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Music of Georgia (U.S. state)
Encyclopedia
Georgia
's musical output includes Southern rap
groups like Outkast
and Goodie Mob
, as well as a wide variety of rock, pop and country artists such as R.E.M.
and Family Force 5
. The music of Athens, Georgia
, is especially well-known for a kind of quirky college rock
that has included such well-known bands as R.E.M.
and The B-52's
.
, located in Macon, Georgia
. Colleges such as the University of Georgia
and Columbus State University
have extensive music departments.
al traditions include important contributions to the Piedmont blues
, shape note
singing and African American music
.
, where black communities have kept the style alive. The McIntosh County ring shout is a counterclockwise ring dance featuring clapping
and stick-beating percussion with call-and-response vocals. The ring shout tradition is strongest in Boldon, Georgia (also known as Briar Patch), where it is traditionally performed on New Year's Eve
.
The Georgia Sea Island are an important group in modern African American folk music in Georgia. They perform worldwide the Gullah music of the Georgia coast, and have been touring since the early 1900s; the folklorist and musicologist Alan Lomax
discovered the Singers on a 1959-60 collecting trip, and helped to bring their music to new audiences. The Georgia Sea Island Singers have included Bessie Jones
, Emma Ramsey, John Davis, Maybel Hillary and Peter Davis.
, first published in 1844, was compiled and produced by Georgians Benjamin Franklin White
and Elisha J. King. The helped establish a singing tradition also known as Sacred Harp, as well as fasola and shape note. The Sacred Harp system use notes expressed with shapes, intended to make it easy for people to learn to sight-read music and performed complex pieces without a lot of training. Foremost among Georgia Sacred Harp adherents is the Original Sacred Harp
Publishing Company of Tallapoosa. A Georgia-based music label, Bibletone Records
, has released a 28-cut CD of Sacred Harp Music.
native James Brown and Macon
native Little Richard
started performing in Georgia clubs on the Chitlin' Circuit, fused gospel
with blues
and boogie-woogie
to lay the foundations for R&B
and Soul music
, and rank among the most iconic musicians of the 20th century. In the 1960s, Atlanta native Gladys Knight
proved one of the most popular Motown recording artists, while Otis Redding
, born in the small town of Dawson but raised in Macon
, defined the grittier Southern soul
sound of Memphis
-based Stax Records
.R&B singer Ray Charles was born in Albany, GA.
proved one of the first commercially successful Hip-Hop groups from outside of New York
or Los Angeles
. In the 1990s and 2000s, Atlanta emerged as the leading center of urban music. Artists like Lloyd
, T.I., TLC
, Monica, Usher
, 112
, Ludacris
, YoungBloodZ
, OutKast
, Goodie Mob
(as well as the Dungeon Family
music collective which both are members of), producers like Organized Noize
, L.A. Reid, and Jermaine Dupri
, the latter of whom founded the successful record labels LaFace and SoSo Def, have blurred musical boundaries by blending R&B singing with Hip-Hop production. More recently, Atlanta is also known as a center of crunk
music, an electric bass-driven club music, whose most visible practitioner has been Atlanta-based producer/hype man/rapper Lil Jon
. Before moving to Atlanta, Young Jeezy lived in Macon, Georgia.
The earliest Atlanta-based music maven, Bill Lowery, started the careers of Ray Stevens, Joe South, Jerry Reed, and countless others, and created the first Georgia-based springboard for such talent, National Recording Corporation
, sporting not only a record label, but a recording studio and pressing plant. Lowery would later work with the likes of Billy Joe Royal, Mac Davis, Dennis Yost & The Classics Five, and The Atlanta Rhythm Section, and put Atlanta on the music map with his Lowery Music group of publishing companies, one of the world's biggest music publishers. Cat Power
also got her start in Atlanta.
The Allman Brothers Band
, founded in Jacksonville, Florida
, moved to Macon
at the urging of their manager, Phil Walden
, who had previously managed Otis Redding
. Walden's Macon-based Capricorn Records
, spearheaded the rise of Southern rock
, and the success of the Allman Brothers paved the way for other Southern rock
bands, including Atlanta Rhythm Section
, South Carolina-based Marshall Tucker Band
and Lynyrd Skynyrd
, also founded in Jacksonville.
The Black Crowes are a group out of Marietta, Georgia that fuse blues, rock, and gospel into a Southern-soul-driven hard-rockin' extravaganza with tones of Zeppelin-power and Sunday morning inspiration.
The city of Athens, Georgia, home to the University of Georgia has been a fertile field for alternative rock bands since the late 1970s. Notable bands from Athens include R.E.M.
, The B-52's
, Widespread Panic
, Drive-By Truckers
, Cartel
, Of Montreal
as well as bands from the Elephant 6 Recording Company most notably Neutral Milk Hotel
.
Acoustic rock/folk duo the Indigo Girls
got their start in Decatur. Alternative rock band September Hase
began in Tifton. Rock pianist Elton John
spends some time living in Atlanta.
