WHAT Piano Red - The Lost Atlanta Tapes will be released on CD on Tuesday, August 17th, 2010. The release will be preceded by a special pre-release celebration on Thursday, August 12th, at Smith's Olde Bar.
THE CD "The Lost Atlanta Tapes" documents a live performance by Piano Red at the Excelsior Mill in 1984 and stands as his final recording. Of the eighteen cuts, eight are recorded by the artist for the first time. Michael Reeves, who managed the venue, has held onto the tapes for 26 years and only this summer decided to release them. Reeves, who currently co-owns Smith's Olde Bar and Fox Brothers Bar-B-Q, was joined in the effort by Atlanta writer and producer David Fulmer. The CD will be released by Landslide Records, joining a catalog that includes Widespread Panic, Colonel Bruce Hampton, and other Southern artists.
THE EVENT The August 12th event at Smith's Olde Bar will feature The Red Rockers, a band of long-time devotees of Piano Red's music, including Terry Adams, formerly of NRBQ, Tommy Dean of The League of Decency, Charles Wolff, formerly of The Brains, musicians who played with Piano Red, and other guests
PIANO RED Piano Red - Willie Lee Perryman - was born in Hampton, Georgia, in 1911, and moved with his family to Atlanta when he was six years old. He was popular blues performer in the 1930s and 1940s and had several early rock-and-roll hits. In 1970, he secured a nightly gig at Muhlenbrink's Saloon in Underground Atlanta that grew his base of local fans and major artists playing the Omni and the Fox Theatre visited regularly to pay their respects - Keith Richards and Eric Clapton, to name two. He began a regular gig at the Excelsior Mill in 1981. In 1983, he was inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame and was presented with the Pioneer Award by the Georgia Music Association. He continued to record and play around the Southeast and in Europe until his health began to fail. He died at Dekalb General Hospital on July 25, 1985.
EXTRAS On the date of the event, The Atlanta City Council will issue a Proclamation that will be presented by Kwanzaa Hall, honoring Piano Red's contributions to the city's musical heritage. A share of the proceeds of the show and the CD sales will benefit the Atlanta Community Food Bank.
THE PRODUCERS Atlanta native and Bang Bang Lulu Productions senior producer Michael Reeves co-founded the Mellow Mushroom chain of pizza restaurants in 1974. He went on to co-own and operate the Peanut Palace in McDonough, Georgia, and The Excelsior Mill, The Cotton Club, and The Point, all in Atlanta. Currently, he co-owns Smith's Olde Bar and Fox Brothers Bar-B-Q. As a partner in Nolen-Reeves Music, he has released projects by Atlanta's Kodac Harrison and the band Operator. He has been on the Board of the Georgia Epilepsy Foundation, served as a Commissioner on the Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday Commission, and has been an active supporter of the Atlanta Community Food Bank for over twenty years. Producer David Fulmer is the author of seven critically-acclaimed music-related novels. He has been nominated for a LA Times Book Prize, a Barry Award, and a Falcon Award, has won a Shamus Award, a Benjamin Franklin Award, and an AudioFile Golden Earphone Award. Most recently, The Blue Door was nominated for the 2009 Shamus Award for Best Novel. His seventh novel, The Fall, was released in March by Five Stones Press. He also wrote and produced "Blind Willie's Blues," a documentary about the life and music of Georgia blues legend Blind Willie McTell, and the "Americana" series of vignettes about American music, which aired on NPR affiliate WABE-FM and WMLB-AM, both in Atlanta. www.davidfulmer.com