Athens, GA

[oldsouth]

Greetings - I'm new here. There is a lot of great info here and I'm looking forward to reading each thread - guitar in hand for many of them!

I'm also looking forward to meeting some like minded folks.

If any of y'all are in the Athens, GA area and would like to play some music and/or hang out, trade music, etc. please contact me.

I love old jazz, old country and old blues. Right now I am really studying Eddie Lang, Freddie Green, Johnny Smith and Django. I've been playing western swing for about 10 years. Guys like Eldon Shamblin (TX Playboys) were top-notch jazz guitarists who also enjoyed playing country. I guess that seems odd to many folks now, but Les Paul was a big country fan and a western swing was a big influence on him. Ornette Coleman played in a western swing band in OK. Moreover, the father of jazz guitar, Eddie Lang played rhythm guitar with the true father of western swing, Emmett Miller (whose band, the Georgia Crackers, also features Gene Krupa, Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey, Benny Goodman and Scatman Kruthers on occasion!).

Lately I've been listening to a lot of the Hot Club of Cowtown. I love the mix of western swing with Gypsy swing and pre-bob jazz. Watching their guitarist has inspired me to make a more serious study of jazz guitar. I've been playing solid rhythm, based on mostly dead string chords - mostly 6ths, 9ths, minor 7ths and 7ths, with single string leads. I'm trying to get more into chord solos using inverted/block chords.

Anyway, I would love to put a band together soon. So, any musicians in the Athens area, please get in touch!

Judson

[derek]

Welcome aboard Judson. Never been to Athens, but have been to Atlanta a few times. Beautiful state.