Shoals Chamber Presents a Shoals Gold Record Room Event

Help us kick off the 2019 season and get your blues on with Max Russell!

Maxwell Russell was born and raised in northwest Alabama. He grew up in the Colbert County area, a region which has had its share of music greats. It is home to Muscle Shoals Sound, Fame and other famous, ground breaking studios. It is also the hometown of Blues legend W.C. Handy. Maxwell has been playing the guitar since he was a youngster but started his journey in the "business" at the age of 26, forming bands along the way and playing his originals at gigs. He writes music ranging from Country ballads and Country rockers to Blues and Jazz numbers and old time Rock ‘n’ Roll but the blues is his main focus.Being a songwriter a show wheather solo or with his band The Shakedown Kings is a solid night of originals with some of his favorite standard cover songs.

His music is influenced by old school Delta blues music, the electric blues of the Chicago legands and Texas blues players . He plays songs by the likes of Howling Wolf, Ike Turner, Muddy Waters, Carl Perkins and artists like Tony Joe White and Stevie Ray Vaughan to name a few. Maxwell has played mainly close to his hometown for festivals and clubs.

In 2006, he entered and won first place in a Blues band competition in Birmingham, Alabama and was sent to Memphis for the IBC International Blues Challenge.Then he entered and won the IBC during The W.C. Handy Music Festival in 2016 and 2017 and represented his hometown in Memphis . He has released five albums since 1999 . The first titled The Boys Got Rhythm a full band project with his then 14 year old son Kirk on guitar.The second one is titled One Step From The Blues A solo Delta Blues album using only his unique collection of acoustic guitars and his scorching slide work on his 1929 National resonator guitar ,titled Once It Gets In Your Bones it was released in 2010 ...and his album Alabama Moon which was released in 2006 features some of the Shoals finest musicians.In 2016 he released a project titled New Years Gumbo a live 2 track analog recording of some of his songs at a house party . His newest project titled Loves The Crime is a collection of his full band and the cream of his blues songs .

In September of 2017 Maxwell was honored by The International Blues Society as a Master Blues artist for the great state of Alabama. Maxwell states that he is humbled and honored to be inducted into The Alabama Blues Hall Of Fame alongside such greats as Johnny Shines ,Microwave Dave,Kent Duchaine and many more.

Maxwell has been a partner in The Salt n Pepper Series,an event featuring mainly Alabama blues artist and sponsored by local University Of North Alabama ,The Alabama Folklife Association ,The Alabama Arts Council ,South Arts and many local business and studios.He shared in the goals to enlighten the areas people to the amount of blues artist to come from Alabama and the impact that blues music has on all music.

As a songwriter he has an array of styles of music that he has written and performs but the blues runs through his veins and is his passion.

Questions about this event? Contact:
Hope Frederick, Director of Web & Digital Media
e: hfrederick@shoalschamber.com p: 256.764.4661

This event is funded in part by the Muscle Shoals National Heritage Area and in partnership with the Shoals Gold Record Room.