0:00:02 > 0:00:05# Oh, I wish I was
0:00:05 > 0:00:07APPLAUSE
0:00:07 > 0:00:09# In the land of cotton
0:00:10 > 0:00:14# Old times there are not forgotten
0:00:14 > 0:00:20# Look away, look away
0:00:20 > 0:00:23# Look away
0:00:23 > 0:00:26# Dixie Land... #
0:00:26 > 0:00:27When you think of American music,
0:00:27 > 0:00:30what you're really thinking about is the South.
0:00:43 > 0:00:46Blues, soul, jazz, and rock and roll -
0:00:46 > 0:00:48they all emerged from the swamps, mountains,
0:00:48 > 0:00:51cities and racial ferment of the southern states of America.
0:00:51 > 0:00:53# He's leaving
0:00:53 > 0:00:55# Leaving
0:00:55 > 0:00:58# On that midnight train to Georgia
0:00:58 > 0:00:59# Leaving on the midnight train
0:00:59 > 0:01:02# Mm-hm, yeah
0:01:02 > 0:01:04# Said he's going back... #
0:01:05 > 0:01:07I was born in Albany, Georgia,
0:01:07 > 0:01:10and I grew up in the post-civil rights era.
0:01:11 > 0:01:14And even though segregation was officially over,
0:01:14 > 0:01:17there were racial barriers that still had to be contended with.
0:01:17 > 0:01:19# I'm goin' down south
0:01:19 > 0:01:21# I'm goin' down south
0:01:21 > 0:01:23# I'm goin' down south
0:01:23 > 0:01:25# I'm goin' down south
0:01:25 > 0:01:28# Where the chilly wind don't blow... #
0:01:28 > 0:01:30By the time I swapped Georgia for Britain,
0:01:30 > 0:01:33when I left America I hated the South.
0:01:36 > 0:01:39Now I've returned to rediscover my homeland
0:01:39 > 0:01:41through its most famous export.
0:01:41 > 0:01:44Via the songs of the South, I will take a look
0:01:44 > 0:01:47at where the South has been and try to get a sense, a little bit,
0:01:47 > 0:01:50probably, maybe, of where the South is going.
0:01:50 > 0:01:51Come with me.
0:02:28 > 0:02:31# Alabama
0:02:31 > 0:02:34# Your beautiful sunlight
0:02:34 > 0:02:40# Your fields of sericea, potatoes and corn
0:02:40 > 0:02:42# Alabama
0:02:42 > 0:02:45# Your crimson-red clover
0:02:45 > 0:02:50# All mingled around the old place I was born
0:02:52 > 0:02:55# Alabama
0:02:55 > 0:02:58# Your hills and your valleys... #
0:02:58 > 0:03:01I'm heading off to Georgia, my home state.
0:03:01 > 0:03:04And along the way, I'll pass through Alabama, my neighbouring state.
0:03:05 > 0:03:09Now, these two states comprise part of what's known as the Deep South.
0:03:09 > 0:03:13And in addition to the South's murderous racial past,
0:03:13 > 0:03:17it has the reputation, equally deserved, for hospitality and Jesus.
0:03:17 > 0:03:19# Alabama
0:03:19 > 0:03:22# So sweet to my mem'ry... #
0:03:22 > 0:03:24In the South, a lot of places, not much happens.
0:03:24 > 0:03:27It gets hot in the summer, cold in the winter, that's about it.
0:03:27 > 0:03:30But in spite of this, it has produced some of the finest
0:03:30 > 0:03:33gospel, soul, rock and hip-hop the world has ever heard.
0:03:44 > 0:03:46On this leg of my 5,000-mile adventure,
0:03:46 > 0:03:50I'm going to explore a Deep South where white and black mixed in music
0:03:50 > 0:03:53at a time when they didn't necessarily mingle in society.
0:03:57 > 0:04:00In the '70s, Georgia and Alabama were an epicentre
0:04:00 > 0:04:03for a southern rock explosion that produced great bands
0:04:03 > 0:04:06like the Allman Brothers and Lynyrd Skynyrd.
0:04:08 > 0:04:11As I grew up, southern rock took America by storm,
0:04:11 > 0:04:14but it largely passed me by as I was too young,
0:04:14 > 0:04:17so I want to find out what I missed out on.
0:04:26 > 0:04:30Cullman, Alabama, was devastated by a tornado in 2011.
0:04:33 > 0:04:35To raise money, the town hosts an annual festival
0:04:35 > 0:04:38celebrating the South's unique rock heritage.
0:04:38 > 0:04:41# Walk along the river
0:04:41 > 0:04:44# Sweet lullaby
0:04:44 > 0:04:46# It just keeps on flowing... #
0:04:46 > 0:04:50- Southern rock, what is it about? What is it?- Southern rock.
0:04:50 > 0:04:52- What is it to you?- Feel good.
0:04:52 > 0:04:55- Feel good.- Feel good.
0:04:55 > 0:04:57- All over.- All over?
0:04:57 > 0:04:58THEY LAUGH
0:04:58 > 0:05:02# I'm just walkin' down the road
0:05:02 > 0:05:04# Early morning sunshine... #
0:05:04 > 0:05:07I'm having some fun. But I ain't going to lie,
0:05:07 > 0:05:10I was a little bit apprehensive, because, you know,
0:05:10 > 0:05:13it's not the kind of place where a lot of black people are.
0:05:13 > 0:05:17I hate to admit it, but I think my southern pride was a bit dormant
0:05:17 > 0:05:18until I met these people here.
0:05:20 > 0:05:24What makes southern rock different from any other kind of rock?
0:05:24 > 0:05:26- It's just makes you feel...- Mm-hm?
0:05:26 > 0:05:28..Southern! I mean, home.
0:05:28 > 0:05:31It's home. Sweet Home Alabama!
0:05:31 > 0:05:32Whoo! Lynyrd Skynyrd!
0:05:32 > 0:05:34HE LAUGHS
0:05:35 > 0:05:37Hey, Alabama,
0:05:37 > 0:05:41we are Lynyrd Skynyrd!
0:05:41 > 0:05:43MUSIC STARTS
0:05:44 > 0:05:47This is the unofficial anthem of the white South.
0:05:47 > 0:05:49Everyone knows the song Sweet Home Alabama.
0:05:49 > 0:05:53What I want to know is what it means to Skynyrd themselves.
0:05:56 > 0:05:59# Big wheels keep on turning
0:06:01 > 0:06:04# Carry me home to see my kin
0:06:06 > 0:06:09# Singing songs about the Southland
0:06:11 > 0:06:13# I miss Alabama once again
0:06:13 > 0:06:15# And I think it's a sin, yeah... #
0:06:17 > 0:06:20- It is an abundant pleasure meeting you both.- Same here, man.
0:06:20 > 0:06:23My name is Reginald Hunter. And I'm just passing through
0:06:23 > 0:06:25and I'm going to ask y'all some quick questions.
0:06:25 > 0:06:27Every movement is a reaction to something.
0:06:27 > 0:06:30Southern rock, what is it reacting to?
0:06:30 > 0:06:33- What was it born out of? - I think...
0:06:33 > 0:06:34Just at that time,
0:06:34 > 0:06:38there was a lot of bands that came from the South at the same time.
0:06:38 > 0:06:42So it was like a kind of a movement, I guess.
0:06:45 > 0:06:48It just came to be the Allman Brothers and us
0:06:48 > 0:06:50and Charlie Daniels.
0:06:50 > 0:06:53And everybody had a hit song at the time.
0:06:53 > 0:06:55So it was like the South was doing it.
0:06:56 > 0:06:59Skynyrd may have flown the Confederate flag,
0:06:59 > 0:07:02but southern rockers were not necessarily rednecks.
0:07:02 > 0:07:03The scene mixed black and white music
0:07:03 > 0:07:07in a time when the South went all hippy.
0:07:07 > 0:07:10At the time we were doing it,
0:07:10 > 0:07:13it came from the West Coast, you know.
0:07:13 > 0:07:17It was LA music, and everybody from California was happening.
0:07:17 > 0:07:19And then it kind of moved...
0:07:19 > 0:07:20They had to come up with it.
0:07:20 > 0:07:24Rock music with country and blues mixed into it.
0:07:24 > 0:07:28So they had to come up with a tag for it. "Oh, southern rock."
0:07:28 > 0:07:32Did it feel like a movement at the time, or they tell you afterwards?
0:07:32 > 0:07:34Yeah, they tell you afterwards.
0:07:34 > 0:07:35Sing, everyone.
0:07:35 > 0:07:38# Sweet home Alabama
0:07:40 > 0:07:43# Where the skies are so blue
0:07:45 > 0:07:47# Sweet home Alabama
0:07:49 > 0:07:52# Lord I'm coming home to you... #
0:07:52 > 0:07:53Here I come.
