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Music editor Bret Love talks with singer/songwriter/producer Butch Walker about his musical path. Jewly Hight takes an in-depth look at the legendary Chet Atkins and how his early days in Georgia and later connections with Georgians influenced his career. Chris Hassiotis explores the Math Rock scene in Athens, as well as talks with Georgia Theatre owner Wilmot Greene about the venue’s recent re-opening after being destroyed by fire in 2009. Candice Dyer has a lively conversation with Karen Peck, leader of the gospel group New River, and she visits Columbus to experience its music and people. “Get To Know” profiles Wesley Cook, Rico Love and Lera Lynn and reviews include Rich Robinson, Casper & The Cookies, Dex Romweber, Indigo Girls, Larkin Poe, The Whiskey Gentry and more.
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2 | GEORGIA MUSIC
CONTENTS42 CERTIFIED GEORGIAN:
HOWCHET ATKINS HELPEDSHAPE MODERNMUSIC,AND HOWGEORGIAHELPED SHAPE HIMChet Atkins, as everybody knows,made good. A new exhibit at theCountry Music Hall of Fame andMuseum in Nashville tells the story ofa famous professional guitaristwhose musical imagination was sobroad that not only country, but pop,jazz and other musically sophisticatedstyles fell well within its reach, andwhose influence—as a player, producerand record executive and a person—extended in a thousand differentdirections. But also, from this assemblage of Atkins facts and artifacts,an argument can reasonably bemade that Georgia is second onlyto Tennessee in shaping his storiedlife and career. By Jewly Hight
24 Q&A: THE BALLAD OF BUTCHWALKERCARTERSVILLE’S FAVORITE SON RETRACESHIS HISTORYButch Walker is arguably among the most respectedsinger/songwriters in the business, despite the fact that he’snever had another hit single and none of his solo albums hasever charted in the Top 100. Through a combination oftenacity, talent and sheer dumb luck, he’s managed to carveout a remarkable track record as a co-writer/producer forother artists, running the gamut from alternative and hardrock to Top 40 pop. That success, in turn, has given Walker thecreative freedom to release a string of increasinglywell-reviewed solo albums. By Bret Love
28 YOUR PAST COMES BACK TO HAUNT YOUJOHN FAHEY IN GEORGIAUniversally praised for developing a uniquely American “voice” onthe steel-stringed acoustic guitar, John Fahey was a “primitivevisionary” whose revolutionary style laid the foundation of anentire school of folk-based instrumental guitarists. No less an iconthan Pete Seeger called Fahey “a stubborn genius” in a testamentto the instrumentalist’s talent and temperament. While born inMaryland, Fahey spent his latter years in Georgia—and through anew compilation from Dust To Digital, that connection continues toflourish. By Doug Deloach
34 2 + 2 = AMAZINGATHENS ROCKERS PROVE ‘MATH’ IS HARD—ANDHARD TO RESISTAthens made its name in the ’80s with fun, party bands, knownfor pop songs, as warped as they may have been for the times.And in the ‘90s, the psychedically playful Elephant 6 collectivetook center stage. But there’s a heavier, louder Athens that’salways existed, and at the heart of the current batch is Hello SirRecords, a label whose artists have a particular affinity for mathrock, an arty and jazz-inflected offshoot of punk rockcharacterized by complex rhythms, spiky melodies, dissonantchords, rapid and often surprising stop-and-start time changes.By Chris Hassiotis
DEPARTMENTS
6 QUARTERLY REPORTThe latest from studios and stagesaround the state and beyond, fromsignificant awards to era-endingannouncements.
12 FRONT PORCHThe gospel according to Karen Peck& New River.
14 GET TO KNOWWesley Cook, Rico Love, Lera Lynn.
20 BIZThe Georgia Theatre re-emerges onthe Athens downtown scene.
22 ROAMColumbus celebrates its heritage andkeeps it real.
47 EDUCATIONRoswell’s Ragamuffin strikes a chordwith the preschool set.
48 CALENDAR
50 REVIEWSCasper & The Cookies, Dex RomweberDuo, Drive-By Truckers, Dust To Digital,Dodd Ferelle, Gringo Star, Van Hunt,Indigo Girls, Kevn Kinney, Kuroma,Larkin Poe, MC Chris, R.E.M., Reptar,Rich Robinson, Matthew Sweet,The Whiskey Gentry, Witches,Young Antiques
60 CHANGESDoes the traditional record storehave a future?
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(L-R) CHET ATKINSWITH SISTER NIONA ANDBROTHER LOWELL, 1935
n the ragged economy that has us all struggling tomake ends meet, what’s the tipping point that moves
an individual to decide to make a contribution to a wor-thy cause? Sometimes for me it’s an emotional jolt, aswhen the news of a friend’s cancer diagnosis finally moti-vated me to write a check to Memorial Sloan KetteringCancer Center after they’d been sending me those per-sonalized mailing labels for years. Other times I givebecause I discover, or rediscover, something that affectsmy family’s quality of life—as with my recent introduc-tion to Decatur’s Farm To School program, which has myformer sandwich-eating eight-year-old enjoying healthylunches five days a week. But in each and every case, Igive because an organization has created value for me.
