Over the last few years it’s become evident that there is no shortage of talent coming out of the local roots, folk, and alt-country scene in Atlanta. The ‘city too busy to hate’ has Georgia Mountain Stringband, Cold Heart Canyon, Blood On The Harp, and Caleb & The Gents amongst a host of others. Americana is one of those labels that seems to encompass a pretty wide swath of style, and as we all know it’s getting harder, and perhaps less important to pigeonhole artists into a certain genre. My own personal belief is that the practice of doing so really had more to do with album sales from the major labels, and how to best market their ‘talent’.
Admittedly my tastes tend to fall more in line with stringed instruments with minimal effects, but I certainly have respect for musicians of every stripe. Talent is talent, no matter what corner of the stage it comes from.
Enter into this post Jason Waller, who seems to be everywhere, playing with just about everyone at Sunday brunches, open-mic nights, and full on band performances. We’ve written about his Savannah shows with various lineups multiple times over the last few years.
Jason Waller
His latest project, while still juggling the rest of his commitments is called South River. He explained this endeavor to me as ‘a way to do short releases (the first EP is three songs) of different collaborations with various friends’. In the creative process there’s nothing that gets the juices flowing like throwing oneself into different combos to see what the results might be. When you have as much as heart as Jason Waller does, and as many special friends, it’s easy to see, and hear how he might just be onto something with South River.