Regional Music Project

The Regional Music Project was created to document, preserve, interpret, and promote the musical folklife and history of grassroots music in Carroll County and the West Georgia region. The project incorporates original field research, oral histories, archival preservation, live performances, school programs, website exhibits, and compact disc releases.

In 2002, the Center for Public History began releasing archival recordings from the Regional Music Collection. The first release was Everybody's Tuned to the Radio: Rural Music Traditions in West Georgia, 1947-1979. This award-winning collection of traditional recordings of country, gospel, and bluegrass features local musicians from the period of live "hillbilly" music programs on the radio.

The next CD, I Hear A Sweet Voice Calling by Alton Stitcher, is a collection of new and vintage recordings of old-time country music, traditional folk songs, and original compositions by a West Georgia singer, songwriter, and guitarist who began performing on regional radio during the 1930s.

In February 2006, the Center released its third CD: Set Your Fields on Fire Volume 1: A Collection of Sacred and Gospel Music by West Georgia Artists. This album features both new and old recordings of shape note, black gospel, bluegrass gospel, spirituals, and southern gospel collected by the Center over the past two years, with funding from the Georgia Folklife Program.

Each CD includes a booklet with an essay interpreting the music traditions, detailed liner notes, and historical photographs drawn from our Regional Music Collection. Click Here to learn more about our CDs and hear samples of the music,.

The Regional Music Collection is a multi-format collection of audio and visual recordings, photographs, and other materials documenting West Georgia's music traditions and history. The Collection is archived at the Center for Public History at the University of West Georgia.

To learn more about the Regional Music Project, contact the Center for Public History, University of West Georgia, at 678-839-6141.

This program is supported in part by the Georgia Humanities Council and the Georgia Council for the Arts through appropriation of the Georgia General Assembly. The Georgia Council for the Arts is a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts. Additional support includes contributions from the Warren P. and Ava F. Sewell Foundation and the generosity of the College of Arts and Sciences and the History Department at the University of West Georgia, Airshow Mastering, Sony Music, and individual donors.