Georgia music alive and well in Macon

The Georgia Music Hall of Fame has been hit hard by the economic downfall. The museum opened in 1996 in Macon. The facility has had financial difficulties this year as budgets and full-time staff members have been cut, and museum attendance has dwindled. Membership of the Music Hall of Fame, however, has grown this year, and the staff is optimistic for a better 2010. The museum will stay open until at least June 2010, and a $15 million fundraising campaign will also be launched next year.

One of the most well-known Georgia bands is the Allman Brothers, and they are featured in Macon’s Hall of Fame as 1998 inductees. The band occupied a mansion in Macon where many of their most well-known songs were written. They recorded at Macon’s Capricorn Studios, and member Duane Allman was killed in a motorcycle accident in town.

The mansion where the band congregated is located at 2321 Vineville Avenue, and the house has undergone extensive renovations in the last few years. It opened to the public December 5, 2009, as an Allman Brothers Museum called The Big House. In collaboration with The Georgia Music Hall of Fame, the two will promote events together and have committed to educating the public about Georgia music.

To visit these two musical Macon museums, check out their web sites. To find out more about becoming a member of the Georgia Music Hall of Fame, visit their web site. I visited the museum myself back in July and enjoyed it enough to consider going back next time I'm in Macon. Read about my first visit here.

The Georgia Music Hall of Fame

Some of the United States’ best musicians hail from Georgia. Otis Redding, James Brown, The Allman Brothers, Tricia Yearwood, Usher, Johnny Mercer, REM, The Indigo Girls, Lena Horne, Gladys Knight, Little Richard and the B-52s all call Georgia home. These are just a handful of the musicians inducted in the Georgia Music Hall of Fame in Macon, nicknamed “The Song and Soul of the South.”

Visitors to the Georgia Music Hall of Fame will see permanent exhibits featuring all of the inductees and many genres of music. The latest temporary exhibit, Johnny Mercer: Too Marvelous for Words, runs July 18, 2009 to June 6, 2010.