St. Simons author and photographer James Calemine bears the distinction of having written Widespread Panic's introduction into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame. He's kicked around the dirt roads and bar rooms of the South for years, bringing back his story through words and photographs.
James recently joined me on the phone for what was supposed to be a fifteen minute conversation, and we wound up ruminating on the Athens music scene, fellow Southern artists and photographers and life down the back road for over an hour.
In this segment we get into musicians like Widespread Panic, Bloodkin and Colonel Bruce Hampton along with fellow music journalists (and mentors) Kirk West, Stanley Booth, and the great southern photographer William Eggleston. All of whom are subject matter for Calemine's non-fiction Snake Nation Press books, Insured Beyond The Grave: Published Essays, Interviews and Dispatches, Volumes 1 & 2. His short story collection The Local Stranger is fiction based on characters encountered between those real life moments. His work can be found at www.jamescalemine.com
We covered so much ground during our discussion, expect another dispatch soon. Click the arrow in the iHeart logo below to listen.
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Below watch Chuck Leavell introduce Widespread Panic during the 2008 Georgia Music Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony. September 20, 2008 at Georgia World Congress Center, Atlanta.