Singer-songwriter John Mayer
has lived in Atlanta since dropping out of the Berklee School of Music in 1998. Georgia has had a decent contribution to the ska scene with the bands Treephort
, 50:50 Shot, and The Taj Motel Trio
and ska punk has seen a recent revival in the state of Georgia with the regional ska festival, the Mass Ska Raid, taking place for the first time in 2008.
Along with Louisiana
and the rest out the Southern area there is a strong heavy metal
music scene (specifically sludge metal
) in Georgia especially in Atlanta with bands Mastodon
, Baroness
, Kylesa
, Withered
, and Sevendust
.
Also, several Christian rock musicians have come out of Georgia like Third Day
, Casting Crowns
, Bebo Norman
, and Family Force 5
.
made his first phonograph record for Okeh Records Company representative Polk C. Brockman. Carson's recordings of "The Little Old Log Cabin in the Lane" and "The Old Hen Cackled and the Rooster's Going to Crow" sold over 500,0000 copies and opened the eyes of record company executives to the market for "old-time" country music.
In the 1960s, Guitarist Chet Atkins
, born in Luttrell, Tennessee but raised in Hamilton, Georgia, drew on Jazz
and Pop music to help create the smoother Country music style known as the Nashville Sound
, expanding Country music's appeal to adult pop fans. Country music superstars such as Alan Jackson
, Trisha Yearwood
, and Travis Tritt
are natives of Georgia. Other successful country music acts from Georgia include Billy Currington
, Cyndi Thomson
, Jennifer Nettles
of Sugarland, Daryle Singletary
, Doug Stone, John Berry, Rhett Akins
, Mark Wills
, And up and coming stars Jason Aldean
, Brantley Gilbert
and Luke Bryan
. Also the Zac Brown Band
based out of Dahlonega. As well as Lady Antebellum
and Tabby Crabb from Sumter Co. who worked with the original Urban Cowboy Band as a musician in Texas and Hank Cochran, Keith Urban, and many others in Nashville.
is native to Augusta. Famous music director Robert Shaw
spent much of his time living in Atlanta directing the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus. Notable musical groups include the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, the Atlanta Symphony Chorus, Atlanta Opera, the Georgia Boy Choir, the Atlanta Boy Choir
, New Trinity Baroque
, the Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra
, Atlanta Ballet, Gwinnett Ballet Theatre, as well as symphonies in the cities of Columbus, Macon, Augusta, and Savannah.
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
's musical output includes Southern rap
Southern rap
Southern hip hop, also called Southern rap, is a genre of American music influenced by hip hop that emerged from a late-1980s club-oriented vibe in southern U.S...
groups like Outkast
OutKast
Outkast is an American hip hop duo based in East Point, Georgia, consisting of Atlanta native André "André 3000" Benjamin and Savannah, Georgia-born Antwan "Big Boi" Patton. They were originally known as Two Shades Deep but later changed the group's name to OutKast...
and Goodie Mob
Goodie Mob
Goodie Mob is a Hip Hop act based in Atlanta, Georgia that formed in 1991 and currently consists of members Cee-Lo Green, Khujo, T-Mo and Big Gipp.-History:The group's name acts as a double backronym...
, as well as a wide variety of rock, pop and country artists such as R.E.M.
R.E.M.
R.E.M. was an American rock band formed in Athens, Georgia, in 1980 by singer Michael Stipe, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills and drummer Bill Berry. One of the first popular alternative rock bands, R.E.M. gained early attention due to Buck's ringing, arpeggiated guitar style and Stipe's...
and Family Force 5
Family Force 5
Family Force 5 is a Christian crunk rock band from Atlanta, Georgia. They consist of Solomon "Soul Glow Activatur" Olds, Jacob "Crouton" Olds, Joshua "Fatty" Olds, Nathan "Nadaddy" Currin, and Derek "Chap Stique" Mount...
. The music of Athens, Georgia
Music of Athens, Georgia
The music of Athens, Georgia, includes a wide variety of popular music and was an important part of the early evolution of alternative rock and New Wave. The city is well known as the home of chart-topping bands like R.E.M. and The B-52s, and several long-time indie rock groups...
, is especially well-known for a kind of quirky college rock
College rock
College rock is a term that was used in the United States to describe 1980s alternative rock before the term "alternative" came into common usage. The term's use of the word "college" refers to campus radio stations located at institutions of higher education in Canada and the United States, where...
that has included such well-known bands as R.E.M.
R.E.M.
R.E.M. was an American rock band formed in Athens, Georgia, in 1980 by singer Michael Stipe, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills and drummer Bill Berry. One of the first popular alternative rock bands, R.E.M. gained early attention due to Buck's ringing, arpeggiated guitar style and Stipe's...
and The B-52's
The B-52's
The B-52's are an American rock band, formed in Athens, Georgia in 1976. The original line-up consisted of Fred Schneider , Kate Pierson , Cindy Wilson , Ricky Wilson , and Keith Strickland . Following Ricky Wilson's death in 1985 Strickland switched to guitar...
.
Music institutions
The state's official music museum is the Georgia Music Hall of FameGeorgia Music Hall of Fame
The Georgia Music Hall of Fame, located in downtown Macon, Georgia, preserves and interprets the state's rich musical heritage through programs of collection, exhibition, education and performance...
