- -_ - wabe (buzzer sounding) ♪ Black widow - We are Edgewood heavy.

♪ Black widow, black widow - We wanted to make a sound that matched the diversity of our city.

- I am Okorie "OkCello" Johnson.

The idea is to kind of create this electricity so we are ready for what's about to follow.

(overlapping music) (crowd cheering) (gentle music) ♪ Learning to, learning to, learning to be alone ♪ ♪ Learning to, learning to, learning to be alone ♪ ♪ Learning to, learning to, learning to be alone ♪ ♪ Is gonna take you some time ♪ And honey, that's alright ♪ My days seem brighter when I look to my past ♪ ♪ Those days seem distant ♪ And I wish they had lasted a little bit longer ♪ ♪ We only know what times are best when they're gone ♪ ♪ So we just spend our lives thinking we don't belong ♪ ♪ In the place that we are ♪ But it's not lost on me ♪ That these good times I'm living ♪ ♪ Will be what I look back on soon ♪ ♪ What I wish for soon ♪ 'Til then I'm learning to, learning to, ♪ ♪ Learning to be alone ♪ (I'm trying to learn) ♪ Learning to, learning to, learning to be alone ♪ ♪ (I'm just trying to learn) ♪ Learning to, learning to, learning to be alone ♪ ♪ (I'm trying to learn) ♪ And it's gonna take me some time ♪ ♪ I know that that's alright ♪ It's just me by myself, all alone in my room ♪ ♪ That's all that I'm left with ♪ ♪ I'm laying in bed and smoking all day ♪ ♪ And binging on Netflix ♪ I ain't seen her in weeks and now I can't sleep ♪ ♪ But then mama told me ♪ Baby she gone and yeah you alone but ain't gotta be lonely ♪ ♪ Now she taking them flicks with Sam ♪ ♪ And posting them all on the gram ♪ ♪ She say she don't wanna be friends ♪ ♪ But could she be cool with the band ♪ ♪ We burned every ounce of love ♪ ♪ Smoked all 28 grams ♪ Now I'm learning to be alone but I'd do it all over again ♪ ♪ I see you in my dreams and wake in a sweat ♪ ♪ And I'm so bitter that's as close as I get ♪ ♪ But those feelings are toxic ♪ 'Cause what I see in dreams is all just a lie ♪ ♪ I know your current state is not who my mind ♪ ♪ Desperately wants you to be ♪ But it's not lost on me ♪ That these good times I'm living ♪ ♪ Will be what I look back on soon ♪ ♪ What I wish on soon ♪ 'Til then we're learning to, learning to ♪ ♪ Learning to be alone (I'm trying to learn) ♪ ♪ Both of us learning to, learning to, learning to be alone ♪ ♪ (Just trying to learn) ♪ Together we're learning to, learning to ♪ ♪ Learning to be alone (I'm trying to learn) ♪ ♪ And it's gonna take us some time (No, no, no, no, no) ♪ ♪ And it's gonna take us some time (No, no, no, no, no) ♪ ♪ And it's gonna take us some time ♪ ♪ I know that that's alright, that's alright ♪ - We are Edgewood heavy.

This is "Sounds Like ATL".

That is a song from our upcoming album by the name of "Learning to Be Alone".

This next song is led by my partner in crime on my right hand side.

Goes by the name of "Save My Soul".

That was the first original song that we ever did together, right?

- Yeah, "Save My Soul" is one of the OGs.

So, happy to be playing this.

This is "Save My Soul".

Goes something like this.

(soulful music) ♪ Save My Soul ♪ Save My Soul ♪ Save My Soul ♪ When the sun, it cease to shine ♪ ♪ You can meet me, I'll be at the ♪ ♪ End of time ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ Save My Soul (Save My Soul) ♪ Save My Soul ♪ When the dawn, it fades to dusk ♪ ♪ You can take my heart and do just ♪ ♪ What you must ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ Save My Soul (Save My Soul) ♪ Save My Soul - One, two, three, four.

♪ Save My Soul ♪ I need a place to run away, run away, run away ♪ ♪ Save My Soul ♪ I need a place to run away, run away, run away ♪ ♪ Somebody gone die tonight ♪ But please believe I did what I did for a reason, yeah ♪ ♪ I made that sacrifice ♪ Sometimes to make things right ♪ ♪ You gotta do a little wrong, yeah yeah yeah ♪ ♪ Somebody gone die tonight ♪ But please believe I did what I did for a reason ♪ ♪ A real good reason ♪ I made that sacrifice ♪ Sometimes to make things right ♪ ♪ You gotta do a little wrong, yeah yeah ♪ ♪ Save My Soul Save My Soul.

- So we are a true Atlanta band.

