Please share your memories of Phil Walden? He was a charismatic man, very outgoing with a great sense of humor. Well-known for his temper (although I was fortunate to never have been on the receiving end of one), I got along great with Phil. Our department never got any interference from him (or anyone else there for that matter). We had similar tastes in our love for R&B and soul music, as well as blues. Since Capricorn brought a lot of money into the Macon economy, we had clout in the community, and Phil was very involved in things like historic preservation and other civic functions to benefit the city. It was the best of worlds for me, personally, because I got to work with so many of my musical he- roes. It was very easy to get behind these acts and publicize them to the media. I also en- joyed working with all the people on the Capricorn staff; there was a real sense of com- munity that existed there.


Same with Frank Fenter? I loved Frank! He was very knowledgeable about the music industry and had so many friends from his time as Atlantic Records Label Manager in the UK. That’s how he & Phil met. Frank also had a wonderful sense of humor, too. Told me great stories about being in England during the rise of all that great music there with The Beatles, Stones, Yard- birds, etc., all of whom were big influences on me. I really miss him.


I used to dream of attending one of the annual Capricorn picnics. Tell us a bit about those, and mention some of the folks who came out for the event. I got there in time for the 3rd “Annual Bar-B- Q & Summer Games,” as it was officially known. Originally held at Phil’s house on Dogwood Point in Lake Sinclair, he moved it in 1975 to his much larger spread at Lakeside


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Park, just outside of Macon, which was very historically significant to Phil. He & his family used to go there when he was young. It was a beautiful place with a nice lake & pavilion, with plenty of room. Since I love to fish, Phil used to let me & my buddy Vince fish there on weekends. We’d be the only people on the lake & we caught some great bass there! The “picnic” grew exponentially each year & be- came a very hot ticket for anyone in the music biz lucky enough to get an invitation. People came from literally all over the world to at- tend: Japan, Australia, England, France, Ger- many, etc. The BBQ also gave the label a chance to showcase some of its artists in front of a great & influential audience. Some of the bands that played during those years there in- cluded Sea Level, Stillwater, Bobby Whitlock, Grinderswitch, Black Oak and Dixie Dregs. The reunited Allman Brothers Band made their debut performance there in 1978. There were also shows the night before the BBQ and night of the BBQ, mostly at Uncle Sam’s nightclub on Gray Highway in Macon that in- cluded a lot of jams with people like Gregg Allman, Dickey Betts, Toy Caldwell, Jimmy Hall, Bonnie Bramlett and Stillwater. As for people who attended, pretty much all the label’s artists, plus folks from Warner Bros. and later Polygram, as well as the BBC, Bill Graham, Bette Midler, Hank Williams, Jr, Andy Warhol, Don King – and the big one: Jimmy Carter in 1975 and 1976, when he was running for president. That ’76 one was espe- cially eventful, with Carter, Warhol and King all in attendance, followed by a phalanx of camera crews and journalists. That Saturday night, the Capricorn BBQ was on all three major network newscasts!


Who were some of the artists you be- came closest to? Chuck Leavell, Randall Bramblett, Elvin Bishop, Delbert McClinton, Bonnie Bramlett,


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