, located in Macon, Georgia
Macon, Georgia
Macon is a city located in central Georgia, US. Founded at the fall line of the Ocmulgee River, it is part of the Macon metropolitan area, and the county seat of Bibb County. A small portion of the city extends into Jones County. Macon is the biggest city in central Georgia...
. Colleges such as the University of Georgia
University of Georgia
The University of Georgia is a public research university located in Athens, Georgia, United States. Founded in 1785, it is the oldest and largest of the state's institutions of higher learning and is one of multiple schools to claim the title of the oldest public university in the United States...
and Columbus State University
Columbus State University
Columbus State University is a public institution of higher learning located in Columbus, Georgia. Founded as Columbus College in 1958, the university was established and is administered by the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia, and is fully accredited by the Commission on...
have extensive music departments.
Folk music
Georgia's folk musicFolk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
al traditions include important contributions to the Piedmont blues
Piedmont blues
Piedmont blues refers primarily to a guitar style, the Piedmont fingerstyle, which is characterized by a fingerpicking approach in which a regular, alternating thumb bass string rhythmic pattern supports a syncopated melody using the treble strings generally picked with the fore-finger,...
, shape note
Shape note
Shape notes are a music notation designed to facilitate congregational and community singing. The notation, introduced in 1801, became a popular teaching device in American singing schools...
singing and African American music
African American music
African-American music is an umbrella term given to a range of musics and musical genres emerging from or influenced by the culture of African Americans, who have long constituted a large and significant ethnic minority of the population of the United States...
.
African American folk music
The "ring shout" is an African American musical and dance tradition that is among the oldest surviving African American performance styles in North America. The ring shout tradition is rare in the modern Southern United States, but it still found in McIntosh County, GeorgiaMcIntosh County, Georgia
McIntosh County is a county located in the U.S. state of Georgia. It is part of the Brunswick, Georgia, Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of McIntosh, Glynn, and Brantley counties. As of 2010, the population is 14,333. The county seat is Darien.-History:McIntosh County was split...
, where black communities have kept the style alive. The McIntosh County ring shout is a counterclockwise ring dance featuring clapping
Clapping
A clap is the sound made by striking together two flat surfaces, as in the body parts of humans or animals. Humans clap with the palms of their hands, often in a constant drone to express appreciation or approval , but also in rhythm to match sounds in music and dance...
and stick-beating percussion with call-and-response vocals. The ring shout tradition is strongest in Boldon, Georgia (also known as Briar Patch), where it is traditionally performed on New Year's Eve
New Year's Eve
New Year's Eve is observed annually on December 31, the final day of any given year in the Gregorian calendar. In modern societies, New Year's Eve is often celebrated at social gatherings, during which participants dance, eat, consume alcoholic beverages, and watch or light fireworks to mark the...
.
The Georgia Sea Island are an important group in modern African American folk music in Georgia. They perform worldwide the Gullah music of the Georgia coast, and have been touring since the early 1900s; the folklorist and musicologist Alan Lomax
Alan Lomax
Alan Lomax was an American folklorist and ethnomusicologist. He was one of the great field collectors of folk music of the 20th century, recording thousands of songs in the United States, Great Britain, Ireland, the Caribbean, Italy, and Spain.In his later career, Lomax advanced his theories of...
discovered the Singers on a 1959-60 collecting trip, and helped to bring their music to new audiences. The Georgia Sea Island Singers have included Bessie Jones
Bessie Jones
Bessie Jones , gospel singer from Smithville, GA. She learned her songs from her grandfather, a former slave born in Africa. She was a founding member of the Georgia Sea Island Singers. Alan Lomax first encountered Bessie Jones on a southern trip in 1959...
, Emma Ramsey, John Davis, Maybel Hillary and Peter Davis.
Shape-note
The Sacred HarpSacred Harp
Sacred Harp singing is a tradition of sacred choral music that took root in the Southern region of the United States. It is part of the larger tradition of shape note music.- The music and its notation :...
, first published in 1844, was compiled and produced by Georgians Benjamin Franklin White
Benjamin Franklin White
Benjamin Franklin White was a shape note "singing master", and compiler of the shape note tunebook known as The Sacred Harp. He was born near Cross Keys in Union County, South Carolina, the twelfth child of Robert and Mildred White.-Musical career:White and Elisha J...
and Elisha J. King. The helped establish a singing tradition also known as Sacred Harp, as well as fasola and shape note. The Sacred Harp system use notes expressed with shapes, intended to make it easy for people to learn to sight-read music and performed complex pieces without a lot of training. Foremost among Georgia Sacred Harp adherents is the Original Sacred Harp
Publishing Company of Tallapoosa. A Georgia-based music label, Bibletone Records
Bibletone Records
Bibletone Records was organized in 1942 in New York City by Arthur Becker.The company was the first all-gospel label to release 33 1/3 rpm albums of their releases...
, has released a 28-cut CD of Sacred Harp Music.
