To some bands, having a retro sound means putting audiences in mind of leg warmers and permed hair. With their loose, flowing fiddling, plunky clawhammer banjo and songs about Prohibition, The Georgia Crackers have a different definition of the word altogether.
When they first took the stage 18 months ago, the four Atlanta-based musicians formed with a single goal in mind: to remain true to their roots in 1920s and 1930s string-band music.
“Today, some people try and do too much to a tune,” said vocalist/guitarist Kenneth Johnson. “I don’t know if there’s anything wrong with that, but we stuck our neck out and said that we want to try and re-create, so that’s what we try to do.
“We simply try to re-create the past.”
Keeping modern influence entirely out of an interpretation of a 90-year-old repertoire is next to impossible, and as a result, there are many variations of popular old-time tunes.
IF YOU GO* What: The Georgia Crackers.* When: 8 p.m. Saturday.* Where: Barking Legs Theater, 1307 Dodds Ave.* Admission: $10.* Phone: 624-5347.* Venue website: www.barkinglegs.org.* Related links at fyi.timesfreepress.com.”You start playing a song that’s been around for 100 years, and sooner or later, it’s almost like seven degrees of separation.”– Kenneth Johnson, guitarist/vocalist for The Georgia Crackers, on why audiences still love old-time musicRELATED LINKS:http://www.gacrackers.com
While other groups might be tempted to add their own individual touches, The Crackers stick as closely as possible to the versions of tunes as performed by period artists such as Gid Tanner and the Skillet Lickers and the Georgia Yellow Hammers, Johnson said.
In October, that commitment to authenticity helped the band take first place at the Tennessee Valley Old Time Fiddlers Convention in Athens, Ala. Saturday, the band will share its award-winning, Dust Bowl-era authenticity onstage at Barking Legs Theater.
Johnson said he was originally attracted to old-time music by the wide age range of players, its sense of community and the history of its tunes, many of which are 100 to 200 years old.
Despite that age, old-time tunes can still resonate with audiences, Johnson said.
“You start playing a song that’s been around for 100 years, and sooner or later, it’s almost like seven degrees of separation,” he said. “Eventually, someone is going to say, ‘Hey, my mom or my grandmom used to listen to that or liked that.’
“They have a bond to it.”
Contact Casey Phillips at cphillips@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6205.