mid-1980s.
Patterson Hood and crew made a series of mini-documentaries related to the various themes and influences the band explores on their next album, “Go-Go Boots.”
The eight episodes are a companion to this, their ninth studio album, due out Feb. 15. The episode above, directed with Jason Thrasher, delves into the band’s relationship with the music and mythology of Eddie Hinton — the obscure soul singer whom Hood described as “if Otis Redding met Howlin’ Wolf somewhere in the middle.”
“Back in the 60′s and 70′s, Eddie Hinton lived and recorded in my hometown of Muscle Shoals Alabama where he was a part of the thriving music scene that was based there,” Hood explains. “A triple threat (singer, guitar player and songwriter) Eddie participated in hit music by Percy Sledge, Bobby Womack, Aretha Franklin, Boz Scaggs, Dusty Springfield…. Later he made several incredible albums as a solo artist.”
A new citizen-based organization, Tennessee Riverkeeper, has been created to protect the Tennessee River and its tributaries by enforcing environmental laws and educating the public, according a press release.
The organization was approved by non-profit Waterkeeper Alliance which licenses the Riverkeeper trademark, according to David Whiteside, one of the founders. The group has set up an office in Decatur near the geographic center of the main stretch of the Tennessee River and plans to open a second office upstream in the state of Tennessee.
The organization has submitted an application to the IRS for a 501(c)(3) non-profit status, Whiteside said, and the group plans to address sewage from failing waste water treatment plants and “point source” industrial pollution as top priority pollution threats. The organization will monitor polluters and their pollution permits, respond to citizen complaints, and utilize other methods to further protect the Tennessee River and its tributaries. When the organization discovers illegal pollution, Tennessee Riverkeeper will enforce environmental laws, he said.
Tennessee Riverkeeper is against the proposed TEPPCO fuel depot a half-mile upstream from Decatur, Alabama’s only drinking water intake.
“The Tennessee River basin is one of the most biologically diverse watersheds in the world,” Whiteside said.
During the Bush years, we specialized in covering the politicization of the U.S. justice system as much as any news organization. Our archives are about the most comprehensive for anyone researching the prosecution of former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman, and the original case against Richard Scrushy, which Glynn Wilson covered for The New York Times.