Rhythm and Blues
AugustaAugusta, Georgia
Augusta is a consolidated city in the U.S. state of Georgia, located along the Savannah River. As of the 2010 census, the Augusta–Richmond County population was 195,844 not counting the unconsolidated cities of Hephzibah and Blythe.Augusta is the principal city of the Augusta-Richmond County...
native James Brown and Macon
Macon, Georgia
Macon is a city located in central Georgia, US. Founded at the fall line of the Ocmulgee River, it is part of the Macon metropolitan area, and the county seat of Bibb County. A small portion of the city extends into Jones County. Macon is the biggest city in central Georgia...
native Little Richard
Little Richard
Richard Wayne Penniman , known by the stage name Little Richard, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, recording artist, and actor, considered key in the transition from rhythm and blues to rock and roll in the 1950s. He was also the first artist to put the funk in the rock and roll beat and...
started performing in Georgia clubs on the Chitlin' Circuit, fused gospel
Gospel music
Gospel music is music that is written to express either personal, spiritual or a communal belief regarding Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music....
with blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
and boogie-woogie
Boogie-woogie
Boogie-woogie has the following meanings:*Boogie-woogie, a piano-based music style*Boogie-woogie , a swing dance or a dance that imitates the rock-n-roll dance of the 1950s*"Boogie Woogie" , a song by EuroGroove and Dannii Minogue...
to lay the foundations for R&B
Rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...
and Soul music
Soul music
Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...
, and rank among the most iconic musicians of the 20th century. In the 1960s, Atlanta native Gladys Knight
Gladys Knight
Gladys Maria Knight , known as the "Empress of Soul", is an American singer-songwriter, actress, businesswoman, humanitarian, and author...
proved one of the most popular Motown recording artists, while Otis Redding
Otis Redding
Otis Ray Redding, Jr. was an American soul singer-songwriter, record producer, arranger and talent scout. He is considered one of the major figures in soul and R&B...
, born in the small town of Dawson but raised in Macon
Macon, Georgia
Macon is a city located in central Georgia, US. Founded at the fall line of the Ocmulgee River, it is part of the Macon metropolitan area, and the county seat of Bibb County. A small portion of the city extends into Jones County. Macon is the biggest city in central Georgia...
, defined the grittier Southern soul
Southern soul
Southern soul is a type of soul music that emerged from the Southern United States. The music originated from a combination of styles, including blues , country, early rock and roll, and a strong gospel influence that emanated from the sounds of Southern African-American churches. The focus of the...
sound of Memphis
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....
-based Stax Records
Stax Records
Stax Records is an American record label, originally based in Memphis, Tennessee.Founded in 1957 as Satellite Records, the name Stax Records was adopted in 1961. The label was a major factor in the creation of the Southern soul and Memphis soul music styles, also releasing gospel, funk, jazz, and...
.R&B singer Ray Charles was born in Albany, GA.
Hip-Hop
Atlanta-based OutKastOutKast
Outkast is an American hip hop duo based in East Point, Georgia, consisting of Atlanta native André "André 3000" Benjamin and Savannah, Georgia-born Antwan "Big Boi" Patton. They were originally known as Two Shades Deep but later changed the group's name to OutKast...
proved one of the first commercially successful Hip-Hop groups from outside of New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
or Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
. In the 1990s and 2000s, Atlanta emerged as the leading center of urban music. Artists like Lloyd
Lloyd (singer)
Lloyd Polite, Jr. , who performs under the mononym Lloyd, is an American R&B recording artist, who experienced as a member of the group N-Toon before embarking on a solo career in 2004....
, T.I., TLC
TLC (band)
TLC is an American musical trio whose repertoire spanned R&B, hip-hop, soul, funk, and new jack swing. Originally consisting of singer Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins, rapper-singer Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes and singer Rozonda "Chilli" Thomas it found success in the 1990s while also enduring a series of spats...
, Monica, Usher
Usher (entertainer)
Usher Terry Raymond IV , who performs under the mononym Usher, is an American singer-songwriter, and actor. He is considered around the world to be the reigning King of R&B. Usher rose to fame in the late 1990s with the release of his second album My Way, which spawned his first Billboard Hot 100...
, 112
112 (band)
112 is an American R&B quartet from Atlanta, Georgia. Formerly artists on Diddy's Bad Boy Records, the group signed to the Def Soul roster in 2002. They had great success in the late 1990s and early 2000s with hits such as "Only You", "Anywhere" and "Peaches & Cream"...
, Ludacris
Ludacris
Christopher Brian Bridges , better known by his stage name Ludacris, is an American rapper and actor. Along with his manager, Chaka Zulu, Ludacris is the co-founder of Disturbing tha Peace, an imprint distributed by Def Jam Recordings...
, YoungBloodZ
YoungBloodZ
YoungBloodZ are an American Southern rap duo from Atlanta, Georgia, comprising members J-Bo and Sean P YoungBloodZ are an American Southern rap duo from Atlanta, Georgia, comprising members J-Bo (born Jeffrey Ray Grigsby on October 4, 1977) and Sean P YoungBloodZ are an American Southern rap duo...
, OutKast
OutKast
Outkast is an American hip hop duo based in East Point, Georgia, consisting of Atlanta native André "André 3000" Benjamin and Savannah, Georgia-born Antwan "Big Boi" Patton. They were originally known as Two Shades Deep but later changed the group's name to OutKast...
