Welcome to author Sarah Black, who’s here today to celebrate the release of her new novella, War Paint, the latest addition to Dreamspinner Press’s States of Love house line!
Georgia Guitars and Southern Rock
Does Georgia have a bit more musical soul than the rest of the country? Maybe Detroit or New Orleans can claim some roots that run as deep, but there is just something about Georgia—the rain, or the red clay roads, or the heat and humidity—that seems to make musicians want to play their guitars and take the first train to anywhere else. Otis Redding left his home in Georgia, and Gladys Knight’s man took the midnight train back to Georgia. Tony Joe White wrote that blisteringly painful song, A Rainy Night In Georgia, that Brooke Benton slayed–a river’s worth of tears were cried over that song.
Back in the seventies, music was something of a contentious issue in America. Some of us loved Janis and thought Jim Morrison was a badass and our parents were listening to Johnny Cash and Merle Haggard, and they were not impressed with The Doors or the drugs or the hippie clothes. The only thing that saved many family relationships was Southern Rock, because the Allman Brothers were singing Ramblin Man and everybody in America agreed to like that song. Southern Rock was some cool mix of rock and blues and country, enough that the musical barricades of 1968 could come down just a bit.
Jacksonville claimed the Allman Brothers and Lynard Skynard, but Jacksonville is just an outpost of southern Georgia and Duane and Greg and Dickie and the rest of the long-haired guitar boys moved to Macon. They put out their album Eat a Peach in 1972, and Lynard Skynard release Free Bird in 1973. There is an entire generation of us who got our first taste of trouble and Boone’s Farm Strawberry Hill wine in the back seat of a car, with Free Bird or Ramblin Man playing on the radio.
But the best Georgia song of all times is Ray Charles and Willie Nelson, singing Georgia on My Mind. What is it about Georgia that makes these guys want to sing? I don’t know, but I’m sure grateful for all the good music.
Thanks for reading my Georgia story from Dreamspinner called War Paint. Here’s the blurb:
About the Book
There’s an art to love.
Mural artist Ben has come from Tel Aviv to Atlanta to work on a commission. A successful artist, he’s still lonely and isolated after his family’s rejection. Ben is charmed and surprised when local soldier Eli mistakes him for homeless, and brings him a cup of coffee and a biscuit. This gesture opens the door. Eli is lost, trying to make sense of a future without the Army after a combat injury ends his career.
Art gives them a new language and a path forward. But lost men can reach out, desperate to hang on to anyone close. Is what they find together real, and the kind of love that will last?
Buy the Book: Dreamspinner Press || Amazon & Other eTailers
About the Author
Sarah Black is a romance writer. She loves authentic voice, strong willed people, rambling men, 60’s rockers, good-hearted boys, and black coffee. Find Sarah on Facebook.
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