What are the qualities of artistic greatness? What distinguishes a merely entertaining performer from one who is unforgettable? Complex questions, indeed. Hints to the answers may be found in the life and music of Blind Willie McTell, one of Georgia’s finest and most memorable musicians, and particularly in McTell’s artistic gem, “Dyin’ Crapshooter’s...

Just Might be the Noblest and Best Rock Band in the Land The Bible says, “Judge not lest ye be judged.” The Drive-By Truckers, though, take things a whole lot further than that. For the better part of a decade now, their songs haven’t just shown understanding, or even compassion; they’ve demonstrated what is perhaps the noblest of human...

June 4, 1986 The Birth of the Redneck Underground It was a dark and stormy night… No, wait; it was a beautiful late spring evening when Slim Chance & the Convicts played in front of people for the first time. Howdy. I’m Slim Chance, and some folks have called me the “Godfather of the Atlanta Redneck Underground.” I take that as a compliment, and...

I’m reminded of that well-worn Shakespeare quote, “What is past is prologue,” when Shawn Mullins meets me for breakfast at Thumbs Up diner, smiling mischievously and clutching a newspaper article I wrote in 1994 chronicling Atlanta’s burgeoning acoustic music scene. That year, Mullins had been playing regular gigs at Eddie’s Attic and had just opened a...

When she was in college, Susan Archie was a rock’n’roll pilgrim. She made many a jaunt to Atlanta, where she caught shows at since-vanished venues like the 688 Club and the Agora Ballroom. Punk rock had erupted in New York and England, and the effects were reverberating, even in the Bible Belt. Homegrown bands such as the B-52’s, R.E.M. and Love Tractor...