The Georgia Music Foundation, a 501(c)3, is committed to programs of preser-vation, education and outreach, which includes the publishing of Georgia Musicmagazine each quarter. If there is value for you in these pages celebrating Georgia’slegends, landmarks and unsung heroes, then I urge you to make an end-of-yearcontribution of $25. Your generosity will not only help sustain this magazine, but itwill also contribute to the Foundation's 2012 goals to continue documentingGeorgia's rich music heritage, as well as provide a series of grants to othermusic-related non-profit organizations making a difference in communitiesthroughout the state.
I hope you’ll agree that Georgia music is an emotional jolt, whether it’s crank-ing up the volume and listening to Jeff Mangum warble “Two-Headed Boy” for thethousandth time, sitting in the audience at an Atlanta Symphony Orchestra per-formance or watching the kids at Pepperland Music Camp perform their songsonstage. If you feel the same way, please make today the day you are moved to makea contribution online at georgiamusicmag.com or by using the form on page 46. Onbehalf of the board of the Georgia Music Foundation, I thank you for your consider-ation and I hope you will join us on our 2012 journey to support and nurture music inGeorgia.
4 | GEORGIA MUSIC
I EDITOR Lisa [email protected]
MANAGINGEDITOR ReidDavisfor [email protected]
MUSICEDITOR Bret [email protected]
ARTDIRECTORRobHerrema [email protected]
CONTRIBUTINGWRITERSCandiceDyerChris HassiotisJewly HightJames KellyAustin L. RayLeeValentine SmithAlan SverdlikDeMarcoWilliams
PUBLISHERGeorgiaMusic Foundation, Inc.Lisa Love, ChairDallas Davidson, Vice-ChairCharlieGatlinJimGillisDinahGretschKarla Redding-Andrews
P.O. Box 78850Atlanta, GA30357
WEBSITEGeorgiaMusicMag.com
SUBSCRIPTIONS $15/yearGeorgiaMusicMag.com
GeorgiaMusicMagazineP.O. Box 78850, Atlanta, GA 30357
©2011GeorgiaMusic Foundation, Inc.Contentmay not be reproducedwithoutpermission. All rights reserved.
ISSN1939-8158
Some sound investment advice…
EDITOR’S NOTE
SOUL’D OUTA song and video created topromote Macon has earnedsome national recognition. “ALittle More Soul,” penned bybassist Tony Reyes, producedand arranged by drummerSteve Moretti and performedby a who’s who of local talent,including violin virtuosoRobert McDuffie, ChuckLeavell and Peter Stroud, haswon a Silver National Addyaward in the Elements OfAdvertising category. The
creative package, commis-sioned by Macon’s GatewayInitiative, with a video pro-duced by Bright Blue SkyProductions, has also earnedfour Bronze Telly Awards. Thehonors earned were in theCharitable/Non-Profit, Sound/Design,Videography/Cinematography and Campaign/Non-for-Profit categories. To seethe video, hear the song anddownload a copy for yourself,please visit ItsHotterHere.com,which also hosts a completelist of song credits.
MACON HONORSFLOCO TORRESIn related news, the MaconMusic Competition, also spon-sored by Macon’s GatewayInitiative, selected hip-hopartist Kevin “Floco Torres”Williams as the winner of its$25,000 prize package. Thehonor was announced at theSept. 10 Otis Redding Eveningof Respect Gala, whichprompted Torres to post “Ihope you’re lookin down atthis awesome night in yourhonor” on his Twitter pageafter posting thanks for theaward. The 23-year-oldMacon artist’s current album,Floco’s Modern Life, wasfunded entirely by fan dona-tions, via Kickstarter.com.
DON’T ‘PANIC’Hard touring Athens jam-rockveterans Widespread Panic
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QUARTERLYREPORT
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Seemingly out of the blue, Classic City alternative-rock pioneer R.E.M. called it a day on Sept. 21via an announcement on the band’s website, remhq.com. It turned out that the decision had beenmade months before, when remaining band members Michael Stipe, Mike Mills and Peter Buckconvened in Athens to record three new songs for a greatest-hits compilation. (Drummer Bill Berryleft the band in 1997.) “A wise man once said—‘the skill in attending a party is knowing when it'stime to leave,’” Stipe noted. “We built something extraordinary together.We did this thing. And nowwe're going to walk away from it.”