We go by the name Edgewood Heavy.

Edgewood obviously is one of the staples of the Atlanta community.

And when we came together, we were very different artists.

And we wanted to kind of come together that would make a sound that matched the diversity of our city.

This last song is actually an unrecorded original.

It's a new one that we haven't put out just yet.

Goes by the name of "Black Widow".

(tambourine rattling) ♪ Black widow, I cannot escape you ♪ ♪ It's true, I'm guilty all the same ♪ ♪ (No, no, no, no, no) ♪ You cast your weapon, I come runnin' ♪ ♪ And when you're gone, sorrow remains ♪ ♪ (Oh, no, no, no, no) ♪ Black widow, black widow, black widow ♪ ♪ Black widow, black widow, black widow ♪ ♪ Bite me to my bone ♪ Black widow, black widow, black widow ♪ ♪ Black widow, black widow, black widow ♪ ♪ Crawl into my soul ♪ Got a message from the devil ♪ She said this soul's no longer mine ♪ ♪ I'm drowning in the holy water ♪ ♪ Forgive my sins, baptize my mind ♪ ♪ Black widow, black widow, black widow ♪ ♪ Black widow, black widow, black widow ♪ ♪ Bite me to my bone ♪ Black widow, black widow, black widow ♪ ♪ Black widow, black widow, black widow ♪ ♪ Crawl into my soul (tambourine rattling) - We are Edgewood Heavy.

This is "Sounds Like ATL".

- Yeah.

(lively upbeat music) (lively upbeat music continues) (lively upbeat music continues) (lively upbeat music continues) (lively upbeat music continues) (lively upbeat music continues) - Hello, my name is Okorie "OkCello" Johnson.

I'm an Atlantan cellist.

And you have been listening to "Sounds Like ATL".

That first song I shared with you is called "Fire".

And it's the first song I usually play at the beginning of all of my shows for a few reasons.

The first is that it really is kind of an aggressive sounding song, and it really throws me into the space of performing.

The second is it sounds sometimes a little bit more complicated than it is.

And so that's a great way of kind of like warming up into my show.

But the third and most important reason is that if I play it correctly, you should imagine a small flame growing into a towering inferno and then coming right back down again.

And the idea of kind of starting my show with "Fire" is to kind of create this electricity in my mind and in the minds of the audience so that we are ready for what's about to follow.

So my cello.

My cello has been with me since around 2003, 2004 maybe.

So I guess it's about 20 years old now.

And I bought it, and it didn't have papers.

I mean it sounds strange to say, but cellos have like usually long records, particularly if they're old.

And this one didn't have any papers.

It didn't have a sticker inside the instrument which kind of identified the maker or how old it is.

But there's a really amazing luthier in town, Stephanie Voss, and she knows instruments really well.

And she looked at this one, and she suspects that it was made mid-19th century.

So this cello really could be like approaching 200 years old, which is pretty cool.

She also thinks that it was part of like a fleet of instruments that were made to satiate the demand for instruments in the new world right around that time.

You know, the United States was a new country, not even 100 years old perhaps when this instrument was made.

And the culture at the time was very much kind of mimicking European culture.

And so they wanted to have orchestras and classical music and composers and opera singers and that kind of thing.

And the European folks, according to my luthier, didn't think much of the American appetite for culture.

And as a result sold them what they would've considered, at the time, inferior instruments.

But didn't tell them and charged them normal price.

Even more kind of horrible in the story is that my luthier thinks that this may belong to a class of instruments that were created by workshops of women in Bohemia, Germany.

And the way that the owners of those workshops could even further pad their margins was to pay the women even less than the men.

And then sell those, what they considered, inferior instruments to Americans in the 19th century.

Kind of a weird story, but one that I'm actually really excited about because it also means that perhaps in the great world of instruments, I have one of the few perhaps that were made by women or one of the few that was made by women.

And a lot of my stories and a lot of my music is often kind of inspired by the stories of all kinds of people, but specifically women.

So that leads me to my last song, which is my favorite word.

It is "Liminal".

It is also the title track from my first album.

It means at the intersection of borders, usually disparate spaces.

And it also means no longer what you once were, but you have not yet become what you were becoming, so usually this transitional space.

I really think that the word describes how I grew up between kind of black and white neighborhoods, between musical and athletic communities, between like classical and contemporary communities.

So this is "Liminal".

(energetic cello music) (somber gentle music) (somber gentle music continues) (somber gentle music continues) (somber gentle music continues) (somber gentle music continues) (somber gentle music continues) (somber gentle music continues) (somber gentle music continues) That was "Liminal".

And I am Okorie "OkCello" Johnson.

And you have been listening to "Sounds Like ATL".