, Goodie Mob
Goodie Mob
Goodie Mob is a Hip Hop act based in Atlanta, Georgia that formed in 1991 and currently consists of members Cee-Lo Green, Khujo, T-Mo and Big Gipp.-History:The group's name acts as a double backronym...
(as well as the Dungeon Family
Dungeon Family
The Dungeon Family is a hip hop/R&B/soul musical collective, based in Atlanta, Georgia and specializing in Southern hip hop with heavy funk and soul influences. The group derives its name from "The Dungeon", the name given to record producer Rico Wade's basement studio where many of the early...
music collective which both are members of), producers like Organized Noize
Organized Noize
Organized Noize is an Atlanta-based American hip hop production company made up of Rico Wade, Ray Murray and Sleepy Brown.-History:Among the hit records they have worked on include TLC's "Waterfalls", En Vogue's "Don't Let Go ", and Ludacris' "Saturday "...
, L.A. Reid, and Jermaine Dupri
Jermaine Dupri
Jermaine Dupri Mauldin , known as Jermaine Dupri or JD, is an American record producer, songwriter and rapper.- Early life and career :...
, the latter of whom founded the successful record labels LaFace and SoSo Def, have blurred musical boundaries by blending R&B singing with Hip-Hop production. More recently, Atlanta is also known as a center of crunk
Crunk
Crunk is a music style that originated in Memphis, Tennessee in the mid-to-late 1990s and gained mainstream success around 2003–2004. Performers of crunk music are sometimes referred to as crunksters. An archetypal crunk track most frequently uses a drum machine rhythm, heavy bassline, and...
music, an electric bass-driven club music, whose most visible practitioner has been Atlanta-based producer/hype man/rapper Lil Jon
Lil Jon
Jonathan Mortimer Smith , better known by his stage name Lil Jon, is an American rapper, music producer, entrepreneur, and occasional disc jockey who was a member of the group Lil Jon & The East Side Boyz. Lil Jon formed the group in 1997, and the group released several albums between then and 2004...
. Before moving to Atlanta, Young Jeezy lived in Macon, Georgia.
Rock
National Recording Corporation
-Early years:National Recording Corporation was incorporated in Atlanta in 1958. Founders were Bill Lowery, at the time the number one Country Music disc jockey and already a successful music publisher, and Boots Woodall, whose band recorded for Capitol, King, and Bullet Records and performed on...
, sporting not only a record label, but a recording studio and pressing plant. Lowery would later work with the likes of Billy Joe Royal, Mac Davis, Dennis Yost & The Classics Five, and The Atlanta Rhythm Section, and put Atlanta on the music map with his Lowery Music group of publishing companies, one of the world's biggest music publishers. Cat Power
Cat Power
Charlyn Marie Marshall , also known as Chan Marshall or by her stage name Cat Power, is an American singer/songwriter and occasional actress and model. Cat Power was originally the name of Marshall's first band, but has come to refer to her musical projects with various backing bands...
also got her start in Atlanta.
The Allman Brothers Band
The Allman Brothers Band
The Allman Brothers Band is an American rock/blues band once based in Macon, Georgia. The band was formed in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1969 by brothers Duane Allman and Gregg Allman , who were supported by Dickey Betts , Berry Oakley , Butch Trucks , and Jai Johanny "Jaimoe"...
, founded in Jacksonville, Florida
Jacksonville, Florida
Jacksonville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Florida in terms of both population and land area, and the largest city by area in the contiguous United States. It is the county seat of Duval County, with which the city government consolidated in 1968...
, moved to Macon
Macon, Georgia
Macon is a city located in central Georgia, US. Founded at the fall line of the Ocmulgee River, it is part of the Macon metropolitan area, and the county seat of Bibb County. A small portion of the city extends into Jones County. Macon is the biggest city in central Georgia...
at the urging of their manager, Phil Walden
Phil Walden
Phil Walden was co-founder of the Macon, Georgia-based Capricorn Records with his younger brother Alan Walden and a good friend and former Atlantic Records executive, Frank Fenter....
, who had previously managed Otis Redding
Otis Redding
Otis Ray Redding, Jr. was an American soul singer-songwriter, record producer, arranger and talent scout. He is considered one of the major figures in soul and R&B...
. Walden's Macon-based Capricorn Records
Capricorn Records
Capricorn Records was an independent record label which was launched by Phil Walden, Alan Walden, and Frank Fenter in 1969 in Macon, Georgia.-First Incarnation:...
, spearheaded the rise of Southern rock
Southern rock
Southern rock is a subgenre of rock music, and genre of Americana. It developed in the Southern United States from rock and roll, country music, and blues, and is focused generally on electric guitar and vocals...
, and the success of the Allman Brothers paved the way for other Southern rock
Southern rock
Southern rock is a subgenre of rock music, and genre of Americana. It developed in the Southern United States from rock and roll, country music, and blues, and is focused generally on electric guitar and vocals...
bands, including Atlanta Rhythm Section
Atlanta Rhythm Section
The Atlanta Rhythm Section, sometimes abbreviated ARS, is an American southern rock band. In 1970 former members of the Candymen and the Classics IV joined together and became the session band for the newly opened Studio One in Doraville, Georgia....
