Craig Legg’s 340 paintings bring together musicians from across Southern rock’s history and the artists who followed them. The collection opens to the public Saturday at East Village Arts in Birmingham. Doors open at 5 p.m., followed by a free 7 p.m. concert by Shoals musician Russell Gulley, a founding member of the Southern rock band Jackson Highway.
Called History of Southern Rock & Beyond, the exhibit ranges from early acts such as the Allman Brothers Band, Wet Willie and Lynyrd Skynyrd to contemporary performers including the Drive-By Truckers, Derek Trucks and Jason Isbell. The 340 artworks connect those generations of musicians and their influence, according to al.com.
A Free Concert Anchors the Opening Night
Gulley’s performance is part of Saturday’s opening celebration. The gallery is at 7611 First Ave. North in Birmingham; doors open at 5 p.m. ahead of the 7 p.m. concert.
Legg has called the exhibit a “sink-in and listen show,” pairing the paintings with the music behind them. Photos by Alabama photographer Dick Cooper will also be on view, featuring musicians, studios and personalities connected to the Muscle Shoals music community.
The Regional Music Context
The exhibit follows bands and performers, while the history of nearby recording studios offers a different view of the region’s music scene. FAME Studios notes that its second house rhythm section left in 1969 to form Muscle Shoals Sound, a separate studio. Smithsonian Folkways describes country blues as originating in the Mississippi Delta and laying the foundation for later regional blues styles across the United States; that history provides context for the blues tradition, without identifying a single source for the exhibit’s musical lineage.
Exhibit Runs Through the End of the Year
History of Southern Rock & Beyond will stay up through the end of 2026, per Legg, with regular viewing hours on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and by appointment outside that window. That extended run gives fans multiple chances to take in the full scope of the collection beyond opening night.
Legg is already looking past the gallery walls. He plans to publish a companion book filled with images from the exhibit, continuing a pattern from his earlier work. His 2023 exhibit, History of Birmingham Rock & Roll, featured more than 350 paintings of local musicians, venues and influential people associated with that scene, and it became available in book form in late 2025 as a 144-page volume, according to otmj.com.
A Kickstarter Track Record Behind the Next Book
That earlier book project leaned on crowdfunding, and it cleared its target with room to spare. Legg said the Kickstarter campaign had a goal of $20,000 and raised about $22,000, suggesting there's an appetite among fans for turning his gallery work into something they can hold onto. He has also said he and Mark Harrelson are working on a history of Southern rock, tying the current exhibit to a larger ongoing project documenting the genre's story.
For now, the focus is on Saturday night in Birmingham, where 340 paintings, a free concert and a career's worth of Muscle Shoals photography will share the same walls. The exhibit offers a rare chance to see the full sweep of Southern rock's history assembled in one room, from the genre's founding bands to the artists still carrying its influence forward.
