DAYTIME PROGRAMS AND INFO
More Than a Festival
SkyDog: The Shoals Experience brings together live music, film, art, food, conversation and the living history of one of the most influential music communities in the world.
Across the Renaissance Shoals Resort, Shoals Convention Center and legendary locations throughout The Shoals, the weekend moves between performances and unexpected discoveries: intimate conversations, exhibitions, listening sessions, regional food, studio history and late-night gatherings.
Some experiences have a set time. Others are meant to be discovered as you move through the weekend.
Shuttle Pass: for parking convenience and Saturday Studio Tours!
(Shuttle passes included with 1- and 2-day VIP passes. Others can purchase 1-day shuttle passes here and two-day shuttle passes here.)
SkyDog Shuttle: for your convenience
Festival parking is limited; we suggest you take the shuttle!
Express shuttle
Stops:
Coliseum, Veterans Park, SkyDog Main Gate
Runs:
Fri. 3pm-12am, every 30 min
Sat. 9:30am-12am, every 30 min
In-town shuttle loop
Stops:
FAME Studios, Muscle Shoals Sound Studios, Florence Downtown Hampton Inn, Florence Downtown Parking Deck, Coliseum, Veterans Park, SkyDog Main Gate
Runs:
9:30am-12am, every 30 min*
*Last stop at FAME and Muscle Shoals studios: 4:30pm
FAME + Muscle Shoals Sound Studio
Go beyond the festival grounds and visit the studios where some of the most important records in American music were made.
SkyDog Shuttle transportation connects the festival campus with key locations across The Shoals, making the region itself part of the experience. On Saturday, guests can build legendary Muscle Shoals recording history into their weekend with opportunities to visit FAME Recording Studios and Muscle Shoals Sound Studio.
Saturday, August 29 10am-4:30pm
Tour availability, reservations and admission vary by location. Last tours at 3:30pm. Last studio shuttle stops at 4:30pm. Tour tickets are available at the studios for shuttle riders and free for VIP ticket holders.
SATURDAY AT SKYDOG SHOALS: FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
Southbound Market + Live Convention Center Programming
Saturday, August 29 | Doors 9:30 AM | Programming begins at 10 AM
Saturday daytime at SkyDog Shoals brings together the Southbound Market and a full slate of live conversations inside the Shoals Convention Center.
Shop regional makers and vendors, grab something to eat, then step inside for live tapings of the podcast All the Things, featuring artists, chefs, music industry leaders and people working at the front lines of medicine and recovery. All the Things hosts Tyra Newkirk and Sarah Benedict are the women behind the podcast: two grounded, funny, deeply human friends who bring heart, lived experience and real-life perspective to every conversation.
Come for one conversation or make a day of it.
ALL THE THINGS LIVE
FOOD AND THE SHOALS
Martie Duncan and Chef Dean Donnell
Food Network chef and Alabama native Martie Duncan joins Dean Donnell, executive chef at Renaissance Shoals, for a conversation about Southern food, hospitality and the relationship between what a place makes, serves and remembers.
The Shoals has a sound. It also has a table.
RECOVERY, ADDICTION AND WHAT COMES NEXT
Dr. Stephen Loyd
Physician and national recovery leader Dr. Stephen Loyd brings both professional expertise and lived experience to a conversation about addiction, treatment and recovery.
Loyd’s story helped inform the world portrayed in Dopesick. At SkyDog, the conversation moves beyond the television series to what has changed, what has not and what better recovery could look like.
HALLEY PHILLIPS
Halley Phillips, granddaughter of Sun Records founder Sam Phillips, joins the program for a conversation about growing up inside a consequential American music legacy and the responsibility that comes with carrying it forward.
Not simply where the story has been, but what deserves to happen next.
BUILT TO RESONATE
Dr. Klaus Romero and Scott Sharrard
What can a guitar tell us about craftsmanship, collaboration and progress?
Dr. Klaus Romero, CEO of Critical Path Institute and a lifelong guitarist and guitar builder, sits down with Scott Sharrard, renowned guitarist and former musical director for Gregg Allman.
Their conversation starts with music and making things by hand, then follows a larger idea: meaningful work rarely happens alone.
MALACO: THE BUSINESS BEHIND THE MUSIC
Kevin Lamb and Malaco Records’ Tommy Couch and Wolf Stephenson
Malaco Records has spent decades recording, releasing and sustaining Southern soul, blues and gospel.