, South Carolina-based Marshall Tucker Band
Marshall Tucker Band
The Marshall Tucker Band is an American Southern rock band originally from Spartanburg, South Carolina. The band's blend of rock, rhythm and blues, jazz, country, and gospel helped establish the Southern rock genre in the early 1970s...
and Lynyrd Skynyrd
Lynyrd Skynyrd
Lynyrd Skynyrd is an American rock band prominent in spreading Southern Rock during the 1970s.Originally formed as the "Noble Five" in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1964, the band rose to worldwide recognition on the basis of its driving live performances and signature tune, Freebird...
, also founded in Jacksonville.
The Black Crowes are a group out of Marietta, Georgia that fuse blues, rock, and gospel into a Southern-soul-driven hard-rockin' extravaganza with tones of Zeppelin-power and Sunday morning inspiration.
The city of Athens, Georgia, home to the University of Georgia has been a fertile field for alternative rock bands since the late 1970s. Notable bands from Athens include R.E.M.
R.E.M.
R.E.M. was an American rock band formed in Athens, Georgia, in 1980 by singer Michael Stipe, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills and drummer Bill Berry. One of the first popular alternative rock bands, R.E.M. gained early attention due to Buck's ringing, arpeggiated guitar style and Stipe's...
, The B-52's
The B-52's
The B-52's are an American rock band, formed in Athens, Georgia in 1976. The original line-up consisted of Fred Schneider , Kate Pierson , Cindy Wilson , Ricky Wilson , and Keith Strickland . Following Ricky Wilson's death in 1985 Strickland switched to guitar...
, Widespread Panic
Widespread Panic
Widespread Panic is an American rock band from Athens, Georgia. The current lineup includes guitarist/singer John Bell, bassist Dave Schools, drummer Todd Nance, percussionist Domingo "Sunny" Ortiz, keyboardist John "JoJo" Hermann, and guitarist Jimmy Herring...
, Drive-By Truckers
Drive-By Truckers
Drive-By Truckers are an alternative country/Southern rock band based in Athens, Georgia, though three out of six members are originally from The Shoals region of Northern Alabama, and the band strongly identifies with Alabama. Their music uses three guitars as well as bass, drums, and now...
, Cartel
Cartel (band)
Cartel is a American pop rock band from Conyers, Georgia that formed in 2003. The band is best known for their single "Honestly", featured on their 2005 debut album Chroma, and for their 2007 appearance on MTV's Band in a Bubble....
, Of Montreal
Of Montreal
Of Montreal is an American rock band from Athens, Georgia. It was founded by frontman Kevin Barnes in 1996, named after a failed romance with a woman "of Montreal." The band is one of the bands of the Elephant 6 collective...
as well as bands from the Elephant 6 Recording Company most notably Neutral Milk Hotel
Neutral Milk Hotel
Neutral Milk Hotel was an American indie rock band formed by singer, guitarist and songwriter Jeff Mangum in the early 1990s. The band was noted for its experimental sound, obscure lyrics and eclectic instrumentation....
.
Acoustic rock/folk duo the Indigo Girls
Indigo Girls
The Indigo Girls are an American folk rock music duo, consisting of Amy Ray and Emily Saliers. They met in elementary school and began performing together as high school students in Decatur, Georgia, part of the Atlanta metropolitan area...
got their start in Decatur. Alternative rock band September Hase
September Hase
September Hase is an American alternative rock band formed by singer/guitarist Al Janelle in 2005. Janelle formed the group as a three-man project with Adam Smith and Matthew Heller after the dissolution of his high school blues band....
began in Tifton. Rock pianist Elton John
Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John, CBE, Hon DMus is an English rock singer-songwriter, composer, pianist and occasional actor...
spends some time living in Atlanta.
Singer-songwriter John Mayer
John Mayer
John Clayton Mayer is an American pop rock and blues rock musician, singer-songwriter, recording artist, and music producer. Born in Bridgeport, Connecticut and raised in Fairfield, Connecticut, he attended Berklee College of Music in Boston. He moved to Atlanta in 1997, where he refined his...
has lived in Atlanta since dropping out of the Berklee School of Music in 1998. Georgia has had a decent contribution to the ska scene with the bands Treephort
Treephort
Treephort is an American punk rock band from Marietta, Georgia.An article by the Associated Press brought the band international attention in 2004 for their stage antics while on tour.Before this attention, Treephort toured the U.S...
, 50:50 Shot, and The Taj Motel Trio
The Taj Motel Trio
The Taj Motel Trio is a ska-punk band from Habersham County, Georgia. The band formed in 1997 and has released three full-length albums, and one EP. They have performed alongside Streetlight Manifesto, The OC Supertones, The Pietasters, Mustard Plug, Big D and the Kids Table, The Planet Smashers,...
and ska punk has seen a recent revival in the state of Georgia with the regional ska festival, the Mass Ska Raid, taking place for the first time in 2008.
