Welcome to Heat Check, a biweekly music column where AJC culture reporter DeAsia Paige explores the temperature of Georgia’s buzzing, expansive music scene. The column will include music news, trends and any Georgia-related music that DeAsia is listening to. If you’re a Georgia artist and have music you want to be considered for this column — or if you just want to talk music — feel free to send an email to deasia.paige@ajc.com.
Andrea & Mud
Credit: Andrea & Mud
Credit: Andrea & Mud
On April 19, Atlanta-based duo Andrea & Mud (Andrea Colburn and Kyle “Mud” Moseley) dropped their third album “Institutionalized.” Across 14 tracks, the group sifts through country, honky-tonk, bluegrass and spaghetti western to express themes of mental health and belonging. The album also includes covers such as the Judds’ “Mama He’s Crazy” and Johnny Cash’s “Committed to Parkview.”
“Institutionalized” was conceived in 2020, during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We had just put out our second album [2020′s ‘Bad News Darlin’], and we were just feeling like indie bands have it really hard, which is very true,” Colburn said. “I think we were feeling like how do you find what you love and what makes you happy and go do it when the world is fighting against you, but we still feel so strongly about our music and we just feel like it could really help people.”
The album fuses all of the best elements of country with surf music and makes you feel like you’re listening to a 1960s group from California.
“Atlanta is a very multicultural city, so there are plenty of influences from other cultures that normally wouldn’t be included in classic country music,” Moseley said. “I’m particularly influenced by Tejano music, and I really like some of the Afrobeats stuff, but we also get some of the influences from traditional music in bluegrass, which is very rooted in north Georgia.”
RIP to Rico Wade and Dickey Betts
Credit: AJC Staff Photo/Marlene Karas; Jason Vorhees/The Macon Telegraph via AP, File
Credit: AJC Staff Photo/Marlene Karas; Jason Vorhees/The Macon Telegraph via AP, File
Since the previous Heat Check, Two pioneers in Georgia’s music scene have died: Rico Wade and Dickey Betts.
Wade, a founding member of the Dungeon Family and one-third of production group Organized Noize, died on April 13. He was 52. Wade was a primary architect of Atlanta’s funk-infused hip-hop sound, which became a soundtrack for southern rap. He helped shaped the early stylings of Outkast and Goodie Mob.
Five days later, on April 18, Allman Brothers guitarist Dickey Betts died at age of 80. Betts’ bluesy guitar style not only shaped Southern rock music in the 60′s and 70′s, but it made the Allman Brothers one of the most influential bands of all-time.
Both artists made Georgia’s music scene what it is today, and without their pioneering contributions, it’s safe to say that Georgia’s impact on pop culture wouldn’t be as legendary.
Marisa Dabice stops in Atlanta for band’s show
Credit: Millicent Hailes
Credit: Millicent Hailes
Marisa Dabice, guitarist and lead vocalist for the Philadelphia punk band Mannequin [Expletive] talked to the AJC before the group’s stop at Terminal West on April 16. The band, composed of Dabice, Colins “Bear” Regisford (bass, vocals), Kaleen Reading (drums, percussion), Maxine Steen (guitar, synths), dropped their critically acclaimed album “I Got Heaven” in March.
“I Got Heaven” is one of the best albums of the year for its expansive, rapturous croons on grappling with loneliness while being self-assured.
Here’s a snippet of my conversation with Dabice (she also shared that her favorite Atlanta moment was performing a Shaky Knees a few years ago):
Q: What does this new chapter with “I Got Heaven” mean for you all?
A: It’s definitely meant a growing closeness with each other, not just as collaborators and bandmates, but as a family. We’ve experienced so much of life together, and I think sometimes when you have times that draw you away from the act of creating, it can be kind of distracting. I felt like, for me, it was the first time in my life where I felt fully able to focus on myself and my closest collaborators.
Q: Has the album taken on a new meaning since being on tour?
A: To see the way that these words and this music are reverberating in people and just seeing the cathartic joy on people’s faces is a huge cause for celebration for us. The ultimate goal as a touring act is to bring cathartic joy in a world that makes it hard to attain that.
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