Welcome to Peach Dance, recorded live in our GPB studios in Midtown Atlanta, featuring songs and stories from a sampling of the diverse and talented musicians who call the Peach State home.

On this episode, you will meet an incredible blues vocalist, a Beatles influenced power pop artist, and a grady baby building a creative community.

Up first from Atlanta, this is Frankie No Name.

Homeschool.

She plays by her own rule.

Like going out of the get home late the next day.

She shundres laid out for bedroom.

Making a movie with her friends.

She don't know it.

I'm Frankie No Name.

I am from Atlanta, Georgia.

And I do soul music.

Blues music.

Soul music blues music.

A Roman Catholic kid from Spokane, Washington to get just what you want.

You got to ring that bell.

Just ring that bell.

Ring it in bell come on.

Just ring that bell.

That's all you got to do.

Yeah.

Is ring that bell.

Come on.

Ring that bell.

So when I just turned 22, I moved from North Carolina to Alaska.

And I lived there for like, it was 15, 16 months.

And that was cool.

It was mostly winter as it is there.

But the summer was, was gorgeous.

Then I ended up moving to California to do a sound engineering internship.

And I met really cool people through that.

And then I, I got into live music, doing live music there.

I ultimately made the jump to leave sunny 75.

God's perfect weather, 10 minutes from the beach.

The best burrito you'll ever have in your life.

To come here and, and do like just the reality was like being back in the, in the south is like where this kind of music really knows how to live.

I would say.

Not to be, you know, energetically historically.

So that's that's what I did.

Soon I will be done with the troubles of this world.

With the troubles of this world, with the troubles of this world.

Soon I will be done.

With the troubles of this world I'm going home to live with God.

I'm going home to live with God.

I'm going home.

With God.

You have a a very big voice.

It like it, it, you filled the room here.

We're, we're in a fairly large studio here at GPB and like your voice absolutely filled the room.

Is, was that the same when you were doing musical theater in high school or is, was it a skill that, that you've worked on?

Okay.

So I would say no.

I would say I think I was just trying really hard to sound like the environment around me.

You know what I mean?

And I thought I was like bad.

I thought I was not a good singer because I couldn't quite master that like nice, dainty, pretty situation.

But then my, my senior solo was At Last by Etta James.

I think that's the first time I heard something like that where they're like, "Whoa, that was like huge for like you. "

but I don't think it's always been that way, but I think I, I think I allowed myself to grow into it.

And it's the most natural, I think, state of being when it comes to me singing.

But I, I had to come into it.

I had to let it become.

I like to sing sweet and little and you know, harmonies and do whatever, but I really like my low big voice.

I, and I hated it for a really long time, really long time.

I would, if you knew me five years ago, like I'm not even singing in front of you.

Someone else's home, I'm not singing.

And so I really, really had to grow into it, but I'm glad I did.

Come here now.

Can you give me a little bit of at last?

Right now?

Sure.

Ooh.

Okay.

A Last low has come along.

My lonely day is over and life is like a. Is that easy for you?

Yeah.

Is it really?

Yes.

Yes.

I bet you love.

We'll find you when you least expect it.

I bet you love right on down when you feel a good day.

I guarantee you the love.

We'll find you in your neighbor's dog as well.

I bet you.

Coming up, PowerPop from Atticus Ronas.

And later, you'll meet Atlanta's very own Dub Mac.

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And now from Woodstock, Georgia, let's welcome Aticus Ronas to the Peach Jam family.

Oh no.

Oh, no.

Oh, no.

Oh no.

My name's Steven.

I'm the drummer.

I'm Radley.

I play bass.

I'm Caleb.

I play guitar and I also produce.

I'm Atticus Ronas and I write some songs.

I sing, play guitar, play keys.

And I'm originally from New York, but was raised north of Atlanta in Woodstock, Georgia, and I play PowerPop for the time being.

Both my parents are musicians, so they've always done, you know, my whole life they've done that.

And then I started when I was five with Laura Voss, who was my drum teacher.

Yeah.

Shout out Laura Voss.

Shout out.

Is she in Macon?

Yep.

Okay.

Nice.

Steven, how about you?

Where'd it start?

Similar thing.

My dad was, did music when he was in like college and high school.

Like he was in punk bands and stuff.

He actually was in one band and their drummer was Larry Voss.

Laura Voss's brother.

It's a Family affair.

So yeah.

And then I we went to the same high school and she was the band instructor there.

So we both played drums for years.

We were in the band together.

What High school was this?

Stratford Academy.

Stratford.

Okay.

But yeah, I grew up in a house with lots of music and my brothers also played, like one of my brothers was in the marching band playing the snare and I was like, "Oh, I should do that. "

Then I played the kit and here we are, you know?

I owe the Vosibs a great Deal.

Oh, Yeah.

Huge, huge drummer family Over here.

Yeah, the Voss siblings taught.