0:07:53 > 0:07:55Alabama!
0:07:57 > 0:07:58# Oh... #
0:07:58 > 0:08:02The song Sweet Home Alabama, it resonates around the world
0:08:02 > 0:08:05- with people who ain't never even set foot in Alabama.- Yeah, sure.
0:08:05 > 0:08:09What's that about? Why does that song resonate so much with people?
0:08:09 > 0:08:10God, I don't know.
0:08:10 > 0:08:13You know, I think it's the mystique of the South, you know.
0:08:13 > 0:08:15What's that about? You know, where's this at?
0:08:15 > 0:08:18Everybody can relate to their home through that song, like,
0:08:18 > 0:08:22they want to go home somewhere. It makes them think about their home.
0:08:22 > 0:08:25Skynyrd is from Jacksonville, Florida, so I've had had people go,
0:08:25 > 0:08:27"Why don't you say, 'Sweet Home Florida?'"
0:08:27 > 0:08:29It didn't have the ring, baby!
0:08:29 > 0:08:31The two weeks I've been doing this, I've been trying to figure out
0:08:31 > 0:08:34what's this "home" theme in southern music?
0:08:34 > 0:08:37It's a recurrent "going home, I want to get back to the rolling hills,
0:08:37 > 0:08:39"the blue skies", that sort of thing.
0:08:39 > 0:08:42And it seemed to me that even people who don't have a home
0:08:42 > 0:08:44that they really miss,
0:08:44 > 0:08:47they miss the fact that they don't have a home that they miss.
0:08:47 > 0:08:48THEY LAUGH
0:08:48 > 0:08:51- That's true.- We're kind of that way. We live on this.
0:08:51 > 0:08:55- Both of you, thanks a million. - Thank you, brother. Appreciate it.
0:08:55 > 0:08:57Another time, another time. Shake 'em up tonight.
0:09:11 > 0:09:14The Confederate flags are out in force tonight,
0:09:14 > 0:09:17but these new Southerners seem a pretty good bunch.
0:09:20 > 0:09:22This is the South, baby. For better or for worse.
0:09:22 > 0:09:24These are grit... Hey, listen.
0:09:24 > 0:09:27Listen, these are grit-eating girls!
0:09:29 > 0:09:33And they don't feel the way about guns the way you do!
0:09:33 > 0:09:35We like guns!
0:09:35 > 0:09:38REGINALD LAUGHS
0:09:58 > 0:10:01When I think of Alabama,
0:10:01 > 0:10:05more than any Civil Rights movement or...
0:10:05 > 0:10:08Country music, I think of no money.
0:10:09 > 0:10:13I think Alabama has been one of the poorest states in the union.
0:10:13 > 0:10:17I think that all the things that come from not having enough
0:10:17 > 0:10:19to cover your people's needs.
0:10:19 > 0:10:22I think two things happen - I think people become inventive
0:10:22 > 0:10:27and make their own fun and they make their own way and they make do.
0:10:27 > 0:10:29But also the things that come out that are bad
0:10:29 > 0:10:31when you are impoverished -
0:10:33 > 0:10:36I think racism and segregation can take a particular hold...
0:10:38 > 0:10:41..when there's no money.
0:10:42 > 0:10:45# Happy, come on!
0:10:45 > 0:10:48# Come on! Somebody help me now
0:10:48 > 0:10:49# I'll take you there. #
0:10:49 > 0:10:52My next stop is a place whose musical reputation made it
0:10:52 > 0:10:56an oasis of hope during the segregation era in the 1960s.
0:10:57 > 0:11:00# I'll take you there... #
0:11:03 > 0:11:05# I'll take you there. #
0:11:05 > 0:11:08Muscle Shoals is an unassuming
0:11:08 > 0:11:11place off the banks of the Tennessee River about as far
0:11:11 > 0:11:15from New York, Los Angeles and Nashville as you can get.
0:11:15 > 0:11:20Some say it's the water, but Muscle Shoals has been a breeding ground
0:11:20 > 0:11:23for some of the most creative music in American history.
0:11:26 > 0:11:29Out of Fame studios came some great soul records -
0:11:29 > 0:11:32all recorded by one man.
0:11:32 > 0:11:36Rick Hall paired local black talent with local white session
0:11:36 > 0:11:39musicians to great effect.
0:11:44 > 0:11:47Good morning. Mr Rick Hall. My name is Reginald.
0:11:47 > 0:11:49- Thank you for meeting me, sir. - Nice to meet you.- Thank you, sir.
0:11:49 > 0:11:54Thank you. You blended black sound and white sound together in a time
0:11:54 > 0:11:58when often they weren't allowed to be together in other places.
0:11:58 > 0:12:00Tell me, what was that like?
0:12:00 > 0:12:02You've got to know that
0:12:02 > 0:12:05when we were cutting all these big hit records, most of them
0:12:05 > 0:12:08were cut in the '60s and '70s and that was when the South was
0:12:08 > 0:12:12burning down because of integration,
0:12:12 > 0:12:14or lack of integration.
0:12:14 > 0:12:17And we were cutting hit records with Wilson Pickett,
0:12:17 > 0:12:20Land Of 1000 Dances in this studio...
0:12:21 > 0:12:25..when George Wallace was standing on the schoolhouse door saying
0:12:25 > 0:12:28segregation now, segregation tomorrow...
0:12:28 > 0:12:32..and segregation forever.
0:12:37 > 0:12:40We didn't abide by those rules.
0:12:40 > 0:12:45We wanted to make sure that we got hit records and we were colour-blind.
0:12:46 > 0:12:50Of all of Rick's successes, perhaps his most notable was
0:12:50 > 0:12:52the reinvention of a young lady from Detroit.
0:12:56 > 0:12:59Would you be good enough to describe the session in which you
0:12:59 > 0:13:02and Aretha Franklin recorded I've Never Loved A Man?
0:13:02 > 0:13:05Can you describe what it was like in the room?
0:13:05 > 0:13:10Aretha was sitting over here at this piano. Singing.
0:13:10 > 0:13:13The drummer was sitting in that booth here.
0:13:13 > 0:13:18The horn players were approximately right here, facing the control room,
0:13:18 > 0:13:22because I always wanted them to face me so I could talk to them.
0:13:22 > 0:13:25Everybody was uptight - all the musicians were uptight,
0:13:25 > 0:13:26I was uptight.
0:13:26 > 0:13:28It was a very tense situation.
0:13:28 > 0:13:33# You're a no good heart breaker
0:13:33 > 0:13:37# You're a liar and you're a cheat
0:13:37 > 0:13:40# And I don't know why
0:13:40 > 0:13:44# I let you do these things to me. #
0:13:44 > 0:13:50Aretha had had a recording contract for five years with CBS Records.
0:13:50 > 0:13:53They were just doing her with light jazz stuff
0:13:53 > 0:13:57and she couldn't get into it so she'd sing gospel music all of her life
0:13:57 > 0:14:01and Wexler felt like if he came to here, he would get a little
0:14:01 > 0:14:05more of the southern music that black people sang.
0:14:07 > 0:14:11A key ingredient in the success of Fame were the white musicians
0:14:11 > 0:14:15whose southern groove underpins the black singers - the Swampers.
0:14:18 > 0:14:22We all grew up together - the blacks, whites.
0:14:22 > 0:14:25Our favourite music was black music.
0:14:25 > 0:14:28There was one station that all the young people listened to
0:14:28 > 0:14:32and the music they played was everything from Ray Charles
0:14:32 > 0:14:36and Chuck Berry to Elvis Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis.
0:14:36 > 0:14:39A lot of times we didn't know whether it was white or black.
0:14:39 > 0:14:40We just knew we liked it.
0:14:43 > 0:14:46# When a man loves a woman
0:14:48 > 0:14:52# Can't keep his mind on nothing else
0:14:52 > 0:14:56# He'd change the world for the good thing he's found. #
0:14:56 > 0:14:58Fame's success muddied the boundaries
0:14:58 > 0:15:00between black and white music.
0:15:00 > 0:15:04One of Rick's biggest hits came with the blind singer Clarence Carter.
0:15:07 > 0:15:12Alabama was one of those places where the sooner you learned
0:15:12 > 0:15:17who you were, and to learn where you were,
0:15:17 > 0:15:22and how you were expected to do things, the better off you would be.
0:15:24 > 0:15:27# I was born and raised down in Alabama
0:15:27 > 0:15:29# On a farm way but in the woods
0:15:29 > 0:15:31# I was so ragged folks used to call me Patches
0:15:31 > 0:15:33# Papa used to tease me about it
0:15:33 > 0:15:37# Cos deep down inside he was hurt cos he'd done all he could
0:15:37 > 0:15:41# My papa was a great old man
0:15:41 > 0:15:43# I can see him with a shovel in his hands, see... #
0:15:43 > 0:15:45Clarence delivered Patches with such conviction,
0:15:45 > 0:15:48you would be forgiven for thinking it was his life story.
