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I’M GUY RAWLINGS AND I’M CARLA WADE RIGHT HERE IN CENTRAL ALABAMA. THE MAGIC CITY IS STEEPED IN MUSICAL HISTORY. DINAH WASHINGTON, ERSKINE HAWKINS, ELLA FITZGERALD, AND MANY OTHER BLACK PIONEERS HAVE ALL TAKEN THE STAGE AT THE CARVER THEATER. IT WAS ONCE A HUB FOR NIGHTLIFE IN A SEGREGATED BIRMINGHAM. SINCE ITS OPENING IN 1935, THE VENUE HAS ATTRACTED SOME OF THE TOP JAZZ ACTS FROM ACROSS THE COUNTRY. AND WHILE MANY HAVE TRAVELED JUST TO PLAY HERE IN BIRMINGHAM, OTHER NOTABLE ARTISTS WERE BORN AND RAISED RIGHT HERE IN ALABAMA. THAT INCLUDES BIG MAMA THORNTON, THE FACE BEHIND ONE OF ELVIS PRESLEY’S MOST ICONIC HITS. �������� 13 MAGDALA LOUISSAINT TRAVELED TO BIG MAMA’S HOMETOWN OF ARITON. SHE TELLS US HOW THE SINGER CONTINUES TO BE REMEMBERED BY HER COMMUNITY. WELCOME TO THE TOWN OF ARITON. A POPULATION OF OVER 660 PEOPLE. AT THE ONLY TRAFFIC LIGHT IN TOWN SITS IN OLD BUS STATION, WHERE A LITTLE GIRL NAMED WILLIE MAE USED TO PLAY HER HARMONICA. SHE WAS LIKE 8 OR 9 YEARS OLD, PLAYING HER HARMONICA, WHICH HER BROTHER TAUGHT HER TO PLAY. THAT YOUNG CHILD WOULD EVENTUALLY BECOME BIG MAMA THORNTON TO THE WORLD. ONCE THEY HEARD HER VIBRANT, GROWLING SOUND ON HER SONG HOUND DOG, YOU AIN’T NOTHING BUT A HOUND. ALL THOSE WORDS WOULD SET BIG MAMA THORNTON TO BECOME AN ARTIST WHO CROSSES RACIAL BARRIERS. ELVIS PRESLEY’S HOUND DOG VERSION WAS A BIG MAMA THORNTON INFLUENCE. TODAY’S POP STARS LIKE DOJA CAT SAMPLED HOUND DOG AND HER SONG CALLED VEGAS. ELVIS PRESLEY RECORDED ABOUT THREE YEARS AFTER THAT, BUT HE RECORDED IT. HE HEARD IT, A VERSION OF IT DONE BY LIKE A BAR GROUP, AND THAT’S WHERE HE PICKED IT UP. HE CHANGED THE LYRICS A LITTLE BIT SO IT COULD APPEAL TO THE WHITE AUDIENCE. GIL ANTHONY IS THE CURATOR OF THIS OLD BUS STATION TURNED MUSEUM. I JUST WANT PEOPLE TO REALIZE WHAT A FORCE SHE WAS. FOR 30 YEARS, HE’S BEEN COLLECTING AS MANY FLIERS, ALBUM COVERS AND HANDBILLS. HE CAN FIND ABOUT BIG MAMA. IT SHOWS HER VERSATILITY BECAUSE SHE DOES SOME SORT OF CONTEMPORARY R&B TYPE THINGS. ANTHONY AND BIG MAMA’S COUSIN BENJAMIN KEY HAVE BEEN WORKING ON THE MUSEUM TOGETHER. WE OFTEN TELL GIL HE HAS REVIVED HER LIFE BECAUSE SHE WAS DEAD TO US, BUT HE BROUGHT HER BACK TO LIFE. HE IS A COUNCILOR FOR ARITON. HE SAYS HIS MOTHER AND GRANDMOTHER ALWAYS TOLD HIM STORIES ABOUT BIG MAMA. THIS WAS A PROJECT THAT I WAS INSTRUMENTAL IN TRYING TO GET HERE AND AND IT WAS. I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE SOMETHING FOR GOOD FOR THE TOWN OF AITANA, THEN FOR DALE COUNTY. JUST LAST YEAR, THE MEN TRAVELED TO WITNESS BIG MAMA THORNTON GET INDUCTED INTO THE ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME. TO SEE THAT PEOPLE, YOUNG PEOPLE, KNEW THAT MUCH ABOUT HER AND AND WHAT SHE DID FOR THE MUSIC INDUSTRY. WHILE THAT RECOGNITION MAY HAVE COME DECADES LATER, THE WORK TO HONOR WILLIE MAE IN HER HOMETOWN STARTED IN 2023 WITH THE NEW STREET NAME BIG MAMA THORNTON CIRCLE, SORT OF A LONG RANGE PLAN IS IN MOUNT OLIVE MISSIONARY BAPTIST CHURCH, JUST ABOUT A HALF A MILE AWAY. WE’D WANT TO PUT JUST A MEMORIAL, A MONUMENT FOR BIG MAMA, YOU KNOW, BECAUSE HER REMAINS WILL PROBABLY NEVER COME TO ARITON, ALABAMA. BUT FOR NOW, THIS OLD BUS STATION TURNED INTO A MUSEUM WILL BE THE MEMORIAL FOR THE LITTLE GIRL WHO BECAME A BIG FORCE IN MUSIC HISTORY. YOU AIN’T NOTHING BUT A HOUND ON IN ARITON, ALABAMA. MONDO. I’M MAGDALA LOUISSAINT YOUR