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Monday, Feb. 02, 2009

Book that chronicles Macon’s music to be launched Thursday

Nearly four years in the works, a book that chronicles the past half-century of Macon music is finally ready for its unveiling.

The book, “Street Singers, Soul Shakers, Rebels With A Cause: Music From Macon,” will go on sale at a special launch party Thursday night at the Georgia Music Hall of Fame. The book is written by Candice Dyer, a former Telegraph employee, who will be in attendance along with several of the personalities she profiled to sign copies of the book.

“Macon has such a long, rich history in music,” Dyer said. “(The publishers) wanted to keep the focus on the last 50 years. Otherwise, a person could be researching it from now until doomsday.”

As it is, “Music From Macon,” which retails for $49.95, is a nearly 300-page coffee table book that traces the history of Macon music from the early days of a street singer named the Rev. Pearly Brown, who would go on to perform at Carnegie Hall and the Grand Ole Opry, to the most famous acts with Macon connections, including Little Richard, James Brown, Otis Redding and The Allman Brothers Band.

The book also lends its pages to Macon’s contributions to New Wave, thanks to the likes of Ian Copeland and R.E.M., and looks at some of the city’s contemporary acts such as Jason Aldean and Young Jeezy.

In addition, the book is rich in photos and even includes a discography of many of the artists who recorded here.

The book began as an idea that Dan Slagle of Cox Communications presented to NewTown Macon, which immediately saw the value of such a project.

“Dan Slagle approached NewTown with the idea that music and Macon are synonymous,” said Laura Schofield, vice president of operations for NewTown, a public-private entity that promotes downtown Macon.

“We thought if we could tell that story in such a way, it would attract people to Macon and attract them to downtown. We could then use it a springboard for the future of music in Macon.”

NewTown turned to Indigo Publishing to produce the book. Henry Beers, the book’s publisher, said it was initially thought the project could be completed within a year. But as the research for the book continued, more and more stories and personalities began to be discovered.

“The more research we did, the more we found it took on a life of its own,” Beers said. “We had a lot of interviews to do. We were able to get one of the last interviews with (music promoter) Phil Walden prior to his death (in 2006). ... It just got convoluted.”

Beers said there also were many legal hurdles to clear as well as securing the rights to many of the photos that appear in the book.

Alan Walden, Phil’s brother and the promoter for groups such as Lynyrd Skynyrd, said he is very pleased with how the book turned out.

The book contains a chapter on each of the Walden brothers as well as chapters on many of the acts they promoted.

“I think it’s wonderful,” he said. “It’s very informative, it’s very accurate, history-wise. It really promotes Macon as a music city. ... It’s something we can all be proud of.”

Gary Montgomery, a music promoter and publisher who also appears throughout the book, said his one regret is that the idea didn’t surface earlier.

“I wish it had been done 20 years ago, when some of these people were still alive,” he said. “I think the book is good. I think it’s great they are finally paying their homage and telling these stories.”

Dyer, who now works as a freelance writer in north Georgia, said she wanted the book to be something that would both inform people who aren’t from Macon as well as locals, who know of the city’s musical history but perhaps not all of it.

“It’s really a mix,” she said. “I was thinking of the reader in general. There are plenty of people in Georgia who don’t know that Little Richard is from Macon.”

Dyer said it’s important to pay tribute to the people on the music scene who didn’t get their names in lights but still had a major impact.

“I wanted to reach as many people as possible,” she said. “I didn’t want it to be a totally inside thing.”

Word about the book already is spreading. Schofield said people have ordered the book from all over the U.S. and even as far away as Ireland.

“I think it has a wide appeal,” Schofield said. “It certainly should be something of interest to Maconites.”

“Anyone who reads this book is going to learn a lot,” Beers said. “If you’re not from Macon, you’re going to be astounded that all this came from here. ... People will ask why (the city’s music heritage) was such a well-kept secret. Macon could have been the Nashville of contemporary rock.”

Lisa Love, director of the Georgia Music Hall of Fame, said the book will have a long-lasting impact in preserving Macon’s musical heritage.

“I think that it’s invaluable in that it documents and celebrates a music scene that has received international attention,” she said.

“For locals, it encapsulates different stories that are so diverse but so connected because they are a part of Macon’s musical heritage.”

To contact reporter Phillip Ramati, call 744-4334.