0:15:48 > 0:15:51In fact, the song had nothing to do with him.
0:15:54 > 0:15:58Believe it or not, when I got ready to record the song,
0:15:58 > 0:16:02- I didn't even know the lyrics. - What?!
0:16:02 > 0:16:05We had an engineer to stand beside me in the vocal booth...
0:16:05 > 0:16:08- Let me try one more time, Rick.- OK.
0:16:08 > 0:16:11'And to whisper the words to me and then I was singing.'
0:16:11 > 0:16:16- Oh, wow. That is amazing. That is amazing.- Yeah, that's what I did.
0:16:16 > 0:16:18I want to sing a song like that!
0:16:19 > 0:16:23# But I would remember what my daddy said
0:16:23 > 0:16:25# With tears in his eyes on his dyin' bed
0:16:25 > 0:16:29# He said, Patches, I'm depending on you, son
0:16:29 > 0:16:33# I've tried to do my best
0:16:33 > 0:16:37# It's up to you to do the rest. #
0:16:37 > 0:16:41The song Patches has particular significance to you.
0:16:41 > 0:16:43My father and I lived the story of Patches.
0:16:45 > 0:16:48And I didn't write the song but I produced the record on Clarence
0:16:48 > 0:16:52and it was a number one record and it was about me and my father.
0:16:52 > 0:16:56I felt like the hard times, the hardships, the digging
0:16:56 > 0:17:01in the fields, making whiskey on the side, doing all the other things.
0:17:01 > 0:17:03Whatever it took to make a living.
0:17:03 > 0:17:07So, it was about hard times.
0:17:07 > 0:17:12# Patches, I'm depending on you, son. #
0:17:12 > 0:17:16On a personal level, thank you for standing tall back in the day.
0:17:16 > 0:17:20Well, thank you, sir. I appreciate that because it meant a lot to me.
0:17:20 > 0:17:22- It meant a lot to us. - It still means a lot.
0:17:22 > 0:17:25# Patches, I'm depending on you, son
0:17:25 > 0:17:31# To pull the family through... # SONG FADES OUT
0:17:33 > 0:17:37I'm heading to Birmingham, Alabama - sort of the Pittsburgh of the South.
0:17:37 > 0:17:40This steel town has fell into hard times
0:17:40 > 0:17:44but I'm on my way to meet one of its brightest, newest stars.
0:17:49 > 0:17:53# Oh, she may be weary
0:17:55 > 0:17:58# Young girls, they do get weary
0:18:01 > 0:18:07# Wearing that same old shaggy dress
0:18:12 > 0:18:17# But while she's getting weary
0:18:19 > 0:18:24# Try a little tenderness
0:18:27 > 0:18:30# I swear... #
0:18:30 > 0:18:32Birmingham was once a byword for racial shame.
0:18:36 > 0:18:38# You know she's waiting... #
0:18:40 > 0:18:43But I am here to further my exploration of the interplay between
0:18:43 > 0:18:48black and white music today with St Paul And The Broken Bones.
0:18:51 > 0:18:54- Hello there.- How you doing, Reg. - Mr Paul Janeway.
0:18:54 > 0:18:57- I'm going to call you Paul if that's all right.- That's cool, that's cool.
0:18:57 > 0:18:59You can come back with Reg, Reggie, whatever roll off your tongue!
0:18:59 > 0:19:04- Good, all right.- I guess the first question is why Otis Redding?
0:19:04 > 0:19:05What does he mean to you?
0:19:05 > 0:19:09Well, the biggest thing for me is my mum didn't let me
0:19:09 > 0:19:13listen to anything but gospel music and a little bit of soul. That's it.
0:19:13 > 0:19:16- That's all I could listen to.- She allowed you a little bit of soul?
0:19:16 > 0:19:17A little bit of soul.
0:19:17 > 0:19:20Otis, Sam and a '70s group called The Stylistics.
0:19:20 > 0:19:22And that was it. That was it.
0:19:22 > 0:19:24And so when I heard Otis, I thought,
0:19:24 > 0:19:27that's the way you are supposed to sound.
0:19:29 > 0:19:32# You listen while I talk to you, now
0:19:32 > 0:19:34# Tell you what we're gonna do now
0:19:34 > 0:19:37# There's a new day going around, yeah
0:19:37 > 0:19:39# Hot day putting me down now
0:19:39 > 0:19:41# Move your body all around
0:19:41 > 0:19:44# Shake! Everybody say the words now
0:19:44 > 0:19:49# Shake, everybody say it a little loud! Shake! #
0:19:49 > 0:19:52And she didn't realise when she gave you that little bit of soul,
0:19:52 > 0:19:55she was giving you a gateway to hell!
0:19:55 > 0:19:58Yeah, straight down. Busting the gates wide open.
0:19:58 > 0:20:01I thought I was going to be a preacher.
0:20:01 > 0:20:04And it ain't that much damn different to what I do now.
0:20:04 > 0:20:05I mean it really isn't.
0:20:05 > 0:20:09- With the following you got, that's your ministry.- Yeah, it kind of is!
0:20:09 > 0:20:12# When you try
0:20:12 > 0:20:15# Try a little tenderness
0:20:15 > 0:20:17# I've been blessed!
0:20:19 > 0:20:22# I've got to, got to, got to
0:20:24 > 0:20:27# Squeeze her, tease her, love her
0:20:27 > 0:20:31# Try to tease her
0:20:31 > 0:20:35# Try a little tenderness
0:20:35 > 0:20:38# I've been blessed
0:20:38 > 0:20:43# I got to, more, more, more... #
0:20:43 > 0:20:47- So, do you still go to church? - Well...- Straight to hell!
0:20:47 > 0:20:49You may not even have to die!
0:20:49 > 0:20:55# Squeeze her, tease her, love her...
0:20:55 > 0:20:58# Try a little tenderness. #
0:21:02 > 0:21:05Paul Janeway, I got on with him pretty well.
0:21:05 > 0:21:08I could tell that church background.
0:21:09 > 0:21:13People who have that church background, like he and I do,
0:21:13 > 0:21:16we can pick each other out like Gaydar!
0:21:16 > 0:21:17It's just...
0:21:17 > 0:21:20There's something about that latent Christianity,
0:21:20 > 0:21:23especially if you've escaped the original gravity of it,
0:21:23 > 0:21:24of your childhood.
0:21:24 > 0:21:28It's just... I mean...
0:21:28 > 0:21:31I could be chopping wood, he could be singing B-52 covers
0:21:31 > 0:21:35but we would look at each other and go...
0:21:41 > 0:21:46More than half of the population of Alabama regularly attends church.
0:21:46 > 0:21:47It is the heart of the Bible Belt.
0:21:47 > 0:21:50And the dignity and salvation offered by southern baptism
0:21:50 > 0:21:54has been key to the region's music.
0:21:56 > 0:21:59Talladega, Alabama. A southern town,
0:21:59 > 0:22:02a regular sleepy old southern town.
0:22:02 > 0:22:04The site for The School For The Blind
0:22:04 > 0:22:07and also the beginnings for Clarence Carter
0:22:07 > 0:22:09and The Five Blind Boys Of Alabama.
0:22:13 > 0:22:14# Gonna lay down my burden
0:22:16 > 0:22:18# Down by the riverside
0:22:18 > 0:22:20# Way down... #
0:22:20 > 0:22:23For 70 years, The Blind Boys Of Alabama have been spreading
0:22:23 > 0:22:25the word of God.
0:22:31 > 0:22:35Define for me what is gospel music, in your words.
0:22:35 > 0:22:38Gospel music is just the good news.
0:22:38 > 0:22:41The music that we sing that people know that no matter
0:22:41 > 0:22:44what the problem is, no matter what you're going through,
0:22:44 > 0:22:46there is a bright side somewhere,
0:22:46 > 0:22:48and that's what makes the difference.
0:22:48 > 0:22:51It's not about us. It's about the music.
0:22:52 > 0:22:56The people in the South, they were depressed.
0:22:56 > 0:23:00They were bound by Jim Crow laws.
0:23:00 > 0:23:05They wanted to vent their feelings singing gospel music.
0:23:07 > 0:23:14When we started out in 1944, the blacks couldn't go in certain places.
0:23:14 > 0:23:17You know, you couldn't use the same water fountain,
0:23:17 > 0:23:20you couldn't go to the same restaurants.
0:23:20 > 0:23:24You were hungry, you wanted to find something to eat but you couldn't
0:23:24 > 0:23:29go in the restaurant so you had to end up going to a grocery store.