Music executive and songwriter Kevin Lamb joins voices from Malaco for a conversation about the less visible work behind a musical legacy: finding artists, making records, building audiences, preserving catalogs and keeping culturally important music in circulation.
This is not a nostalgia panel. It is a conversation about what it takes to keep the music moving forward.
Southbound Market and Saturday Convention Center programming are free and open to the public.
Culture & Music History
The Muscle Shoals Story in Pictures
Step inside the people, places and creative spirit of The Shoals through the lens of Alabama photographer Abraham Rowe.
Music history is not only found on a stage. Photographer Abraham Rowe brings the story of Muscle Shoals into view through an exhibition celebrating the artists, studios, landscapes and community behind the sound.
Designed as a come-and-go experience inside the Shoals Convention Center, the exhibition gives guests another way to experience the cultural landscape that made this small corner of Alabama influential around the world.
Open Saturday during free daytime programming 9:30-4pm
Shoals Convention Center Atrium
Southbound Market
Made Here. Found Here.
Shop, eat and explore more than 30 makers, artists, vendors and regional businesses bringing a little more Alabama into SkyDog.
Saturday morning, the Shoals Convention Center comes alive before the first outdoor set.
Southbound Market brings together regional makers, artists, food, merchandise, local businesses and cultural partners in a free daytime marketplace built for wandering.
Come early. Browse between programs. Meet the people making things here.
Saturday, August 29
9:30 AM-4PM
Outside Shoals Convention Center
Free and open to the public
On Your Own
Explore Between the Music
No reservation. No set time. No need to hurry.
Some of the best SkyDog experiences do not need a stage or a schedule.
Take a walk. Follow the river. Look more closely at the walls around you. Find a piece of music history you did not know was there.
These are easy ways to make the weekend your own.
Walk the River Heritage Trail
Step outside the Renaissance and onto the River Heritage Trail for an easy walk along the Tennessee River, with history, overlooks and one of the best ways to understand the landscape around SkyDog.
The river is part of the Muscle Shoals story.
Just outside the Renaissance, River Heritage Park connects to the River Heritage Trail, a roughly 1.3-mile path along the Tennessee River canal with interpretive displays, river views and overlooks along the way.
Walk it before breakfast. Take a quiet break between programs. Bring your coffee. Run it in the morning. Or simply follow the water for a while and experience the landscape that shaped this place.
No ticket required. No schedule required.
Find Your Wilson Dam View
You do not have to go far to understand why this place is different. Find a quiet overlook and take in the Tennessee River and Wilson Dam.
SkyDog happens in a landscape shaped by water, energy and industry as much as music.
River Heritage Park, immediately adjacent to the Renaissance, offers views across the Tennessee River toward Wilson Dam.
Take ten minutes between programs. Walk down with your morning coffee. Watch the light change over the water. Then remember that the river, the dam, the communities surrounding them and the music made here are all parts of the same Shoals story.
Anytime
River Heritage Park
Free
A SkyDog Photo Walk
The river, the dam, the hotel, the studios, the musicians and the people around you are all part of the weekend. Take the long way and photograph what you find.
Not every SkyDog memory needs to happen in front of a stage..
Look for the things that tell the story of the weekend: an old photograph inside the hotel, the Wilson Dam, a musician carrying a guitar through the lobby, a new friend, a quiet morning or the sunset as the music’s playing…
Share your photos with #SkyDogShoals and help us build the visual story of the first SkyDog weekend.
All Weekend
Sunday
SkyDog Soul Sunday Brunch
Music, Community + A Reason to Gather
(Brunch included with 2-day VIP pass. Others can purchase brunch tickets here.)
Close the weekend around the table with Southern food, live music and a morning devoted to connection, recovery and giving back.
Sunday morning brings SkyDog back together one more time.
The SkyDog Soul Sunday Brunch pairs Southern hospitality with live music from The Gathering, special guests from the SkyDog weekend and a program centered on community, hope and the people working to make life better for others.
The morning also supports Alabama Sheriffs Youth Ranches and FAME Girls Ranch, extending the spirit of the weekend beyond the festival itself.
Come hungry. Come comfortable. Stay for the music and the conversation.
Sunday, August 30
9:30 AM
Begins at 10 AM
Renaissance Shoals Convention Center Singing River Room
Included with qualifying SkyDog VIP packages; brunch-only tickets available separately
Alabama Sheriffs Youth Ranches / FAME Girls Ranch
