Check out this performance to relive & celebrate Macon’s legendary musical past

If you traveled back through time in Macon you might run into some of the music industry’s biggest movers, shakers and stars. You might talk with them, hear their stories, their music and even get to know their families and fans.

Or you might meet those who fussed at them, encouraged them or helped them become superstars.

Of course, you can’t, but what you can do is get to The Capitol Theatre this Thursday through Sunday, Feb. 22-25 to see Rock Candy Tours’ “Macon Music Live: Origins.” It’s just over an hour of music, stories and looks behind the curtains and under the rugs of “back in the day” going back 100-plus years.

Macon still has plenty of talented performers and in the show a bunch of them take on the personas of the likes of Lucille Hegamin, Ann Howard, Little Richard, James Brown, Hamp Swain, Otis Redding, James Brown, Southern rockers, the Walden brothers Phil and Alan, and more.

Are some of these names unfamiliar? Maybe the Maconites who were superstars 100-plus years ago? Well, all the more reason to discover them.

Jessica Walden wrote “Macon Music Live: Origins” and has a unique perspective for doing it. You might know her as the Greater Macon Chamber of Commerce’s president and CEO. If you’re a music fan, you probably know her through her connections to the former Georgia Music Hall of Fame here and then as co-owner of Macon’s mostly music-oriented Rock Candy Tours with husband Jamie Weatherford. Then there’s the fact she’s Alan Walden’s daughter, Phil Walden’s niece, both of Capricorn Records and Studios and each involved in managing some of the 1960s and ‘70s biggest stars and bands.

If you travel through the modern Capricorn complex today, you can still see some of the markings and drawings she decorated the walls with when just a wee one.

“In 2018, we got to do an abbreviated version of the play upstairs in the original Tic Toc Lounge building where Little Richard got his start,” Walden said. “This was prior to Little Richard’s passing. We realized we had something special to bring to the public to preserve Macon’s musical history. We worked on expanding it but then came covid and other delays but now, thanks to Visit Macon and Macon200, we’re able to bring it to The Capitol Theatre.”

I’ve spoken to several who regret missing that first performance, and I’m one myself. Now there’s the chance to see it bigger and better with many of the original performers coming back to recreate roles.

It makes sense that popular singer and The Creek 100.9 FM personality Charles Davis is Otis Redding, singing his songs and telling his stories. And Jim Montgomery is James Brown. Trajan Clayton creates both Little Richard and Hamp Swain, and I’ve personally heard Chomoya Faulk as Hegamin and believe me, she kills it.

There are many others involved with some interesting casting. Roger “Christian” Walden, Jessica Walden’s brother, will play the part of their father, Alan, who Jessica said plans on attending all the shows.

Then there’s restauranteur Saralynn Collins of Grow–Fresh Local Food on Riverside who’s playing Howard, owner of the Tic Toc and central to Little Richard’s early career. Collins isn’t just putting her all into the role, she’s putting it on the table at Grow, too, creating a “Macon Music Live: Origins” inspired menu with tribute dishes to the legends in the show.

With a musical presentation like this, backing music is crucial and The Macon Music Revue, Macon’s own preservation band that performs weekly at Grant’s Lounge, fills the bill. As well as playing for each show, the band will perform a concert set following performances sponsored by Grant’s and The Creek 100.9 FM.

Direction for “Origin” is in the hands of James Crisp, the founder and now-retired artistic director of Theatre Macon who directed that early 2018 version of “Origins.”

Crisp said Walden’s script and the performances of locals playing out the lives, singing the songs and telling the stories of Macon greats is all done in a cozy, personal way though we think of these folks as big personalities with big tunes creating big slices of Macon’s cultural history.

“To me, a highlight has been assembling such a marvelous cast,” Crisp said. “They bring this to life in such a wonderful way and cover so much ground though Jessica’s script is not overly long – barely over an hour. You get a lot of insights both serious and humorous and all of it’s so entertaining.”

While Walden has the perspective of growing up and spending most of her life in Macon, Crisp’s view is that of a newcomer who came to Macon in 1982 knowing little about the place.

“I had no idea Macon was so important to the world of music,” he said. “I’d heard of The Allman Brothers but never knew they were from here or what Capricorn was. Of course, I’d heard “Sittin’ on the Dock of the Bay” and knew the name Otis Redding but had no clue he was from Macon. Then there’s Little Richard and so many other important Macon personalities - they just weren’t on my radar as being from here.”

But that soon changed.

“Who knew years later Otis’ daughter would be such an important part of my life and to Macon as a whole,” Crisp said. “Or that his grandson would become one of my closest friends? I quickly learned of Macon’s deep musical history and now I’m proud to proselytize and tell everyone about it.”

Crisp stressed two aspects of “Origins:” its entertainment value and the fact it’s a celebration.

“It’s a great celebration of the rich musical heritage of this community, the people who were the stars and those who loved and supported them,” he said. “Like this production itself, there’s just an exciting sense of who we are, where we’ve come from and what we can be together.”

For times, ticketing and special pricing for the weekend’s five shows of “Macon Music Live: Origins,” visit www.capitoltheatremacon.com.

For more on Rock Candy Tours and public and special guided tours covering Macon’s musical history, places and personalities, go to www.rockcandytours.com.

Contact writer Michael W. Pannell at mwpannell@gmail.com