NEWBEATS
Mention Southern rock these days, and most people will think instantly of R.E.M. But when Guadalcanal Diary, who hail from Marietta, Georgia, called their debut LP Walking In The Shadow Of The Big Man, I’m sure they weren’t talking about Michael Stipe.
NEWBEATS
DEAR DIARY
Mention Southern rock these days, and most people will think instantly of R.E.M. But when Guadalcanal Diary, who hail from Marietta, Georgia, called their debut LP Walking In The Shadow Of The Big Man, I’m sure they weren’t talking about Michael Stipe.
No, they mean THE BIG MAN, whose presence is still felt in every gospel tent and revival carnival in the Bible Belt. That shadow also looms across the grooves of the band’s new album Jamboree (their first for a major label). “Pray For Rain” and “Fear Of God” echo older songs like “Sleepers Awake” and “Kumbayah,” and suggest that Guadalcanal Diary have a few questions for the man upstairs. So when the chance arose to talk to singer Murray Attaway and drummer John Poe, this curious obsession was one of the first topics of discussion.
“It’s just due to a fascination with the mystery of it,” Attaway confessed. “With the trappings of it moreso than an actual strong feeling for it. I’m fascinated with the fact that people still handle snakes to worship God in the South.”