Legends in music have poured out of the state of Georgia for decades, such as Ray Charles, Outkast, the Allman Brothers, James Brown and countless others. Three illustrious musicians with Georgia ties will perform Saturday at the Grand Opera House in Macon. Rock stars Mike Mills of REM, Chuck Leavell of the Rolling Stones and internationally acclaimed violinist Robert McDuffie will come together for “A Night of Georgia Music.” They’ll perform beloved Georgia classics along with an original collaborative rock-classical fusion concerto from Mills and McDuffie. The three musicians joined “City Lights” host Lois Reitzes via Zoom to talk about the show’s concept and why they came together to honor Georgia musicians in this unique way.
Interview highlights:
A tribute to Georgia’s inspiring legacy of music:
“The South has always been known for storytelling, and music is one of the great ways that you can tell a story. Not just as a vehicle for words, but with the melodies and the music itself, you can create a mood and an environment and tell a story,” said Mills. “Why [Georgia has] so many great musicians is really hard to say. It’s just something about the state, the fact that we go from swamp to mountain, to beach, to pine barrens; it’s an incredibly diverse state with an incredible amount of history. And so there’s so much to draw on, for musicians to be inspired by so many different aspects of life.”
“It was when I was probably thirteen years old… and I’d seen a few live things, but I’d never seen anything like Ray Charles,” said Leavell. “Of course, Ray was amazing, but it wasn’t just Ray. It was the Raelettes; it was Fathead Newman on saxophone. Billy Preston was playing Hammond B3 at the time… and I just walked away, just profoundly affected by it. And I thought to myself if I could ever be in a band, not necessarily like that, but if I could ever be in a band that could move people the way that that moved me, that would be a pretty good goal to have. So I’m still hanging onto that.”
