“I’m Your Puppet,” Performed by Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham

Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham sit down in the Museum’s Ford Theater for a Songwriter Session celebrating the exhibition Muscle Shoals: Low Rhythm Rising, supported by OneLouder. In this clip from the program, the pair perform "I'm Your Puppet," one of the many songs they've written together.

Both Penn and Oldham were regulars at the informal recording studio and hangout space the visionary Tom Stafford organized in Florence, Alabama, above a downtown drug store. They 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.

The program, made possible in part by PEDIGREE® and PEDIGREE Foundation, was recorded on November 15, 2025.

Watch the full program: https://watch.countrymusichalloffame….