0:23:29 > 0:23:35We were determined to stick to what we wanted to do and get that
0:23:35 > 0:23:39baloney and bread and eat it and be happy.
0:23:39 > 0:23:42# I'm going to lay down my coat and shoes way down
0:23:42 > 0:23:43# Down by the riverside
0:23:43 > 0:23:46- # Way down - Down by the riverside
0:23:46 > 0:23:48- # Way down - Down by the riverside... #
0:23:48 > 0:23:51When you listen to gospel groups, let's say out of Pennsylvania
0:23:51 > 0:23:56or New York or Ohio, do they have a different sound to you than,
0:23:56 > 0:24:00say, gospel bands from Georgia or Mississippi or South Carolina?
0:24:00 > 0:24:04They are all imitating the groups from the South.
0:24:06 > 0:24:08- Well, let me ask you a question. - Yes, sir.
0:24:08 > 0:24:13How does it feel to be from the South living in the UK?
0:24:13 > 0:24:17To be honest, I didn't get proud of being from the south
0:24:17 > 0:24:18until I lived in the UK.
0:24:18 > 0:24:20Sometimes you have to move far away from home
0:24:20 > 0:24:22before you can fully appreciate it.
0:24:22 > 0:24:25- After that, do you still like soul food?- Yes, sir, I do.
0:24:25 > 0:24:27You know what? You still black.
0:24:27 > 0:24:28THEY LAUGH
0:24:28 > 0:24:32It has been a pleasure. It has been a pleasure, sir. Thank you.
0:24:46 > 0:24:50Georgia, home of peaches, some cat named Reginald D Hunter
0:24:50 > 0:24:53and one of the South's truly eternal songs.
0:24:53 > 0:24:56MUSIC: Rainy Night In Georgia.
0:24:57 > 0:25:02# Hoverin' by my suitcase
0:25:02 > 0:25:05# Tryin' to find a warm place
0:25:05 > 0:25:07# To spend the night
0:25:13 > 0:25:18# The distant moanin' of a train
0:25:18 > 0:25:21# Seems to play a sad refrain
0:25:21 > 0:25:23# To the night
0:25:32 > 0:25:35# A rainy night in Georgia
0:25:39 > 0:25:42# A rainy old night in Georgia
0:25:44 > 0:25:46# Oh, it is rainin'
0:25:48 > 0:25:51# All over the world
0:25:56 > 0:25:58# All over the world. #
0:25:59 > 0:26:03Tony Joe White's nickname is the Swamp Fox.
0:26:03 > 0:26:05He is a true southern original
0:26:05 > 0:26:07and they don't make them like him any more.
0:26:07 > 0:26:10First time I heard the song proper,
0:26:10 > 0:26:13I was away from home for the first time.
0:26:13 > 0:26:18I started listening to the song and that line,
0:26:18 > 0:26:21"I feel like it's raining all over the world" - it was raining
0:26:21 > 0:26:24and my sister called me from France and I said,
0:26:24 > 0:26:26"Are you getting wet?" And she said, "Why?"
0:26:26 > 0:26:29I said, "Cos it's raining." She said, "It's not raining here."
0:26:29 > 0:26:31And I had no idea.
0:26:31 > 0:26:34I just assumed if it was raining here, it was raining everywhere.
0:26:34 > 0:26:38- All over the world.- All over the world, baby, all over the world.
0:26:38 > 0:26:40But I still feel like that sometimes, especially when you...
0:26:40 > 0:26:42You see, you know, a certain rain...
0:26:44 > 0:26:48..it just has a feel about it that it is doing it everywhere.
0:26:49 > 0:26:51You know? Like that one this afternoon,
0:26:51 > 0:26:54you know, it came through, a little thunderstorm
0:26:54 > 0:26:57that hit us and then took on off somewhere else.
0:26:58 > 0:27:02But sometimes they just sit in all day
0:27:02 > 0:27:05and when it would rain I wouldn't have to drive that truck
0:27:05 > 0:27:09for the highway department that day so I would stay home
0:27:09 > 0:27:12and play guitar and work on a tune.
0:27:12 > 0:27:15But Rainy surprised me so much.
0:27:16 > 0:27:22165 artists so far have cut it.
0:27:23 > 0:27:28# But it's a rainy night in Georgia
0:27:30 > 0:27:35# A rainy night in Georgia
0:27:36 > 0:27:41# Lord, I believe it's rainin' all over the world. #
0:27:43 > 0:27:48Brook Benton took Rainy Night to the top of the US R&B charts in 1970.
0:27:54 > 0:27:57But with 165 different people, have you ever heard someone
0:27:57 > 0:28:00do a version of it and think, "You ain't get it"?
0:28:01 > 0:28:05Every song that has gotten cut, and this is the truth,
0:28:05 > 0:28:07I've always dug it.
0:28:08 > 0:28:12It's really been cool, man, all of it. Really good.
0:28:15 > 0:28:17# Raining all over... #
0:28:19 > 0:28:22I grew up in a town called Albany, Georgia.
0:28:22 > 0:28:24It's referred to as the Good Life City.
0:28:24 > 0:28:30It's near the Georgia/Florida border and I grew up in a town that
0:28:30 > 0:28:35was segregated, but it was the '70s so it wasn't harshly segregated.
0:28:35 > 0:28:38By then, people had learned how to self-segregate.
0:28:39 > 0:28:44My Georgia, my South, was outside of my educational experiences
0:28:44 > 0:28:47which were dominantly the black South.
0:28:47 > 0:28:49And so there wasn't the pride
0:28:49 > 0:28:53in the South that the white South seems to have.
0:28:54 > 0:28:57When I left Georgia in '97, yeah, I was sick of it,
0:28:57 > 0:28:59I was sick of the South.
0:28:59 > 0:29:02I had the boredom that all young people have with the place
0:29:02 > 0:29:05they grew up in and I also had a bit of shame about it.
0:29:06 > 0:29:08What happened was I went away.
0:29:08 > 0:29:11Many of the things that my friends in the rest of the world
0:29:11 > 0:29:16appreciated about me were those things that Georgia made.
0:29:16 > 0:29:18GOSPEL SINGING
0:29:20 > 0:29:23It was in the Southern Baptist Church that gospel music was born
0:29:23 > 0:29:26and, if you look very carefully, you can still find it
0:29:26 > 0:29:30in its purist original form in the rural Deep South.
0:29:30 > 0:29:33GOSPEL SINGING
0:29:34 > 0:29:37This is the County Line Primitive Baptist Church
0:29:37 > 0:29:39in Milledgeville, Georgia.
0:29:39 > 0:29:41GOSPEL SINGING
0:29:48 > 0:29:54# I want the Lord but not now... #
0:29:54 > 0:29:58Gospel was born out of the call-and-response cadence
0:29:58 > 0:30:01of field slaves doing slave labour.
0:30:01 > 0:30:04It was codified by the black Baptist Church
0:30:04 > 0:30:08and for those people who wonder why a lot of soul singers
0:30:08 > 0:30:13sing so soulfully, this is soul in its most undiluted form.
0:30:13 > 0:30:15It is that sauce that those performers get dipped in.
0:30:15 > 0:30:20# I've been climbing over hills and mountains
0:30:20 > 0:30:24# I'm going to drink from the Christian fountain
0:30:24 > 0:30:29# You know we all got sons and daughters that morning
0:30:29 > 0:30:33# We'll bring that old healing now
0:30:33 > 0:30:37# And we're going to live on payer vows
0:30:37 > 0:30:40# We're going to move on up a little higher... #
0:30:40 > 0:30:44I grew up in a family of gospel music and gospel itself,
0:30:44 > 0:30:47religion, spirituality, was big.
0:30:47 > 0:30:50Two sisters who are born-again ministers.
0:30:50 > 0:30:54- # I'm going to feast with the Rose Of Sharon now.- Oh, yeah... #
0:30:54 > 0:30:58I grew up with it, I grew up around it, I recognise it, I respect it
0:30:58 > 0:31:02and appreciate it, even if at times I don't always feel it as they do.
0:31:02 > 0:31:05# Always howdy-howdy and never goodbye. #
0:31:12 > 0:31:15I'm torn being here and discussing it.
0:31:15 > 0:31:18On the one hand, I feel compelled because it is dying out.
0:31:19 > 0:31:23And in 20 to 30 years from now, it probably will be no more.
0:31:26 > 0:31:29But then, on the other hand, I feel like I'm exploiting it.
