Macon Music in Georgia

Located in central Georgia, Macon was the first stop on our journey across the US after picking up Stella who had been staying with my BFF and her fam in Florida. Reunited and it feels so good! We had a most amazing time in South Africa, but our pack was incomplete without Stella.

Our journey west: We’re taking a very winding, circuitous route from Florida to San Diego, mostly through the south hoping to get a unique glimpse into parts of our own US of A.

Macon, chock full of musical history, is considered to be the birthplace or at least the hometown of Otis Redding, Little Richard and The Allman Brothers among many musical geniuses. And I learned from a local music historian that James Brown, one of the founding fathers of funk and the self-proclaimed Godfather of Soul, is from Macon or at least raised some hell there as a young adult. The Georgia Music Hall of Fame was in Macon until it closed in 2011.

Our lodging was at Motel 6 – well maintained, especially the outside, the room was a bit worse for the wear but comfortable enough (what do you want for $45.00?) and included a fridge and microwave. And it also had a TV with HBO – quite a treat for two weary travelers. Dinner – veggie sandwich at Subway. We’re on a budget here, folks.

Coming into the town of Macon, one has the sensation of going back in time. Remnants of the past – abandoned buildings with marquees from the 50’s and 60’s. The outskirts of town have a broken feel. But downtown is charming and eclectic with stately Victorian homes and Inns alongside beautiful churches – about a dozen churches within about a 8-block radius. The pace is 3 gears down from slow drive. Given that it was 96 degrees and relatively humid, we didn’t do a lot of walking around. Now that we have Stella, we can be lazy that way. We spent an hour checking out the town while looking for the Allman Brother house.

Committed to experiencing at least one cool or interesting or awesome person, place or thing in each town we stop, Scott discovered The Allman Brothers’ house is now a museum in Macon.  The Big House, this is where Duane and Gregg lived from 1970-1973 while they took the band to great heights and were also pivotal in turning Macon into a recording mecca. Macon was considered by the industry to be one of the “3 M’s” — Motown, Memphis, and Macon.

Definitely worth a visit – cool place to hang out. And for only $3.75/person, The Big House is located at 2321 Vineville Avenue. Map it out in advance, because finding the house is otherwise a bit confusing. 

Amazing place, filled with Allman memorabilia, guitars and old concert flyers. There are tons of old photos, instruments, articles of clothing. A cool place to feel sentimental about the 70’s while taking a stroll through the early stages of Southern Rock history.

Born from blues and risen to rock stardom, this little town of Macon is worth a visit.

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I said, other people can write songs, let’s see if I can. So the first 400 or 500 wound up on the floor somewhere. Then I wrote one called Melissa.
~Gregg Allman

The Beatles had just come out, and everybody had a band. It was incredible competition out there.
~Gregg Allman

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Our Journey West Across the US

This is Post #1: Macon Music in Georgia
Post #2: Boy from Tupelo, Mississippi
Post #3: Two Must-Sees in Memphis Tennessee
Post #4: Mosey Through the Arkansas Ozarks
Post #5: Gettin’ Our Kicks on Route 66 from Missouri to Sapulpa, Oklahoma
Post #6: More Route 66 Kicks from Sapulpa to Oklahoma City
Post #7: Don’t Mess with Texas on Route 66
Post #8: Route 66 Texas Panhandle
Post #9: Bound for Tucumcari, New Mexico
Post #10: Santa Fe’ed Your Soul
Post #11: The Winds of Taos
Post #12: The Good, the Bad, and the Heinous of New Mexico
Post #13: Dusky, Durable Durango
Post #14: Cliff Dwellings of Mesa Verde Colorado
Post #15: Moab Rocks
Post #16: No Clever Title for Richfield, Utah
Post #17: Leavening Las Vegas