PEACH BUZZ: Georgia (music) on state visitors’ minds

Thanks to the Georgia Department of Economic Development, travelers pulling into nine of the state’s visitor information centers are getting an earful.

Of Georgia music.

When visitors get out of their vehicles, freshly installed speakers outside rest stops serenade tourists with Ray Charles, Akon, Jason Aldean, Otis Redding, Trisha Yearwood, Sugarland, the Allman Brothers Band, R.E.M., Collective Soul, Ciara, Sleepy Brown, Curtis Mayfield, Sonia Leigh, James Brown, Bill Anderson, Johnny Mercer, the Tams, Raven Symone, Indigo Girls and Brenda Lee, among others.

The salute to the state’s varied and lengthy musical heritage is a partnership between the GDED and the Georgia Music Hall of Fame in Macon. The Hall of Fame folks are also planning a companion set of CDs titled “The Soundtrack of Your Life.”

Among the included visitor centers are locations in Augusta, Columbus, Savannah, Tallapoosa, Valdosta, Lavonia and Ringgold.

“We’ve gotten a ton of feedback since we launched last week,” GDED rep. Stefanie Paupeck told Buzz on Friday. “Visitors are loving it.”

Intros before the tunes tip listeners to who they’re hearing.

So has a Michael Stipe or a Fred Schneider shown up at a visitors center to stretch their legs as yet?

Said Paupeck: “Not so far, but that’s a photo op just waiting to occur, don’t you think? With 13 million annual visitors each year, it’s bound to happen.”

Chernoff joins sports talk the Fan

Sports talk host Matt Chernoff, let go from 790/the Zone last December, has found a new home at rival 680/the Fan.

For the first time, Chernoff gets to work mornings, joining Christopher Rude and Perry Laurentino, starting Sept. 2.

“I’m happy they’ve given me this opportunity” Chernoff told Buzz. “They’re in a great position already. Hopefully, I can complement Perry and Chris.”

Chernoff, an Atlanta native, brings plenty of football expertise to the table and will continue to co-host “SportsNite” at 6 p.m. on CSS.

Debate the debates

Attention John McCain and Barack Obama: Libertarian presidential candidate Bob Barr is ready to rumble. A new Zogby International poll shows that 55 percent of voters surveyed want the former U.S. House representative from Georgia’s 7th District to be included in the upcoming presidential debates. The snag? The Commission on Presidential Debates requires candidates to be tracking at least 15 percent in the national polls.

In an e-mail to Buzz Central, Barr campaign manager Russell Verney, who served in the same capacity for former candidate Ross Perot, points out that in 1992, Perot was included in all the debates while tracking at 7 percent nationally, about where Barr is tracking.

“There are actually a lot of similarities,” Barr campaign spokesman Steve Sinton told Buzz on Friday. “The problem is that Perot did so well that the CPD went back, changed the rules and slammed the doors shut. But we’re fighting [for inclusion in the debates] because we feel there are a lot of disenfranchised Americans out there who want real change.”

So, like the rest of the nation, was Sinton eagerly anticipating Friday’s impending announcement regarding Obama’s veep pick? Cracked Sinton: “Who?”

Early season for Deerhunter

For fans of Atlanta psych-pop act Deerhunter, Christmas came two months early this week. At least on iTunes, where the band’s new album, “Microcastle,” unexpectedly popped up. One ongoing issue that may have prompted the advance sale? Leaked files from the album had already surfaced.

Even the band’s frontman, Bradford Cox, isn’t immune to such technological boo-boos. He inadvertently gave visitors to the band’s blog access to a file of works in progress and tracks planned for a bonus disc to accompany “Microcastle.” The files started to spread in other forums before the mistake was corrected.

Cox initially posted an angry diatribe that he now seems to regret. It’s been removed and replaced by a new statement. “I accept my mistake,” he wrote. “I apologize for my reaction, especially since it was misinterpreted so widely to be directed at fans. I appreciate and am very grateful for the fact that people want to hear my music and the music we make with Deerhunter.”

He ends the post with this: “I am seriously ending all bad vibes here.”

“Microcastle” will be available in stores Oct. 28 or currently at iTunes.

CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS

Today: Actress Vera Miles is 78. Satirist Mark Russell is 76. Singer Linda Thompson is 61. Actor Jay Mohr is 38. Singer Julian Casablancas of the Strokes is 30.

Sunday: Actor Kenny Baker (R2-D2 in “Star Wars”) is 74. Actress Marlee Matlin is 43. Actor-comedian Dave Chappelle is 35. Actor Chad Michael Murray (“One Tree Hill”) is 27. Actor Rupert Grint (“Harry Potter”) is 20.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“You’d best be careful. That mistake got me married!”

Country legend Loretta Lynn to Buzz after we told her when we bake her infamous chocolate pie, we always take care not to confuse the salt with the sugar. The singer’s disastrous pie-baking (humorously re-created in “Coal Miner’s Daughter”) landed her future husband, Doo Lynn. She performs tonight at the Cobb Energy Centre.

—- Contributing: Shane Harrison, Rodney Ho and news services.