0:31:29 > 0:31:31# It's another day, journey
0:31:31 > 0:31:33# Ah, yeah, oh
0:31:33 > 0:31:36# It's another day journey
0:31:36 > 0:31:38# I ain't gone
0:31:38 > 0:31:41# It's another day journey
0:31:41 > 0:31:43# I ain't gone
0:31:43 > 0:31:46# Oh, thank God almighty
0:31:46 > 0:31:47# I ain't gone... #
0:31:47 > 0:31:50When my family sees this they're going to be like,
0:31:50 > 0:31:53"And they picked YOU to do this? You?!
0:31:55 > 0:31:59"You ain't been to church in ten years!" They going to be like that.
0:32:01 > 0:32:03# Oh, amazing grace... #
0:32:03 > 0:32:06There's an odd love because it's my family,
0:32:06 > 0:32:09it's where I come from, and I was genuinely enjoying it
0:32:09 > 0:32:13when I was inside participating in it because it reminded me of home.
0:32:13 > 0:32:18# Oh, thank Lord almighty, I ain't gone. #
0:32:23 > 0:32:26Practically all southern soul singers cut their teeth
0:32:26 > 0:32:28in the sacred world of gospel
0:32:28 > 0:32:30before crossing the line into secular music.
0:32:31 > 0:32:34Sharon Jones was born in Augusta, Georgia
0:32:34 > 0:32:37and is one of today's greatest soul singers.
0:32:37 > 0:32:41Here she performs a gospel song, a spiritual from the cotton fields.
0:32:44 > 0:32:47# I'm going to wade
0:32:47 > 0:32:50# In the water
0:32:50 > 0:32:53# I'm going to wade
0:32:54 > 0:32:56# In the water
0:32:58 > 0:33:01# I'm going to wade
0:33:01 > 0:33:04# In the water
0:33:04 > 0:33:07# I know that God
0:33:07 > 0:33:10# Oh, yes, he will.
0:33:11 > 0:33:15# Well, stepped in the water
0:33:15 > 0:33:18# The water was cold
0:33:18 > 0:33:20# I know that God
0:33:20 > 0:33:23# Oh, yes, he will... #
0:33:23 > 0:33:25Wade In The Water is a spiritual
0:33:25 > 0:33:27that has its roots in the slavery era.
0:33:27 > 0:33:29It was suggested that it was a secret song
0:33:29 > 0:33:33of the Underground Railroad, a network of safe houses
0:33:33 > 0:33:36and routes run by abolitionists to provide passage to slaves
0:33:36 > 0:33:38to the free states of the North.
0:33:41 > 0:33:45Wade In The Water is actually a piece of literal advice.
0:33:45 > 0:33:48To avoid the oncoming bloodhounds that are on your trail,
0:33:48 > 0:33:50one must wade in the water.
0:33:54 > 0:33:58I remember my grandparents, they used to talk and I couldn't
0:33:58 > 0:34:01understand a word they were saying but they knew what they were saying.
0:34:01 > 0:34:04They would be in the kitchen and my...
0:34:04 > 0:34:06She would go like, "Did you know...?"
0:34:06 > 0:34:11SHE DEMONSTRATES THEIR INDECIPHERABLE SLANG
0:34:11 > 0:34:13And they used to talk
0:34:13 > 0:34:17and I think that's what I heard, that the slaves used to do a lot of that.
0:34:17 > 0:34:20In the fields, they used to sing those songs.
0:34:20 > 0:34:22# I know that God...
0:34:22 > 0:34:23# Oh, yes, he will... #
0:34:23 > 0:34:26Some of them sang that way to get a message across.
0:34:27 > 0:34:29They always sang because they always feel
0:34:29 > 0:34:31they are going to wade in the water.
0:34:31 > 0:34:33They always feel that one day life is going to be better than this
0:34:33 > 0:34:36and that life is going to come when they die and they go on up to heaven
0:34:36 > 0:34:39and see Jesus when they cross that Georgian stream.
0:34:41 > 0:34:46# My body but not my soul
0:34:46 > 0:34:48# I know that God...
0:34:48 > 0:34:51# Oh, yes, he will
0:34:53 > 0:34:56# I'm going to wade
0:34:56 > 0:34:59# In the water
0:34:59 > 0:35:03# I'm going to wade
0:35:03 > 0:35:06# In the water
0:35:06 > 0:35:10# I'm going to wade
0:35:10 > 0:35:12# In the water
0:35:12 > 0:35:16# I know that God...
0:35:16 > 0:35:19# I know that God...
0:35:19 > 0:35:32# I know that God travels the water too. #
0:35:40 > 0:35:43MUSIC: Nightswimming by REM.
0:35:49 > 0:35:52# Nightswimming
0:35:52 > 0:35:54# Deserves a quiet night... #
0:35:56 > 0:36:01The sun makes its exit sometime after nine o'clock in the evening
0:36:01 > 0:36:05and that low-hanging summer evening sun in the South, You can't beat it.
0:36:05 > 0:36:08When the sun came out, it is porch and tea-time.
0:36:11 > 0:36:14# The recklessness... #
0:36:14 > 0:36:17In a modern shrinking world where everything can feel the same,
0:36:17 > 0:36:21it's refreshing to be in a part of America where time stands still.
0:36:25 > 0:36:27That's one thing I also miss about the South.
0:36:27 > 0:36:29I miss skinny-dipping at night.
0:36:30 > 0:36:34I have not had any pleasure that's quite like it.
0:36:34 > 0:36:36But no matter how much you feel at home,
0:36:36 > 0:36:39the South always has its own way of surprising you.
0:36:43 > 0:36:46Athens, Georgia is 200 miles from where I grew up
0:36:46 > 0:36:48but it could be a million.
0:36:49 > 0:36:53This college town of 100,000 people is little-known but, musically,
0:36:53 > 0:36:57it vies with London and New York as a harbinger of new wave.
0:37:01 > 0:37:03I've come to meet the queen of the original Athens scene,
0:37:03 > 0:37:06the B-52s' Cindy Wilson.
0:37:12 > 0:37:17Miss Cindy Wilson, could you tell us about the Athens that you
0:37:17 > 0:37:19and the B-52s started in? What was that scene like?
0:37:19 > 0:37:24- What was the ingredients?- Well, I can tell you, I can tell you.- OK.
0:37:24 > 0:37:29It was post the hippy era and all that had been playing out here.
0:37:29 > 0:37:32We had... Athens was renowned...
0:37:32 > 0:37:37You can look this up in the books about the biggest streaking record.
0:37:37 > 0:37:39SHE LAUGHS
0:37:39 > 0:37:40Is... Is that right?
0:37:40 > 0:37:45I swear to God, it was the most naked people running through a city.
0:37:46 > 0:37:49Of course, I was one of them.
0:37:49 > 0:37:51'Georgia students say streaking is catching on
0:37:51 > 0:37:54'and they boast of a massive streak-in
0:37:54 > 0:37:55'planned for Thursday night...'
0:37:55 > 0:37:59Was it significant, the Sex Pistols playing their first gig
0:37:59 > 0:38:02in 1977 in the States here in Atlanta?
0:38:02 > 0:38:05It was major. It was major.
0:38:05 > 0:38:08# I am an antichrist... #
0:38:08 > 0:38:12Back in '77, British punk had a short transatlantic adventure.
0:38:12 > 0:38:16This is footage of the Pistols' first US gig here in Georgia.
0:38:18 > 0:38:22These southern punks may not quite have nailed that Kings Road vibe
0:38:22 > 0:38:25but the music clearly made an impression on the South.
0:38:29 > 0:38:32The Sex Pistols were going against the whole grain of things
0:38:32 > 0:38:34and it was great.
0:38:34 > 0:38:37And everybody understood what was going on
0:38:37 > 0:38:39and it made it ten times cooler.
0:38:39 > 0:38:41It was... It was life-changing.
0:38:41 > 0:38:46I would pay cash money to see y'all rehearse right after y'all saw them.
0:38:46 > 0:38:47We were... We were...
0:38:47 > 0:38:53We were weird the whole time. That give us extra go-ahead.
0:38:53 > 0:38:56- "We can be weirder!" - We can be weirder!
0:39:03 > 0:39:05What inspired Love Shack?
0:39:05 > 0:39:08I mean, I understand that there's not just one shack of love
0:39:08 > 0:39:09that you're speaking about,
0:39:09 > 0:39:12you're speaking about a collection of places.
0:39:12 > 0:39:16Well, there is one love shack that comes to mind.
0:39:16 > 0:39:21I think it was a Hawaiian hale that is a funky little shack
0:39:21 > 0:39:23on the Daneville Highway.
0:39:23 > 0:39:26MUSIC: Love Shack by the B-52s
0:39:26 > 0:39:29# If you see a faded sign at the side of the road that says
0:39:29 > 0:39:34- # 15 miles to the... - Love Shack... #
0:39:34 > 0:39:36It was like a black club, you know,
0:39:36 > 0:39:39and you'd go out there and it would be fun.