According to band member statements, the decision had nothing to do with any interpersonalstrife or acrimony; it was simply time to retire. “We've made this decision together, amicably andwith each other's best interests at heart,” Mills said. “The time just feels right.”
Speaking of that greatest hits compilation, on the heels of the retirement announcement, theband’s now-former label Warner Brothers announced a two-disc, 40-song “definitive” compilationspanning the band’s 31-year existence, called R.E.M., Part Lies, Part Heart, Part Truth, PartGarbage, 1982-2011. The release date has been set for Nov. 15. The three new songs, “A Monthof Saturdays,” “We All Go Back To Where We Belong,” and “Hallelujah” were recorded over thesummer with Garret “Jacknife” Lee, producer of Accelerate and Collapse Into Now, the band’sfinal two studio albums.
Stand in the place where you were…
R.E.M., CIRCA 1984
(L-R) TONY REYES, CHUCK LEAVELL,PETER STROUD
FLOCOTORRES
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inger/songwriter Wesley Cook may just be the “Next BigThing” to come out of Athens, despite the fact that his
earnest music sounds nothing like what you might expect toemerge from the Classic City scene. Cook has been kickingaround said scene for over half a decade now—his 2005 debutalbum, We’ve Been Here Before, earned him a Best Solo Artistnomination at the Athens Music Awards—but it wasn’t until thisyear that a broader audience really started to take notice of hislaid-back, infectiously positive sound.
The primary reason for the sudden surge of interest isRolling Stone magazine’s Street To Stage competition. The con-test scoured the nation to find the best and brightest unsignedstreet musicians, ultimately selecting eight standoutsinger/songwriters from all around the country as semi-finalists.After the votes were tabulated, Cook was named one of fourfinalists, all of whom are competing for a chance to perform onthe Rolling Stone Rock Room stage at the 2012 South By
Southwest music festival.Cook, who has played his fair share of venue gigs over the
years as well, couldn’t be more excited about getting such amaz-ing national recognition. “It's really helped me bring more atten-tion to what I'm doing and maybe has helped people take memore seriously,” he says. “It's been very touching to see theamount of support that's out there for me. Even if I don't go anyfarther in this contest, I've won a lot already.” (Note: Contestresults had not been announced as of our deadline.)
‘MANMEAT’Around the same time news of Cook reaching the Street To Stagefinals was released, he also received recognition from local publi-cation Jezebel. But this time, the honor had a lot less to do with hismusic than it did with his level of physical attractiveness: He wasnamed one of the lifestyle magazine’s “Most Eligible Atlantans of2011,” and as of this issue’s press deadline a date with him was
S
GET TO KNOW
NICE GUYS FINISH FIRST:WESLEY COOKON BUSKING, ROLLING STONE ANDBEINGONE OF ATLANTA’S MOST ELIGIBLE BY BRET LOVE
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hen the Georgia Theatre burned to nothing but a shellafter an electrical fire in June 2009, Athens didn't lose just
another stage for musical acts, another late-night watering holeor another historical building. It lost one of the most prominentengines of local commerce, a venue capable of bringing hun-dreds of people a night to the downtown area who might haveotherwise stayed home and reached for the remote control.
Owner Wilmot Greene could’ve moved on. The fire, whichtook the better part of a day to extinguish, destroyed everythingbut the exterior structure—a structure which occupied its hilltoplocation facing the heart of downtown since it was built as aYMCA in 1889. But rather than consign the memories ofWidespread Panic, Dave Matthews Band, The Police, Pylon,Bubba Sparxxx and R.E.M. shows (among many, many more) tohistory, Greene decided to rebuild.
“I had a lot of doubts,” says Greene, who bought the Theatrefrom previous owner Duck Anderson in 2004. “I didn't think itwas financially feasible. All business is built on margins, andwhen I would run the numbers, the margins were close. At firstwe raised money through donations and fundraisers. We raisedabout five percent [of the total project cost], and it’s ironic thatthat's about what we needed after the bank financing not doingeverything.”
On Monday, Aug. 1, the renovated and upgraded GeorgiaTheatre opened for business to a sold-out crowd. Athens per-former Madeline Adams was the first artist to perform on the newstage, and reclusive Athens pop band The Glands, a favorite ofGreene’s, headlined the night for their first show in seven years.The entire revitalization project cost $4.5 million.
“That used to be such a big stage,” Lucas Jensen said thatnight, “and I can't believe they made it even bigger. It looksgreat!” Jensen drums for the band Venice is Sinking, who usedthe Georgia Theatre as a recording space—only months beforethe fire—for the album, Sand & Lines: The Georgia TheatreSessions, released last year.