They're bo great drummers.

I can hear everything you need to know.

Pretty Much.

And Voss we trust.

Most of... I would say that Atticus and all of us share like a really huge background of The Beatles like we talked about earlier.

And that's kind of where it started for me.

I wasn't really interested in songwriting or anything until I heard The Beatles for the first time when I was like 14 or 15.

And then I was like, I want to do, I want to do that.

No, no, because I'm in love.

I'm in love.

So I have to admit, so the email that came in introducing me to, to you, Atticus, came from Mockingbird.

Was It Mockingbird?

To Mockingbird Town Agency.

Yeah.

Mockingbird Talent Agency.

So that was the email.

I responded to it.

I know your name, like we've talked and whatever.

It was literally about 10 minutes ago I put together the fact that your name is Atticus and your company's name is Mockingbird Talent Agency.

There's people laughing in the back.

For real.

Yeah.

Like I, you had finished playing the music and it was like, "Oh, this guy is Bad."

Yeah.

Amanda Hunt.

Okay.

His name's Radley.

Yeah.

And his name's Radley.

I Know.

And his name is Radley.

When we found that out, I was like, "There's no way."

Yeah.

Yeah, exactly.

If to kill a mockingbird.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Glad you dropped - I hope I wasn't the only one.

Glad you dropped the hint.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Settled in.

Oh, Yeah.

It just... Oh okay.

Yeah, it's awesome.

It's like I named it on purpose.

Right?

Almost.

Yeah.

That is amazing.

What a coincidence.

I love that.

Mm-hmm.

Next is Dub Mac, a grady baby building a creative community that crosses genres and generations.

Now I don't know what people say.

I'ma do it my own way.

I'm Dub Mac.

I'm from Atlanta and I make soul influenced R&B pop music.

And this is my good friend Ramadan.

It is poppy ear worm type stuff.

I didn't know what to expect when you came in.

Yeah.

But it was awesome.

Yeah, it's fun.

We try to use all of our influences at the same time.

You know, it's kind of a gumbo.

So people keep on pushing it.

People keep on pushing it.

People keep on pushing.

People keep on.

I have a classic story where I started singing in church and we lived in like East Point College Park.

I went to North Atlanta High School when it was on Northside Drive, which is right in Buckhead.

It was crazy.

And that's where I, I feel like the musical tastes really started to expand because it was a very diverse school.

Lots of kids from all over the place.

I mean, there were a ton of African kids.

It was a ton of Hispanic kids.

So we listened to different music in a way that was different, like socially.

Not just having fun with, you know, what you want to hear, but what your friends are hearing and all of us mixing it up together.

That's kind of a micro of the whole music scene in Atlanta, right?

It's all of us here from different backgrounds mixing it up.

Yo see it.

Even though you go to East Atlanta, you see it.

You go to Masquerade, you go somewhere downtown, you see that we're all here doing it together.

So it's been tremendously impactful for me because, you know, when Ramadan, we work together.

I mean, some of the stuff will have more of a rock feel to it.

Some of it has a soulful feel to it.

Some of it's just like full on pop.

So with a city with that many influences, it's going to affect you if you're an artist.

But if I can see you right, I just don't know.

Now, how did the two of y'all get together?

Tell you a funny story is Rama used to be in this building.

The green room.

Infamous.

Infamous.

If you're a Atlanta artist, a lot of stuff happened at that place.

And somebody was, was like, "Man, there's this, this building, all they do in there is make music.

It's just a bunch of rehearsal spaces and stuff, right?

Just hanging out, right?

Just hoping to meet somebody who I could work with.

And here Ramna came, he had long dreadlocks and some goggles on the top of his head.

And he had just gotten out of this Volkswagen.

I said," That might be my guy.

That might be who I was meant to meet here.

Jammed for a few hours the first time we met and we've been good friends and collaborators ever since.

".

So I got a chance to meet you guys at a house party by The Rack was hosting it.

So a band that's a part of the Peach Jam family, The Rack.

Absolutely.

They were hosting this party and playing and they, they, there's a performance space in the house.

And then I found out Ramadan lives there with Carlos from The Rack and then Dub Make were there and we, we were just talking and hanging out and it, it seems like you have kind of a, it's almost like a little music collective happening in a, in a community inside the music scene.

Am, am I correct in this?

Absolutely.

So that band is, is far heavier than anything that you're playing.

Like they, they're, they're touching on heavy metal.

Absolutely.

And, but y'all are working together, making completely different sounds.

And then Ramadan, if you look him up online, his music does not sound like what you played today here.

And so it's crossing genres, it's crossing different types of people.

Is this a normal thing?

Totally normal for us and it's not something that we really intentionally do.

It's just something that we feel and we are confident in being able to express it.

Good music is good music.

Do you want to hear more songs and stories?

Check out our podcast at gpb.org/peachjam.

Thanks for watching.

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