0:39:39 > 0:39:41THEY LAUGH
0:39:43 > 0:39:47It was... And so, that was one, one love shack that was great.
0:39:47 > 0:39:50You sound like a 1950s southern aristocrat.
0:39:50 > 0:39:52"They were black down there but it was fun."
0:39:52 > 0:39:54THEY LAUGH
0:39:54 > 0:39:57- # Love Shack, baby, Love Shack - Love, baby, that's where it's at
0:39:58 > 0:40:00- # Sign says...- Whoo! - Stay away, fools
0:40:00 > 0:40:03# Cos love rules at the lo-o-ove shack
0:40:03 > 0:40:07# Well, it's set way back in the middle of a field
0:40:07 > 0:40:11# Just a funky old shack and I've got to get back... #
0:40:11 > 0:40:16Love Shack was on the Cosmic Thing album.
0:40:16 > 0:40:19Cosmic Thing was kind of nostalgic, looking back at Athens
0:40:19 > 0:40:23when we were having happier days in our career.
0:40:25 > 0:40:29# The love shack is a little place where
0:40:29 > 0:40:33# We can get together... #
0:40:33 > 0:40:37The scene that The B-52s are credited with beginning, starting,
0:40:37 > 0:40:40creating, what do you think about what came after?
0:40:40 > 0:40:45Oh, it was amazing to see the chain reaction.
0:40:45 > 0:40:49I guess people thought, "Well, if they can do it, we can do it!"
0:40:49 > 0:40:51MUSIC: Everybody Hurts by REM
0:40:51 > 0:40:56There was a lot of bands, you know... Pylon, Oh-OK.
0:40:58 > 0:41:01Of course, REM. Such good people.
0:41:01 > 0:41:04And that was amazing because they stayed in Athens
0:41:04 > 0:41:05and made it happen from here.
0:41:05 > 0:41:07# When your day is long... #
0:41:10 > 0:41:12When I moved to Athens, Georgia, I was like,
0:41:12 > 0:41:15this place is full of hippies
0:41:15 > 0:41:19and bad brown food and crappy music,
0:41:19 > 0:41:21and I did not want to live there.
0:41:21 > 0:41:24# When you're sure you've had enough... #
0:41:24 > 0:41:27What I didn't know at the time was that Athens, Georgia
0:41:27 > 0:41:29was where The B-52s had come from and there was this nascent,
0:41:29 > 0:41:31unbelievable scene of punk rockers
0:41:31 > 0:41:33that were establishing themselves there
0:41:33 > 0:41:35and what they were doing was very profound.
0:41:35 > 0:41:39# Don't let yourself go... #
0:41:39 > 0:41:42I found myself there and that was the beginning of my looking
0:41:42 > 0:41:44for people to be in a band with.
0:41:44 > 0:41:47# Cos everybody cries... #
0:41:47 > 0:41:51REM were students of the University of Georgia.
0:41:53 > 0:41:56Their college rock sound went global in the late '80s.
0:41:56 > 0:41:58But if you look carefully around Athens,
0:41:58 > 0:42:01you can still find traces of their southern inspiration.
0:42:01 > 0:42:03Take this soul food joint.
0:42:09 > 0:42:12- Mr Weaver D.- Hey!- How you doing?
0:42:12 > 0:42:15Thank you so much, thank you for meeting me, for talking to me.
0:42:15 > 0:42:17- Thank you for coming.- Beautiful place you got here.- All right.
0:42:17 > 0:42:19- And it smells great.- OK.
0:42:19 > 0:42:20Let me ask you this.
0:42:20 > 0:42:23How come when anybody talk about music in this area,
0:42:23 > 0:42:26your name come up? You don't play no music, do you?
0:42:26 > 0:42:28Uh-uh, I don't play, but I help.
0:42:28 > 0:42:32- I feed all the musicians! - THEY LAUGH
0:42:32 > 0:42:34I guess they say they get their start here.
0:42:34 > 0:42:36- They get their start here? - The B-52s.
0:42:36 > 0:42:39Tell us about the REM album.
0:42:39 > 0:42:41Michael Stipe came in one day to talk to me,
0:42:41 > 0:42:43and asked to use my title,
0:42:43 > 0:42:46Automatic For The People, as their album title.
0:42:46 > 0:42:49Automatic for The People, what's that about?
0:42:49 > 0:42:52Meaning rated quick and efficient.
0:42:52 > 0:42:57- That we try to be. Sometimes! - THEY LAUGH
0:42:57 > 0:43:00So that was sort of like a life-changing experience.
0:43:00 > 0:43:04MUSIC: New Orleans Instrumental No. 1 by REM
0:43:04 > 0:43:08And it just went on from there. We went to the Grammys in '94.
0:43:08 > 0:43:09We received worldwide attention.
0:43:09 > 0:43:11We were written up in Rolling Stone,
0:43:11 > 0:43:15and a lot of other magazines around the world.
0:43:16 > 0:43:17The album title,
0:43:17 > 0:43:21they were stating that it came from a soul food restaurant.
0:43:22 > 0:43:25Some people over in England, Melody Maker,
0:43:25 > 0:43:28picked it up that it was Weaver D's Fine Foods.
0:43:28 > 0:43:32And the people came from England, from miles around, from everywhere.
0:43:32 > 0:43:36Just to see, you know, this place and to be a part of it.
0:43:36 > 0:43:39- And to eat here. - What's the special for the day?
0:43:39 > 0:43:41Chicken pork chops, steak and gravy,
0:43:41 > 0:43:44we always have whiting fish, tilapia fish.
0:43:44 > 0:43:49We have a lot of vegetarian items, we have collard greens. Pork.
0:43:49 > 0:43:52So many more. And we have fried okra.
0:43:52 > 0:43:56- We may linger a bit while we're here.- All right, automatic!
0:43:56 > 0:43:58MUSIC: Georgia On My Mind by Ray Charles
0:44:05 > 0:44:07I have to say that as I travel around the world,
0:44:07 > 0:44:10if I meet someone new and I say I'm from Georgia,
0:44:10 > 0:44:13I would say three out of five times they go...
0:44:13 > 0:44:16# Georgia, Georgia on my mind... #
0:44:16 > 0:44:19Then they'll ask, "Is Georgia on your mind?"
0:44:21 > 0:44:25It makes me feel like I'm in Georgia every time someone says that to me.
0:44:26 > 0:44:27# Georgia
0:44:29 > 0:44:31# Georgia
0:44:34 > 0:44:36# The whole day through... #
0:44:36 > 0:44:38Like Louis Armstrong and Louisiana,
0:44:38 > 0:44:44Georgia was slow in recognising Ray Charles as their favourite son.
0:44:44 > 0:44:46# Keeps Georgia on my mind... #
0:44:49 > 0:44:52It was only in the latter portion of Ray Charles's career
0:44:52 > 0:44:56that Georgia began to recognise that, hey, you know what?
0:44:56 > 0:44:58This is actually quite special.
0:44:58 > 0:45:00And I know that we normally treat black people this way,
0:45:00 > 0:45:03but we do ourselves a disservice in the eyes of others,
0:45:03 > 0:45:07and even maybe ourselves long-term, if we don't recognise this man now.
0:45:08 > 0:45:11# Keeps Georgia on my mind... #
0:45:11 > 0:45:14The state in which Ray Charles was once fined for refusing to
0:45:14 > 0:45:17play to segregated audiences proclaimed his version
0:45:17 > 0:45:21of Georgia On My Mind its official song in 1979.
0:45:23 > 0:45:26# Keeps Georgia on my mind. #
0:45:35 > 0:45:38There are a number of things I feel about being back in Atlanta.
0:45:38 > 0:45:40But I primarily feel hot.
0:45:40 > 0:45:43In all the last 10, 15 years I've been coming back to Atlanta,
0:45:43 > 0:45:46I usually come at Christmas. Or just after New Year's.
0:45:46 > 0:45:49This is the first time I've been back when it's been properly summer.
0:45:49 > 0:45:51And it's hot.
0:45:52 > 0:45:56And I understand now, my body understands how it gained weight.
0:45:56 > 0:45:59Just being cooped up because it was cold. It is hot.
0:45:59 > 0:46:03And they say children gives a man purpose, but the heat does too.
0:46:03 > 0:46:05That's what I predominantly feel, hot.
0:46:05 > 0:46:07HE CHUCKLES
0:46:07 > 0:46:10MUSIC: The Payback by James Brown
0:46:12 > 0:46:15Atlanta is the capital of the South.
0:46:15 > 0:46:17# Gotta, gotta pay back... #
0:46:17 > 0:46:19With a conurbation of five million,
0:46:19 > 0:46:22it's America's ninth biggest metropolis.