Along with Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
and the rest out the Southern area there is a strong heavy metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
music scene (specifically sludge metal
Sludge metal
Sludge metal is a subgenre of heavy metal that melds elements of doom metal and hardcore punk, and sometimes incorporates influences from southern rock, stoner rock and grunge. Sludge metal is typically abrasive; often featuring shouted vocals, heavily distorted instruments and sharply contrasting...
) in Georgia especially in Atlanta with bands Mastodon
Mastodon (band)
Mastodon is an American heavy metal band from Atlanta, Georgia, formed in 1999. The band is composed of bassist/vocalist Troy Sanders, guitarist/vocalist Brent Hinds, guitarist Bill Kelliher and drummer/vocalist Brann Dailor...
, Baroness
Baroness (band)
Baroness is a band from Savannah, Georgia whose members grew up together in Lexington, Virginia.-Formative years:Baroness formed in mid-2003, founded by former members of the punk/metal band Johnny Welfare and the Paychecks...
, Kylesa
Kylesa
Kylesa is a metal band that was formed in Savannah, Georgia. Their music incorporates experimentalism with sludgy riffs, drop-tuned guitars and elements of psychedelic rock. The group was established in 2001 by the former members of Damad, with the addition of guitar player Laura Pleasants who is...
, Withered
Withered
Withered is an American extreme metal band from Atlanta, Georgia, founded by Chris Freeman and Mike Thompson. Both members also participate in a crust punk/grindcore band, Social Infestation, which also features Mastodon bassist Troy Sanders.-Overview:...
, and Sevendust
Sevendust
Sevendust is an American heavy metal band from Atlanta, Georgia. Formed in 1994 by bassist Vince Hornsby, drummer Morgan Rose and guitarist John Connolly. After their first demo, lead vocalist Lajon Witherspoon and guitarist Clint Lowery joined the group...
.
Also, several Christian rock musicians have come out of Georgia like Third Day
Third Day
Third Day is a Grammy award-winning Christian rock band formed in Marietta, Georgia during the 1990s. The band was founded by lead singer Mac Powell, guitarist Mark Lee and former member Billy Wilkins. The other band members are bassist Tai Anderson and drummer David Carr...
, Casting Crowns
Casting Crowns
Casting Crowns is a Grammy Award and Dove Award winning Contemporary Christian/Christian Rock band. Casting Crowns was started in 1999 by youth pastor Mark Hall at First Baptist Church in Downtown Daytona Beach, Florida as part of a youth group. He now serves as a lead vocalist...
, Bebo Norman
Bebo Norman
Jeffrey Stephen "Bebo" Norman is a contemporary Christian musician from Columbus, Georgia, USA. His most successful album to date is Myself When I Am Real, which included hit songs "Great Light of the World" and "Falling Down". Other popular songs by Norman include "Disappear", "Nothing Without...
, and Family Force 5
Family Force 5
Family Force 5 is a Christian crunk rock band from Atlanta, Georgia. They consist of Solomon "Soul Glow Activatur" Olds, Jacob "Crouton" Olds, Joshua "Fatty" Olds, Nathan "Nadaddy" Currin, and Derek "Chap Stique" Mount...
.
Country
On June 14, 1923, the country-music recording industry was launched in Atlanta when Fiddlin' John CarsonFiddlin' John Carson
Fiddlin' John Carson was an American old time fiddler and an early-recorded country musician.-Early life:...
made his first phonograph record for Okeh Records Company representative Polk C. Brockman. Carson's recordings of "The Little Old Log Cabin in the Lane" and "The Old Hen Cackled and the Rooster's Going to Crow" sold over 500,0000 copies and opened the eyes of record company executives to the market for "old-time" country music.
In the 1960s, Guitarist Chet Atkins
Chet Atkins
Chester Burton Atkins , known as Chet Atkins, was an American guitarist and record producer who, along with Owen Bradley, created the smoother country music style known as the Nashville sound, which expanded country's appeal to adult pop music fans as well.Atkins's picking style, inspired by Merle...
, born in Luttrell, Tennessee but raised in Hamilton, Georgia, drew on Jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
and Pop music to help create the smoother Country music style known as the Nashville Sound
Nashville sound
The Nashville sound originated during the late 1950s as a sub-genre of American country music, replacing the chart dominance of honky tonk music which was most popular in the 1940s and 1950s...
, expanding Country music's appeal to adult pop fans. Country music superstars such as Alan Jackson
Alan Jackson
Alan Eugene Jackson is an American country music singer, known for blending traditional honky tonk and mainstream country sounds and penning many of his own hits. He has recorded 13 studio albums, 3 Greatest Hits albums, 2 Holiday albums, 1 Gospel album and several compilations, all on the Arista...
, Trisha Yearwood
Trisha Yearwood
Patricia Lynn Yearwood, professionally known as Trisha Yearwood , is an American country music artist. She is best known for her ballads about vulnerable young women from a female perspective that have been described by some music critics as "strong" and "confident."Trisha Yearwood signed with MCA...
, and Travis Tritt
Travis Tritt
James Travis Tritt is an American country music singer from Marietta, Georgia. He signed to Warner Bros. Records in 1989, releasing seven studio albums and a greatest hits package for the label between then and 1999. In the 2000s, he released two albums on Columbia Records and one for the defunct...
are natives of Georgia. Other successful country music acts from Georgia include Billy Currington
Billy Currington
William Matthew "Billy" Currington is an American country music artist. Signed to Mercury Nashville Records in 2003, he has released four studio albums for the label: 2003's Billy Currington, 2005's Doin' Somethin' Right, 2008's Little Bit of Everything, and 2010's Enjoy Yourself...
, Cyndi Thomson
Cyndi Thomson
Cyndi Thomson is an American country music artist. Thomson wrote songs with songwriter Tommy Lee James and in 2000, she signed with Capitol Records Nashville as a recording artist...
, Jennifer Nettles
Jennifer Nettles
Jennifer Nettles is an American country music artist. She is known primarily for her role as lead vocalist of the duo Sugarland alongside Kristian Bush. Before Sugarland's inception, she also fronted Atlanta, Georgia-based bands called Soul Miner's Daughter and Jennifer Nettles Band...
of Sugarland, Daryle Singletary
Daryle Singletary
Daryle Bruce Singletary is an American country music singer. Between 1995 and 1998, he recorded for Giant Records, for which he released three studio albums: Daryle Singletary in 1995, All Because of You in 1996 and Ain't It the Truth in 1998...
, Doug Stone, John Berry, Rhett Akins
Rhett Akins
Thomas Rhett Akins Sr. is an American country singer and songwriter. Signed to Decca Records between 1994 and 1997, he released two albums for the label , followed by 1998's What Livin's All About on MCA Nashville. Friday Night in Dixie was released in 2002 on Audium Entertainment...
, Mark Wills
Mark Wills
Daryl Mark Williams is an American country music artist, best known professionally as Mark Wills. Signed to Mercury Records between 1996 and 2003, he released five studio albums for the label — Mark Wills, Wish You Were Here, Permanently, Loving Every Minute and And the Crowd Goes Wild — as well...
, And up and coming stars Jason Aldean
Jason Aldean
Jason Aldine Williams is an American country music singer, known professionally as Jason Aldean. Since 2005, Aldean has recorded for Broken Bow Records, an independent record label for which he has released four albums and twelve singles...
, Brantley Gilbert
Brantley Gilbert
Brantley Gilbert is an American country rock music singer-songwriter. He has released two albums, both on the Average Joe's Entertainment Group label. His songs have also been recorded by Colt Ford and Jason Aldean. In February 2011, he left Average Joe's label to join Valory Music Group, where he...
and Luke Bryan
Luke Bryan
Thomas Luther "Luke" Bryan is an American country singer who debuted in 2007 with the single "All My Friends Say", a Top 5 single on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts. His debut album, I'll Stay Me, was released on Capitol Records in 2007. This album also produced chart singles in "We Rode in...
. Also the Zac Brown Band
Zac Brown Band
Zac Brown Band is an American country music, southern rock, and folk band based in Atlanta, Georgia. The lineup consists of Zac Brown , Jimmy De Martini , John Driskell Hopkins , Coy Bowles , Chris Fryar and Clay Cook...
based out of Dahlonega. As well as Lady Antebellum
Lady Antebellum
Lady Antebellum is an American country pop music group formed in Nashville, Tennessee in 2006. The trio is composed of Charles Kelley , Dave Haywood and Hillary Scott .The group made its debut in 2007 as guest vocalists on Jim Brickman's single "Never Alone", before signing to Capitol...
and Tabby Crabb from Sumter Co. who worked with the original Urban Cowboy Band as a musician in Texas and Hank Cochran, Keith Urban, and many others in Nashville.
Classical
Opera singer Jessye NormanJessye Norman
Jessye Norman is an American opera singer. Norman is a well-known contemporary opera singer and recitalist, and is one of the highest paid performers in classical music...
is native to Augusta. Famous music director Robert Shaw
Robert Shaw (conductor)
Robert Shaw was an American conductor most famous for his work with his namesake Chorale, with the Cleveland Orchestra and Chorus, and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus. Shaw received 14 Grammy awards, four ASCAP awards for service to contemporary music, the first Guggenheim Fellowship...
spent much of his time living in Atlanta directing the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus. Notable musical groups include the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, the Atlanta Symphony Chorus, Atlanta Opera, the Georgia Boy Choir, the Atlanta Boy Choir
Atlanta Boy Choir
Atlanta, Georgia has been home to a performing boy choir since the Atlanta Boys Choir was founded as part of the music program in the Atlanta City School System in 1946. That early boy choir gave annual Christmas and Spring concerts at the Atlanta Municipal Auditorium and was composed of boys with...
, New Trinity Baroque
New Trinity Baroque
New Trinity Baroque is an orchestra with an associated chamber choir, specialised in baroque music played on period instruments. It was founded in 1998 in London but is now based in Atlanta, USA...
, the Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra
Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra
The Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra, commonly known as the ASYO, is an organization featuring Atlanta's young instrumentalists, created in 1974....
, Atlanta Ballet, Gwinnett Ballet Theatre, as well as symphonies in the cities of Columbus, Macon, Augusta, and Savannah.