W.C. Handy Singing River aluminum sculpture (about 2000 lb)

Florence, Alabama, United States

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An aluminum sculpture about 18 feet tall, showing a musician in a vest playing a trumpet, was dedicated by the City of Florence on 14 July 2024, just off South Court Street near the Tennessee River in Florence, Alabama. Sculptor Eric Nubbe made it for the Singing River Sculptures series. A 2018 newspaper report on the plans called the trumpet player a nod to Florence native W.C. Handy, the 'Father of the Blues'. Constellium Muscle Shoals supplied the recycled aluminum, from used beverage cans. Similar aluminum sculptures were made for Sheffield and Muscle Shoals.

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W.C. Handy Singing River aluminum sculpture (about 2000 lb)

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Site-level location · 34.8006° N, 87.6768° W

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A trumpet player about 18 feet tall, made from recycled aluminum, was dedicated in Florence, Alabama, in July 2024 as part of the Singing River Sculptures.

The series was planned as one sculpture for each of the four Shoals cities. A 2018 local news report said the idea came from a hiking trip in Ireland, inspired by a former University of North Alabama faculty member. The first, an 18-foot figure of a 1950s-era singer, was unveiled in Sheffield in September 2012, and a second, modeled on a bassist, was placed in front of the Muscle Shoals public library in 2014.

For Florence, the sculptor was Eric Nubbe, then a University of Alabama graduate student. The 2018 report described an abstract work depicting a trumpet player, "a nod to Florence native W.C. Handy, the Father of the Blues," planned at 20 feet in aluminum and costing $35,000, with money raised privately over the previous five years. Nubbe said of the pose, "It's a very dramatic pose to grab your attention."

Constellium, which supplied the metal, says Nubbe built the 18-foot version from recycled aluminum from its Muscle Shoals plant, made from used beverage cans (alloy 3104 can-body stock), in a project seven years in the making. Light Metal Age reports that he designed it on a computer, built it on its side with the outside water-jet cut in big pieces around an inside skeleton, and took six to seven months. The plant was built in 1941 to supply metal for World War II aircraft.

The Bama Buzz reported that the City of Florence held its dedication on July 14 for a nearly 2,000-pound work showing a musician in a vest playing a trumpet, just off South Court Street near the Tennessee River. Light Metal Age instead places the reveal in August.

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