0:46:22 > 0:46:25I have come to pay long overdue respect to one of my heroes.
0:46:25 > 0:46:29- # I'm mad - The big payback
0:46:29 > 0:46:31# Gotta get back... #
0:46:31 > 0:46:35- Hey, Karl.- Reggie.- Reginald Hunter, man.- Good to see you, man.
0:46:35 > 0:46:36Thanks for meeting me.
0:46:36 > 0:46:39- Can you show me around?- Absolutely. - Let's do this.
0:46:42 > 0:46:43So, where are we just now, Karl?
0:46:43 > 0:46:47- We're actually inside of the Martin Luther King National Park.- Ah.
0:46:47 > 0:46:50His birth house is right around the corner.
0:46:50 > 0:46:53And this is essentially where all of the activities related to
0:46:53 > 0:46:55Dr King's legacy take place now.
0:46:55 > 0:46:57Did I hear you say that this area is a national park?
0:46:57 > 0:46:59- It's a national park.- My.
0:46:59 > 0:47:02Not quite like any national park I've ever seen.
0:47:02 > 0:47:05Exactly, let's call it an urban national park.
0:47:05 > 0:47:07An urban national park, all right.
0:47:07 > 0:47:10# Hey
0:47:10 > 0:47:12# Let me hit 'em, hit 'em
0:47:16 > 0:47:18# Hey, hey, whoo! #
0:47:18 > 0:47:22So this is kind of a classic example of what a dwelling would look like
0:47:22 > 0:47:25for a middle class family back then, you know?
0:47:25 > 0:47:27This is where he learned all the things
0:47:27 > 0:47:30that he would later teach all of us.
0:47:30 > 0:47:33Primarily, stability, home, self-esteem.
0:47:34 > 0:47:37We thank Thee for this food, which we are about to receive
0:47:37 > 0:47:41and we ask Thee to transform this food into life,
0:47:41 > 0:47:45and our lives in service for Thee. Amen.
0:47:45 > 0:47:49You consider the fact that he was born here, and that most of his work
0:47:49 > 0:47:53was done within a four block radius of this house, stability is...
0:47:53 > 0:47:57he was a rock for this neighbourhood and this entire country.
0:47:57 > 0:47:59But specifically for Atlanta, you know?
0:47:59 > 0:48:02And, see, this is what I'm starting to remember about
0:48:02 > 0:48:05the homes of the South, and what I miss.
0:48:05 > 0:48:08A true, good home ought to have a porch.
0:48:08 > 0:48:09Sit out here in the front with a pipe
0:48:09 > 0:48:11and some lemonade like Atticus Finch.
0:48:11 > 0:48:13There you go.
0:48:13 > 0:48:15Idyllic.
0:48:17 > 0:48:21- You say Ebenezer's round this way? - Yeah.- Let's start walking again.
0:48:21 > 0:48:22Let's take a look.
0:48:24 > 0:48:28Martin Luther King was a major force in the advancement of civil rights.
0:48:28 > 0:48:30During the segregation era,
0:48:30 > 0:48:34he preached a gospel of non-violent protest from this Baptist church.
0:48:38 > 0:48:41We're standing now in front of Ebenezer Baptist Church which is,
0:48:41 > 0:48:44which is the home church for Martin Luther King Jr, wasn't it?
0:48:44 > 0:48:47This is his place, this is where he did his thing.
0:48:47 > 0:48:50CONGREGATION SING "AMEN"
0:48:54 > 0:48:59Let us rise above the hurly-burly of everyday life.
0:49:01 > 0:49:04And somehow get in tune with the infinite.
0:49:06 > 0:49:09I do not know what the future holds for me.
0:49:09 > 0:49:12But this I know, if Jesus leads me...
0:49:14 > 0:49:16..I shall get home someday.
0:49:20 > 0:49:22Musically, in the last 20, 30 years,
0:49:22 > 0:49:25where's it gone from to what it is now?
0:49:25 > 0:49:28- What sound's predominant, coming out of here?- That's a good question.
0:49:28 > 0:49:32Obviously, Atlanta is the home of some amazing hip-hop music.
0:49:32 > 0:49:35But the roots of that come directly from the church.
0:49:35 > 0:49:39So, you know, this whole relationship to Martin Luther King
0:49:39 > 0:49:41is not just kind of a random one,
0:49:41 > 0:49:44it's actually built around the idea that musicians were brought up
0:49:44 > 0:49:48in the gospel tradition, which was extremely rigorous,
0:49:48 > 0:49:51and then that led into the evolution of soul music
0:49:51 > 0:49:55and James Brown kind of comes in here.
0:49:55 > 0:49:58He also, coming from the church, turned soul music into funk music.
0:49:58 > 0:50:02- Mm-hmm.- And then we get an evolution of funk through the '80s,
0:50:02 > 0:50:04'70s and '80s into hip-hop,
0:50:04 > 0:50:09and southern hip-hop in particular, here in Atlanta.
0:50:12 > 0:50:15- # Biddibahbahbah, biddibahbahbah, biddibahbahbah...- Hey
0:50:15 > 0:50:17- # Biddibahbahbah, biddibahbahbah, biddibahbahbah...- All right
0:50:17 > 0:50:19- # Biddibahbahbah, biddibahbahbah, biddibahbahbah...- Hey
0:50:19 > 0:50:22- # Biddibahbahbah, biddibahbahbah, biddibahbahbah...- All right
0:50:22 > 0:50:25- # Biddibahbahbah, biddibahbahbah, biddibahbahbah...- Hey
0:50:25 > 0:50:27- # Biddibahbahbah, biddibahbahbah, biddibahbahbah...- All right
0:50:27 > 0:50:30- # Biddibahbahbah, biddibahbahbah, biddibahbahbah...- Hey
0:50:30 > 0:50:33# Biddibahbahbah, now check this out Let me hear you say whoa!
0:50:33 > 0:50:35- # Whoa! - Say yeah!
0:50:35 > 0:50:37# Yeah!
0:50:37 > 0:50:38- # Say whoa - Whoa
0:50:38 > 0:50:39- # Yeah - Yeah
0:50:39 > 0:50:42- # Whoa- Yeah- Whoa- Yeah - Whoa- Yeah- Whoa- Yeah
0:50:42 > 0:50:45BOTH: # I...
0:50:45 > 0:50:48# Am everyday people... #
0:50:48 > 0:50:50Arrested Development are the old school of Atlanta.
0:50:50 > 0:50:52The first great southern hip-hop band
0:50:52 > 0:50:56who developed as an alternative to LA gangster rap in the early '90s.
0:50:56 > 0:50:59# Everyday people... # Don't stop!
0:51:02 > 0:51:06- Speech, thank you, thank you for riding with me.- No doubt.
0:51:06 > 0:51:09What specifically separates southern hip-hop
0:51:09 > 0:51:10from any other form of hip-hop?
0:51:10 > 0:51:15It's a mixture of like the lows of African drums,
0:51:15 > 0:51:17mixed with the melodies of gospel music.
0:51:17 > 0:51:21If you talk about the South, the church has something to do with it,
0:51:21 > 0:51:24because the church is like the pillar, down here.
0:51:24 > 0:51:27So New York was, when they was doing hip-hop,
0:51:27 > 0:51:30they was like, yo, we do not sing, we rap.
0:51:30 > 0:51:32But when we was doing hip-hop, we wanted that singing.
0:51:32 > 0:51:37Like, in hip-hop music, the Bronx is where the birthplace is.
0:51:37 > 0:51:42So you got New York as sort of the backdrop by nature of hip-hop.
0:51:42 > 0:51:43The fences, the brick.
0:51:43 > 0:51:46The mortar, you know, that was the New York style.
0:51:46 > 0:51:50We wanted to come with more of, like, OK, let's show the shacks.
0:51:50 > 0:51:52You know what I mean? Let's show the dirt.
0:51:52 > 0:51:56The grass, the nature, the old lady rocking in the rocking chair,
0:51:56 > 0:51:58let's show that part, that hadn't been done.
0:51:58 > 0:52:01- # See, I was resting at the park minding my own- My own
0:52:01 > 0:52:03- # Businesses as I kick up the treble tone- The treble tone
0:52:03 > 0:52:06- # On my radio tape player box, right - Box, right
0:52:06 > 0:52:08# Just loud enough so folks could hear it's hype, see?
