After 10 years of Amplify Decatur, musicians still singing event’s praises

Celebrating a decade of offering live music and charitable community support, the Amplify Decatur Music Festival returns Thursday, June 4, through Sunday, June 7, with a series of free and ticketed events.

The hottest ticket is an all-star concert scheduled 3-11 p.m. Saturday on the new Decatur Square stage. Gillian Welch & David Rawlings, Patterson Hood of the Drive-By Truckers, Dylan LeBlanc, Kyshona and Georgia Mountain Stringband are the featured acts.

“Way back in 2009 or 2010, I founded the organization,” said Mike Killeen, a co-chair of organizers Amplify My Community. Initially called Poverty Is Real, the association has always relied on the community and volunteers to accomplish its objectives, he said. “As they say, it takes a village.”

Killeen noted Amplify Decatur has grown substantially since its inception. “The first time it came together, it was just me playing a show at Eddie’s Attic and donating $200 to a political organization.”

From small shows to sporadic happenings in Athens and surrounding areas, the Decatur-based project eventually expanded to three nights at Eddie’s Attic. “Now, the reason we are celebrating 10 years is because a decade ago, we finally took the big leap to call it a festival and have it on the square, complete with all of the logistics that go along with organizing a big outdoor spectacle.”

Patterson Hood looks forward to playing, listening

Patterson Hood, one of Saturday evening’s featured acts, recalls some of those less spectacular days.

The scene at Decatur music venue Eddie’s Attic holds particularly fond memories for him.

“I played the Monday night open mic night there before I was able to get a gig anywhere in the state of Georgia. They had an open mic night, and the winner would get 50 bucks or something. Then the winner would be invited back to a grand finale thing where the previous winners would compete against each other, and the winner of that would get a thousand bucks.

“I had just moved to Athens. I didn’t have a band yet, and I didn’t really know anybody. I drove over one night to do the open mic night, and I actually won the damn thing. I went back a week or two later, and I won it again! I was like, ‘Man, this is so cool, I’m gonna be a star,’” he said with a laugh.

“Then I went to the finale, where all the winners competed. I think I was the only one there that had won it twice at that time. And then I got eliminated in the first round. I was like, ‘Damn it, I guess I’m not gonna be a big star in Decatur, Georgia.’ But I kept coming back to play.”

Hood remembered that he wrote the title cut to his second solo record at one of those open mic nights, while someone else was playing. “Yeah, I wrote ‘Murdering Oscar’ right there at Eddie’s.”

Although Hood eventually formed the Drive-By Truckers in Athens, he said Decatur and Atlanta were the first Georgia cities to fully embrace his music.

“I couldn’t get a gig in Athens at all at that time,” he said. “Back then, if you didn’t have a band, there wasn’t much for you in Athens. So I kept coming back over to Atlanta to play, and the first club we ever sold out was the Star Bar. Even though I’d been playing in Alabama for years before I moved to Athens, a lot of good things kinda started for me right there in Decatur.”

Hood said he’ll begin working on a new Truckers record in August, but he’s now touring in support of his recent solo album, 2025’s “Exploding Trees & Airplane Screams.”

“There’s things I can do with the solo thing that I just can’t do with the band, so it’s nice to have two completely different things going on, and a good place to play it all,” Hood said. “I definitely want to do some stuff from ‘Exploding Trees’ because I’m really proud of that record. But my set will be all over the place, of what I want to play. I’ll know when I get there.”

Performing at 7:15 p.m. Saturday, Hood will be driving in after a gig in Charleston. “It’ll be a bit of a haul to get there, but I’ll get up early for this show,” he said.

“After I play, I get to see Gillian and David play (at 9:30 p.m.) — and Dylan LeBlanc is on the bill right before me (at 6:15). We used to tour together. So I think I’m just as excited about this show as anybody. I’m really looking forward to getting there early, because it’s gonna be a really fun day.”

Georgia Mountain Stringband mixes traditional bluegrass instrumentation with rock and punk influences. (Courtesy of Amplify Decatur)

Simple good times with Georgia Mountain Stringband

For more than a decade, Jason Waller has led versions of the Georgia Mountain Stringband and is an Amplify Decatur veteran.

“I’ve played Amplify solo and with the band several times,” he said. “We even did livestreams during the pandemic, and I truly love what they’re doing. It’s a great way to be exposed to new music and musicians, and Amplify is putting a lot of effort into making our community a better place to be.”

Waller recalled starting the Stringband as “basically a pick-up bluegrass group. I’d get paid gigs and then call up guys I knew who were familiar with standard bluegrass tunes.” Eventually, the lineup solidified, and the band recorded an EP nearly a decade ago. “The day after we released it, I was like, ‘OK, guys, we’re a real band now.’”

The group deftly mixes traditional bluegrass instrumentation with rock and punk influences. Waller and company maintain a loyal following via YouTube clips of the band’s originals and inspired cover choices. A few times a year, the group performs at Waller’s Coffee Shop, the Decatur community events space he manages. It performs with special guest Reverend Hylton at 3:45 Saturday on Decatur Square’s new stage.

“With three songwriters in the band, we have plenty of material,” Waller said. “We say no to drums and try to stay as traditional as possible. But music shouldn’t have strict rules; it should just be authentic, so we aren’t exactly limited in any way. Our goal is just to laugh and have a good time. That sort of invisible bond is what makes playing music magical for us.”

Waller said the Stringband, once voted Best Bluegrass Band by Creative Loafing, enjoys being part of the Decatur music community. “It’s just good people who support each other.”

Amplify Decatur co-chairs Christine Mahin (from left), Drew Robinson and Mike Killeen. "Every net dollar we make — and sometimes some dollars that we don’t make — we give to charitable organizations because that’s the bottom line for us,” Killeen says. (Courtesy of Amplify Decatur/Joshua Vensel)

Behind the scenes, Amplify is about ‘people helping people’

Strong support is part of what keeps festival organizers Amplify My Community going and growing.

“We couldn’t do any of this without corporate and community help,” said Mike Killeen, who co-chairs the organization with Christine Mahin and Drew Robinson. “The most visible part of what the festival offers is an impressively wide selection of live musical performances, but it’s a very layered approach.”

Killeen said the music presentation isn’t a profit-driven entity. “This organization (is) about people helping people, and those are the real stars of it all. Every net dollar we make — and sometimes some dollars that we don’t make — we give to charitable organizations because that’s the bottom line for us.”

Proceeds from the 2026 Amplify Decatur will be directed to Decatur Cooperative Ministry and Decatur Education Foundation to aid their missions.

Now a four-day jubilee with a Thursday night kickoff party at the Avon Theater, Amplify Decatur continues with various pop-up stages at multiple sites throughout the city. The festival includes a free Friday night show on Decatur Square.

“In all, we’ll probably have over 25 performers over four days in around a dozen locations,” Killeen explained. “It’s to the point where people are planning a whole weekend around it.”

The musical fare covers a swath of genres. “We embrace the broadest possible definition of what people call ‘Americana,’ and we want diversity of every kind,” Killeen said.

“Our first mission is to raise funds to help the more vulnerable members of our community, and the secondary mission is Decatur deserves a sustainable music festival because it’s an extremely creative town with such an incredible history. We want it to be something that feels like it’s a festival that just belongs in Decatur. We’re proud to be a part of this community.”

On Saturday, the marquee ticketed event on the square kicks off at 3 p.m. with a performance by the winners of a recent high school Battle of the Bands contest.

“I’m thrilled to be on the bill,” Patterson Hood said, “because I love Decatur.”