Up-beat and down to earth: Cleveland, Ohio

One of Cleveland’s great places is The Grog Shop, a music venue with "killer energy" in Foy’s words, here, he was captivated by American band Frankie Cosmos.

We’ve been travelling across the USA with northern-Irish singer-songwriter Foy Vance to discover some of the country’s best music, cuisine and culture. The journey continued in Cleveland, the city known to many as the 'home of rock'n'roll'.

Nestled in the corner of Alabama, Muscle Shoals was originally known for being the location of the Wilson Dam across the Tennessee River… that is until the music industry catapulted this sleepy Alabama town of just over 13,000 inhabitants into the limelight.

As part of the series Notes from the USA, Northern-Irish singer-songwriter Foy Vance takes us to a small town at the heart of the state’s musical reputation - Muscle Shoals - to discover the place where it all began… FAME Studios.

You may not know much about the small town of Muscle Shoals, but it is renowned as one of the epicentres of the music industry. Both local and international musicians have recorded there.