0:52:08 > 0:52:10- # Out of nowhere - Nowhere
0:52:10 > 0:52:12- # Come this woman I'm dating - I'm dating
0:52:12 > 0:52:14# Investigation maybe she was demonstrating
0:52:14 > 0:52:16- # But nevertheless I was pleased - I was pleased
0:52:16 > 0:52:18# My day was going great, and my soul was at ease
0:52:18 > 0:52:20- # Until a group of brothers - Brothers
0:52:20 > 0:52:21- # Started bugging out - Bugging out
0:52:21 > 0:52:23# Drinking the 40 oz, going the ... route
0:52:23 > 0:52:26- # Disrespecting my black queen - Black queen
0:52:26 > 0:52:28# Holding their crotches and being obscene
0:52:28 > 0:52:31# At first I ignored them cos see I know their type
0:52:31 > 0:52:34# They got drugs, they got guns And yes, they want a fight
0:52:34 > 0:52:36# And they see a young couple having a time that's good
0:52:36 > 0:52:39# And their egos wanna test a brother's manhood
0:52:39 > 0:52:41- # So they came to test Speech cos of my hairdo- Dreadlocks
0:52:41 > 0:52:43- # And the loud bright colours that I wear- Boom!
0:52:43 > 0:52:46# I was a target because I'm a fashion misfit
0:52:46 > 0:52:49# Any outfit that I'm wearing brothers dissing it... #
0:52:53 > 0:52:56Atlanta is considered a hub to hip-hop, no?
0:52:56 > 0:53:00- At least in relation to LA and New York.- It's THE hub right now.
0:53:00 > 0:53:04You know what I'm saying, you got 2 Chainz, you got Luda,
0:53:04 > 0:53:07you got so many different artists coming out of here, that...
0:53:07 > 0:53:11TI, so many people, Outkast, of course.
0:53:11 > 0:53:12That have done so well over here
0:53:12 > 0:53:16that they've defied the style of hip-hop in present day.
0:53:16 > 0:53:21That 808, those 808 kicks and snares, that low bass tones,
0:53:21 > 0:53:23that's all Atlanta style, that's not a New York style.
0:53:23 > 0:53:26MUSIC: Southern Hospitality by Ludacris
0:53:26 > 0:53:28# We drop bows on 'em, drop bows on 'em
0:53:28 > 0:53:30# When we, oh, oh
0:53:30 > 0:53:33# We drop bows on 'em, drop bows on 'em
0:53:33 > 0:53:35# When we throw dem bows
0:53:35 > 0:53:37# Dirty south mind blown, dirty south bread
0:53:37 > 0:53:40# Catfish fried up, dirty south fed
0:53:40 > 0:53:42# Sleep in cot-pickin' dirty south bed
0:53:42 > 0:53:45# Dirty south gurls gimme... #
0:53:45 > 0:53:48My trip culminates with an encounter with a true superstar.
0:53:48 > 0:53:50Ludacris has graduated through the 21st century
0:53:50 > 0:53:54from international hip-hop artist to mega film star.
0:53:57 > 0:54:00Atlanta, being the hub of hip-hop,
0:54:00 > 0:54:02as far as you know the history of hip-hop and stuff,
0:54:02 > 0:54:05how did Atlanta come to be that for hip-hop?
0:54:05 > 0:54:09I think the South, we've been kind of fighting for a long time,
0:54:09 > 0:54:11same way we come from ancestors
0:54:11 > 0:54:14that fight in terms of the civil rights movement
0:54:14 > 0:54:17and all these different things, so fighting for our respect.
0:54:17 > 0:54:20So I think the better way to say it is that, right now,
0:54:20 > 0:54:22we are making our extreme contribution
0:54:22 > 0:54:24and everyone is taking notice.
0:54:24 > 0:54:27So with that being said, it's just a lot of...
0:54:27 > 0:54:30the South got something to say, as Andre 3000 from Outkast will tell it.
0:54:30 > 0:54:32There's a lot of talent down here,
0:54:32 > 0:54:34there's a lot of individuals that are hustlers
0:54:34 > 0:54:37and we going to get our music out there one way or another
0:54:37 > 0:54:38and we demand our respect,
0:54:38 > 0:54:41from not only the rest of the country but the rest of the world.
0:54:41 > 0:54:43# Afro American, afro thick
0:54:43 > 0:54:45# Overall country, overall jeans
0:54:45 > 0:54:48# Overall Georgia, we overall clean
0:54:48 > 0:54:50# Southern hospitality we overall mean
0:54:50 > 0:54:52# Overall triple... #
0:54:52 > 0:54:56Being a part of the Atlanta hip-hop scene, how much community is there?
0:54:56 > 0:55:00I think there's more camaraderie, Southern hospitality,
0:55:00 > 0:55:03down here than there is in any other part of hip-hop.
0:55:03 > 0:55:07By that I just mean, I feel like more artists are working together,
0:55:07 > 0:55:10calling each other, doing songs together, in the South,
0:55:10 > 0:55:13especially in Atlanta, Georgia, than anywhere else.
0:55:13 > 0:55:16We know you're stronger together than you are separated.
0:55:16 > 0:55:18It goes into the apartheid,
0:55:18 > 0:55:21it goes into the civil rights movement, you know what I'm saying?
0:55:21 > 0:55:25There's power in numbers and when you come together, you move mountains.
0:55:25 > 0:55:28Martin Luther King taught us that, you know? Malcolm X taught us that.
0:55:28 > 0:55:31So that's how deeply rooted, I would say, and as crazy as it sounds,
0:55:31 > 0:55:34I think that has a lot to do with the camaraderie.
0:55:34 > 0:55:38- Ludacris. Pleasure.- Thank you, sir. - Much respect.- Very much.
0:55:44 > 0:55:46SCREAMS
0:55:49 > 0:55:52MUSIC: Can't You See By The Marshall Tucker Band
0:55:57 > 0:55:59I've just recently come off of meeting Speech
0:55:59 > 0:56:02from Arrested Development, and Ludacris.
0:56:02 > 0:56:04And I share something with them.
0:56:05 > 0:56:08We are heirs of a black struggle
0:56:08 > 0:56:11that enabled us to be as free as we are.
0:56:15 > 0:56:19When I put myself in the mind of the segregationists,
0:56:19 > 0:56:21that wanted no equality,
0:56:21 > 0:56:25I look at, from their point of view, where they made a mistake.
0:56:25 > 0:56:28First of all, allowing black people church.
0:56:28 > 0:56:30The means of self-expression.
0:56:31 > 0:56:36Most of my life, I've used the anger and the hurt from white racism,
0:56:36 > 0:56:38I've used that.
0:56:38 > 0:56:40And when I was at the Rock The South concert,
0:56:40 > 0:56:43I was looking at those people, many of whom were nice to me,
0:56:43 > 0:56:46many of whom I could look in their eyes
0:56:46 > 0:56:50and see a little bit of trepidation about the history that was in them,
0:56:50 > 0:56:51that was in me too.
0:56:51 > 0:56:54And how to reconcile that with the present.
0:56:59 > 0:57:03And to be honest, there's a part of me that doesn't want to let that go.
0:57:03 > 0:57:08But I also know that I don't progress,
0:57:08 > 0:57:11and the South doesn't progress, if we don't let that go.
0:57:11 > 0:57:13# I'm gonna buy a ticket, now
0:57:14 > 0:57:15# As far as I can
0:57:17 > 0:57:20# Ain't a-never comin' back... #
0:57:20 > 0:57:23I don't want to be all fake for TV and come back
0:57:23 > 0:57:26and tell you I'm proud of the South as a result of doing this.
0:57:26 > 0:57:30But I'm sure that that's coming.
0:57:30 > 0:57:32Because the anger and the shame is gone.
0:57:32 > 0:57:35My name is Reginald D Hunter.
0:57:35 > 0:57:37And I said it the best I can say it tonight.
0:57:39 > 0:57:41# Can't you see?
0:57:42 > 0:57:43# Can't you see?
0:57:45 > 0:57:47# What that woman
0:57:47 > 0:57:49# She been doing to me
0:57:49 > 0:57:50# Oh, Lord... #
0:57:52 > 0:57:54Next time, I take a trip from Memphis to New Orleans
0:57:54 > 0:57:58through the birthplace of the blues along the mighty Mississippi.
0:58:03 > 0:58:06Anybody can have the blues. You know?
0:58:06 > 0:58:08But can't no anybody live the blues.
0:58:10 > 0:58:12# Lord, I can't stand
0:58:12 > 0:58:13# Can't you see?
0:58:13 > 0:58:16# What that woman
0:58:16 > 0:58:18# She been doing to me
0:58:20 > 0:58:21# Can't you see?
0:58:21 > 0:58:24# I'm gonna take a freight train
0:58:24 > 0:58:26# Down at the station, Lord
0:58:26 > 0:58:29- # What that woman - Ain't a-never comin' back
0:58:31 > 0:58:32# Can't you see?
0:58:32 > 0:58:34# Gonna ride me a southbound now
0:58:34 > 0:58:37# All the way to Georgia, Lord... #