Upstairs upgradeIn fact, much of the Georgia Theatre looks the same, but newer,bigger and more modern. The venue can now house more than1,000 people, features two separate balcony levels, bars on allfloors, an elevator and a rooftop bar and restaurant run by KenManring of Athens barbecue joint White Tiger. The building alsoincorporates a significant amount of recovered material from theoriginal structure—for instance, a photo gallery behind the mar-quee uses wood recovered from the original bars in the frames ofits pictures. Some still show charred and damaged surfaces.
“Building the Theatre back as it was [would have been] ille-gal,” says Greene, referring to its outdated infrastructure. “Wecouldn't do it. We had to have an elevator, more bathrooms, stairswider… it’s amazing how many of those things drive the cost. Itreally serves the same functions. Those costs aren’t things thatmake us more money except for the rooftop, which really helps.Adding the rooftop was financially necessary. But creating thoseadditional revenue streams complicates the historic aspect. Therooftop made it possible for the whole venture to make it feasible,but eliminated us from being viable or eligible for any sort of his-toric tax incentives.”
The renovated Theatre, which provides approximately 50employees with full-time jobs and 30 with part-time jobs, has alsoadopted a number of new policies to reflect its new approach,including no re-entry, no beer on tap, and earlier show times. “It'sthe 21st century,” says Greene, “and it used to be cool to go to adive. I realized it had to appeal to a broader demographic. I tried mybest to design a facility to appeal to a bigger amount of people.”
The Atlanta firm Davis Architects designed the project. It’sthe same firm that designed the new downtown Athens parkingdeck located immediately behind the Georgia Theatre. Before thefire, the firm consulted with Greene to ensure that the deck com-plemented the Theatre. Due to his familiarity with them, and thequality of their proposal, he says, Greene chose to work with Davisand lead architect Joe Herman.
Back and better than everTHE GEORGIA THEATRE’S TRIUMPHANT RETURN BY CHRIS HASSIOTIS
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city’s musical renaissance usually occurs over time, in fits andstarts, like an all-night, free-form jam session, before finding
its groove. For Columbus, the tempo grew decidedly upbeat in1992 with two developments: the bustling success of The Loft, andthe listing of Ma Rainey’s house on the National Register ofHistoric Places.
Today, both of these storied spots, along with others such asthe RiverCenter for the Performing Arts, the Springer OperaHouse, and the Liberty Theatre, showcase local and touring talentin this revamped and revitalized, but still irresistibly rowdy, mili-
tary city in the Chattahoochee River Valley—a region that has pro-duced standards such as “The Columbus Stockade Blues” andnurtured entertainers as diverse as Robert Cray, Marilyn McCoo,Washboard Willie, rockabilly fiddler Curley Money, country duoDarby and Tarlton, and Dallas Austin.
“We have acts from Nashville and Europe—The Heavies fromthe U.K. are coming—to record here, to get that ColumbusSound,” says Buddy Nelms, a genial, ponytailed man-about-townwho founded The Loft, a performance venue with a recording stu-dio, as a sort of musical “import/export” hub befitting a port city.He estimates that various entertainers log about 30 hours a weekwith his world-class analog and digital sound equipment.
The Columbus Sound, he explains, is “soulful, original, peo-ple-oriented, with deep roots in the southern, Hammond B-3organ—we don’t try to be anyone but who we are,” he says, and itis seasoned by salt-of-the-earth homefolk like blues artistPrecious Bryant and R&B diva Peggy Jenkins, admired for heramplitude of form and attitude.
“All of it, including the slick, overproduced pop, has its placein music,” Nelms says, “but I’m personally more interested inenjoying a soulful, gospel song than just waiting for a gold recordto hang on a wall. Here, we live with this music deeply ingrainedall around us, and that’s the blessing of it. Our mission is to fosterit, share it, and improve the quality of life for everybody—touringartists, downtown visitors, and Precious, who needs someupgrades on her home.”
A house painted blueA short walk from The Loft is the Gertrude “Ma” Rainey House andBlues Museum—a starred destination on any music-lover’s pil-grimage—which almost was lost to civic neglect.
“It was about to fall in when the city purchased it for $4,000,”says Florene Dawkins, chairwoman of the nonprofit “Friends ofthe Ma Rainey House.” “That vote was controversial though, andsplit along racial lines, because some of the city council membersdidn’t even know who Ma Rainey was and saw no reason to save
'We don’t try to be anyone but who we are'COLUMBUS GROOVES TO ITS OWN SOULFUL, BLUESY RHYTHM BY CANDICE DYER
ROAM
COLUMBUS MUSICIAN ASHLEY PINCKNEY
GERTRUDE “MA” RAINEY HOUSE AND BLUES MUSEUM
A
