Songwriter Session: Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham

Sat Nov 15 2025 at 12:00 pm to 12:45 pm

222 Rep John Lewis Way S, Nashville, TN, United States, Tennessee 37203 | Nashville

Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum
Publisher/HostCountry Music Hall of Fame and Museum
Songwriter Session: Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham
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inger and songwriter Dan Penn and keyboardist and songwriter Spooner Oldham first met in Muscle Shoals in the late 1950s. Both were regulars at the informal recording studio and hangout space the visionary Tom Stafford organized in Florence, Alabama, above a downtown drug store and have been writing and playing songs together ever since. Together, Penn and Oldham have written songs for James & Bobby Purify, Percy Sledge, the Sweet Inspirations, and others. Additionally, Penn wrote Conway Twitty’s 1960 hit “Is a Bluebird Blue?” and such classics as “Cry Like a Baby” (the Box Tops), “Dark End of the Street” (James Carr), and “Do Right Woman, Do Right Man” (Aretha Franklin). Oldham played on “I Never Loved a Man (the Way I Love You)” (Aretha Franklin), “Mustang Sally” (Wilson Pickett), and “You Better Move On” (Arthur Alexander) and is Neil Young’s longtime keyboardist. Presented in support of the exhibition Muscle Shoals: Low Rhythm Rising. Exhibit supported by OneLouder. Program made possible in part by PEDIGREE®​ and PEDIGREE Foundation. Ford Theater. Program ticket required. Included with Museum admission. Free to Museum members.
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222 Rep John Lewis Way S, Nashville, TN, United States, Tennessee 37203

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