‘It’s an honor to do it.’ How Otis Redding’s grandson continues his legacy in Macon

Although his grandfather was “The King of Soul,” Justin Andrews said he learned at a very young age that he was not musically inclined.

His parents bought him a guitar around the age of 10, but Andrews said he wanted to play sports.

“It just never interested me to sit down and learn to play an instrument,” he said. “I love music. I like to listen to it. I have an ear for it. I can tell who can sing and not.”

But he never thought he would end up in the music industry.

Andrews, the director of special projects and outreach for the Otis Redding Foundation, spends his time organizing music summer camps, finding new partners and sponsors for the foundation and educating people about the legacy of his grandfather, Otis Redding.

“It was always a passion of my grandfather’s before he passed. He had a music camp that he did one time out at his ranch in Jones County,” he said. “We’re really continuing his mission and his legacy by doing the work that we’re doing here now.”

The Otis Redding Foundation, on Cotton Avenue in downtown Macon, has a miniature museum with Otis Redding memorabilia as well as programs geared towards teaching children about fine arts and music.

Andrews grew up in Macon and went to Mount de Sales Academy. He started work at the Georgia Music Hall of Fame when it was located in Macon.

“That’s kind of where I started my Macon music history journey, and then after that, I did some things around here and then I got really involved in the foundation because my mom was like, ‘I need some help,’” Andrews said with a laugh.

For more than 10 years, Andrews, 32, has worked for the foundation, and during that time, he has also served on multiple boards, including for Macon Pops, Visit Macon and the Macon Arts Alliance.

Although he doesn’t play an instrument, Andrews said he works well on the business side of the music industry and has been lucky enough to help some kids find success through the Otis Redding Foundation’s programs.

“Artists are terrible business people because they’re so creative, and they’re always just thinking of ways to keep creating, creating, creating,” he said. “You’ve got to have someone on the other side to kind of help them and carry them along throughout the journey.”

‘A real deal, rigorous music boot camp’

The foundation has several programs and workshops as well as the Otis Music Camp and Camp Dream during the summer.

“We started our first camp in 2007 at the Georgia Music Hall of Fame, and we maybe had like 10 kids,” Andrews said.

A challenge they faced was to prove that the camps could be successful, Andrews said, and they worked to figure out what worked and what didn’t.

“We only really felt like we’ve perfected this thing within the last two or three years, and we were really, really good at it, and then COVID,” he said.

Although they had to hold the 2020 summer camps virtually, Andrews said they were a success.

“We really didn’t know how it was going to work or how it was going to play out but it actually worked out in the best scenario possible that we could have ever imagined,” he said.

They were able to get special guests to speak to the kids virtually, and Andrews said the kids will hopefully stay connected with those professionals.

The Otis Music Camp, a camp for 12-18-year-old youth, will be held virtually in 2021 from June 7-18, and Camp Dream, a camp for 5-11-year-old kids, will be held at Mount de Sales Academy from July 6-9.

The Otis Music Camp, which will have 40 attendees for the virtual format, costs $300, and Camp Dream costs $200. Kids can apply to attend the camps at otisreddingfoundation.org, and the foundation provides some partial scholarships to attend.

“We try to keep it as reasonable as we can, but we are also offering a very, very high level tier of education here, on what these kids get in our music programs. So, it’s not really a babysitting service. This is more of a real deal, rigorous music boot camp,” Andrews said.

Continuing the legacy

When Andrews’ mother, Karla Redding-Andrews, was 4 years old, her father, Otis Redding, died in a plane crash Dec. 10, 1967.

Andrews said he gets asked how it feels to continue the legacy of a man he never met.

“My answer is always simple. Number one, it’s family. You do what you have to do for family. And number two, no one else will do it and respect it and cherish it more than we will because we’re protecting… the legacy of a man who was one of the most amazing, influential musicians back in the ‘60s. So, it’s an honor to do it,” Andrews said.

The foundation plans to eventually build an Otis Redding Creative Arts Center in order to house all of their programs and services under one roof and provide more services to youth.

Finding a location and the funds to create the center is the next challenge Andrews said they need to tackle.

“It’s the future. The kids are the future, and we believe here that kids that are involved in the arts, not just music, but anything in the arts… it helps make them a more well rounded individual,” Andrews said.

Fine arts programs are often removed from schools, Andrews said, so the Otis Redding Foundation is willing to take on the challenge of providing those programs for students.

“We believe every kid should have that right and the ability to go and experience fine arts programs. Some kids never get to experience that,” he said. “So, that’s why we’re so passionate here about what we do because the success stories we’ve had come out of here have been really amazing to see the kids and their successes through life; not in a music sense, but just based on their self esteem, their self confidence and knowing that they can go out now and do whatever in the world they set their minds to do it.”

This story was originally published April 28, 2021 at 5:00 AM.