Piano Red's The Lost Atlanta Tapes will hit North American stores on August 17 via Landslide Records. The album will be released on August 23 in Europe and distributed there by Proper Music and Sonic Rendezvous.
Produced by Bang Bang Lulu Productions, The Lost Atlanta Tapes features 18 songs recorded live at Atlanta's Excelsior Mill in 1984, and represents the iconic entertainer's last known recording. It features some of his best-known classic songs and fan favorites. Eight of the tracks included on the CD are songs that have never been released before on a Piano Red recording.
The release of The Lost Atlanta Tapes will be preceded by a special concert celebrating Piano Red's life and music on Thursday, August 12th, at Smith's Olde Bar, starting at 8:00 PM. The event will feature "The Red Rockers," a band that includes musicians who played with Piano Red and lifelong devotees such as NRBQ keyboardist Terry Adams, bassist Tommy Dean of The League of Decency, and drummer Charles Wolff, formerly of The Brains, plus other guests, including some original members of Piano Red's early band, the Interns. A donation from album sales and the proceeds of the show will benefit the Atlanta Community Food Bank. More information on the event will be available at www.smithsoldebar.com.
The live tapes have been in the possession of Atlanta-based Michael Reeves, who managed the Excelsior Mill at the time and hosted the artist four nights a week. Reeves, now the co-owner of Smith's Olde Bar and Fox Brothers Bar-B-Q, says he knew he had a valuable recording in hand, but was waiting for the right moment to share it with the world. When the time came, he asked Atlanta writer and producer David Fulmer to join him in the release.
"Over the past years, Michael and I have worked together on some small projects," Fulmer says. "This one is by far the most significant. Piano Red was a one-of-a-kind blues and R&B artist and I'm glad I get to be a part of this production."
Fulmer brings more than a decade in communications to managing local media operations for the CD release and event. National and international media is being handled by Mark Pucci Media in Atlanta.
Reeves trusted restoration of the original four-track tape to Mike Graves at Atlanta's Osiris Studios. "We were surprised at the quality of the recording," Reeves comments. "It sounded like Red was in the room. As soon as I heard it, I knew we had to do something special with it."
