If it's any consolation to you, Art: Down in Mobile, Alabama, is a street called Old Shell Road. You could be an Old Shell Collector.
 
For everyone but Art: Rangia cuneata, the common bay clam, is the preferred shell for surfacing roads in this area.
 
Brahms is one of my favorites too, along with Gottschalk, Gorecki, and Granados.
 
Andrew K. Rindsberg
Geological Survey of Alabama
Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA