9 "Did-You-Know" Facts About Music in Macon Georgia
1) The modest brick building at College Street and Hardeman Avenue may house a nondescript law office now, but it used to be the home of the Great Southern T-Shirt Company, the first to produce official band merchandise. Shirts for Bon Jovi, ZZ Top and many others were circulating with Macon, Georgia on the tag until 1992 when the company was purchased by Polygram Records.
2) Rose Hill Cemetery opened in 1840 during the “rural cemetery” or “garden cemetery” movement and features rolling hills and sweeping views over the Ocmulgee (ock-MULL-ghee) River. It was a favorite hangout spot for the Allman Brothers Band, who were inspired by grave markers there to write the songs “In Memory of Elizabeth Reed'' and “Little Martha.” The photo on the back of their self-titled record was taken at the monument to Joseph Bond, and after their deaths Duane Allman, Gregg Allman, Butch Trucks and Berry Oakley were all buried at Rose Hill.
3) Just three days after her divorce from Sonny was finalized, Cher got married to Gregg Allman. He proposed to her inside one of the private, curtained booths at Le Bistro, Macon’s first French restaurant. Capricorn Records’ executive vice president Frank Fenter brought celebrity chef Paul Harpin to Macon in 1974 to provide an upscale eatery for the top tier talent Capricorn was bringing to town. Today, the building on Mulberry Street Lane is still a dining destination as The Downtown Grill: https://www.macondowntowngrill.com/.
4) Little Richard got his start performing at Ann’s Tic Toc Lounge in exchange for washing dishes at what was one of Macon’s first openly gay and integrated venues, opened by Ann Johnson in the mid 1940s. The Tick Tock Room at 408 MLK Boulevard was open as a restaurant until a fire in 2021.
5) The Douglass Theatre opened in 1921 by Charles Douglass, one of Georgia’s first Black millionaires, to provide entertainment for Black patrons as an answer to Macon’s Grand Opera House. The Douglass Theatre was instrumental in the discovery of Otis Redding, James Brown, Little Richard and others with radio DJ Hamp “King Bee” Swain’s “Teenage Party” talent shows taking place there: https://www.douglasstheatre.org/.
6) Walking the sidewalk of College Street between Georgia Avenue and Riverside Drive, a magic mushroom drawn into the sidewalk may appear to be in contrast to the street’s manicured mansions set on sprawling, green lawns. But this square of pavement marks the place known as “the hippie crash pad” where the Allman Brothers Band and their roadies first lived when they came to Macon for Capricorn Records in 1969, a year before they moved into the Tudor revival “Big House” on Vineville Avenue. Unfortunately the crash pad is no longer there, marked only by the mushroom on the sidewalk and a set of phantom steps leading up to an empty lot.
7) In the final weekend of July for more than 20 years, Maconites have been gathering downtown for the Bragg Jam Concert Crawl at shows across the city’s best venues. The festival honors brothers Brax and Tate Bragg, accomplished musicians just starting out their careers who were tragically killed in a car wreck. Upon hearing of the accident, friends and fellow musicians organized a jam session at Macon’s landmark The Rookery, which reconvened every year and developed into a full-scale music and community arts festival, contributing more than $200,000 in proceeds to community causes like the Ocmulgee Heritage Trail and Amerson River Park: https://www.braggjam.org/.
8) Boarded up for forty years but never forgotten, Capricorn Sound Studios almost saw the wrecking ball and was barely hanging on for a generation. This iconic recording studio saw the recordings of artists like Charlie Daniels, The Marshall Tucker Band, Wet Willie and many others, before Capricorn Records folded in 1979. The studio’s future was uncertain, though it had many advocates, but beginning in 2016 a coalition of patrons saved and restored it to its mid-1970s state. Today it functions as Mercer Music at Capricorn, a fully-functioning recording studio and music incubator station: https://capricorn.mercer.edu/.
9) As Macon’s population has dwindled and scattered, the stories of its impact on American music and culture all but disappeared. But carrying the torch of the songs and stories that were almost lost is Jessica Walden, daughter of Capricorn Records’ Alan Walden, who--along with husband Jamie Weatherford of the Crown Candy Corporation--started leading walking tours of downtown Macon’s musical heritage in 2010. Rock Candy Tours has expanded into several different downtown Macon offerings showcasing the spirit and the legacy of the city’s musical story with guided food, beer and ghost tours. Learn more at https://rockcandytours.com/.
