Macon Music: How a Georgia City Helped Build the American Sound
Plus, venues around town that capture a still-unfolding musical legacy
In the annals of Southern music there are three M’s: Memphis, Muscle Shoals, and Macon. It is in the last, but not least, of these destinations—an architecturally rich city on the banks of the Ocmulgee in Middle Georgia—where soul lives in the house that rock and roll built.
Native son Little Richard declared himself the architect of rock and roll, and in the audience when Richard vamped and howled on a Macon stage in 1956 was Otis Redding, the future King of Soul. Macon’s incredible music legacy has been built upon these two titans, and their footprints are visible all around town.
Getting his start playing talent shows at the now-restored Douglass Theater, Redding had big plans for Macon, wanting to start a record label with the idea of nurturing local talent to create a Motown of the South. Tragically, Redding’s life was cut short when he was killed in a plane crash in 1967. But just as crucial to Redding’s legacy is the importance of music education for children and teens, a torch his entire family has carried through the Otis Redding Foundation.
“He loved taking kids underneath his wing to show them different opportunities,” says Justin Andrews, Redding’s grandson. “Music and arts can take you to many different places, and we continue to instill that in our kids every day.” The Redding family just opened the Otis Redding Center for the Arts, a brand new building just down Cotton Street from Redding’s 1960s Macon office and the Otis Redding Museum.
After Redding’s death, it didn’t take long for the city to reassert itself as the home of Southern rock and roll. Phil Walden, Redding’s childhood friend and manager, founded Capricorn Records and bought a four-building complex that became Capricorn Recording Studios. Walden convinced a young Duane Allman to move from Muscle Shoals to Macon, where Duane and Berry Oakley laid the foundation for the Allman Brothers Band. Duane’s younger brother Gregg soon joined the pair, living at the band’s headquarters, the Big House (located a stone’s throw from Little Richard’s childhood home); jamming at Grant’s Lounge (still a hotbed for Macon music); and eventually recording the Allman’s classic 1973 album Brothers and Sisters.
The studio fell into disrepair in subsequent years and remained that way until 2016, when Mercer University bought the complex and spent more than four million dollars to restore the property that encased an immaculately preserved Studio A—while under strict orders from Gregg Allman, who told Mercer officials that “the sound is perfect, so don’t change a thing.” Mercer built a larger second studio as well as an interactive museum where fans can scroll through the Capricorn Records catalog. At the studio’s reopening in 2019, Capricorn artists and employees were blown away by how familiar the room looked, felt, and even smelled.
“To watch people walk in that room and have a religious experience is humbling,” says Larry Brumley, Mercer’s senior vice president of marketing, who oversaw the renovation. “People want to be in the room where ‘Ramblin’ Man’ and ‘Jessica’ were recorded.” Since the resurrection of the venue—now known as Mercer Music at Capricorn and open for tours—the likes of Brent Cobb, Blackberry Smoke, and Marcus King have recorded material there, with many more artists on the way. “The musical legacy of Macon is enormous,” says Brumley. “But we’re just as excited about the future.”
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Perched on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean, New Smyrna Beach
exists in the place where art and Mother Nature meet
The studio fell into disrepair in subsequent years and remained that way until 2016, when Mercer University bought the complex and spent more than four million dollars to restore the property that encased an immaculately preserved Studio A—while under strict orders from Gregg Allman, who told Mercer officials that “the sound is perfect, so don’t change a thing.” Mercer built a larger second studio as well as an interactive museum where fans can scroll through the Capricorn Records catalog. At the studio’s reopening in 2019, Capricorn artists and employees were blown away by how familiar the room looked, felt, and even smelled.
“To watch people walk in that room and have a religious experience is humbling,” says Larry Brumley, Mercer’s senior vice president of marketing, who oversaw the renovation. “People want to be in the room where ‘Ramblin’ Man’ and ‘Jessica’ were recorded.” Since the resurrection of the venue—now known as Mercer Music at Capricorn and open for tours—the likes of Brent Cobb, Blackberry Smoke, and Marcus King have recorded material there, with many more artists on the way. “The musical legacy of Macon is enormous,” says Brumley. “But we’re just as excited about the future.”
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