Stillwater

In the early 70's we combined players from several local groups who had been playing the Middle Georgia area. We were all college guys enrolled in various local schools. All it took was several jam sessions for us to decide to quit college and start our careers writing, recording and touring. For a few years, we played clubs and frat houses across the Southeast and finally started recording demo tapes in Atlanta at Master Sound Studio, Studio One and Web IV Studios. We were soon hired as the house band at Phil Walden's Uncle Sam's and had a chance to play with Capricorn Records and Paragon Agency bands from the south. Phil Walden
signed us our first management contract and record deal.
We often played Phil Walden's Annual Picnic, BBQ and huge,
all night, jam sessions which is where Cameron Crowe,
writer for Rolling Stone magazine, first heard us play.
He used the Stillwater name for his fictional band in the
movie Almost Famous. After several demo sessions at
the Capricorn Studios in Macon, Buddy Buie was hired
to produce our first album at Studio One in Doraville. It was
was released in 1977, called Stillwater and included the Top 40 hit Mindbender. We began touring and played with The Charlie Daniels Band, ARS, Marshall Tucker, The Outlaws, Wet Willie, Sea Level, The Dixie Dregs, Elvin Bishop, Black Oak Arkansas, REO Speedwagon, Mark Farner, Toto, The Cars, Foreigner, Jorma Kaukonen, John Fogerty, Levon Helm, Pure Prarie League and many others. It was a wild ride...in-store appearances, radio interviews, live broadcasts of the shows. We were soon ready to get back to Studio One to record I Reserve the Right with Buddy Buie at the helm once again. As the '78-'79 tour progressed, we found it harder to find our product in the stores. It wasn't long before Capricorn was out of business and we were without a label, along with some of the greatest southern rock bands in history. We still toured, made some changes in the band and went back to Studio One in 1981 to record enough new material to put out our third album. We had a lot of close misses with new management and record companies, but ended up not being re-signed. We eventually gave up the road and began hosting the Annual Stillwater and Friends Reunion Concert in Macon every year between Christmas and New Years. It's a huge concert and jam at Whiskey River. Joining us on-stage...Jimmy Hall from Wet Willie, Ronnie Hammond from the Atlanta Rhythm Section, Chris Hicks from Marshall Tucker, Eddie Stone and Tony Cooper from Doc Holliday, Big Mike from the Booty Papas, Tim Brooks from The Alien Sharecroppers, all the guys from The Wall and many other greats.