Buttermilk Bottom  (MP3)

Click on the link to hear this tune, a soul / funk song about the Atlanta neighborhood known as Buttermilk Bottom.  The crime-ridden neighborhood was identified by city leaders as a slum and they decided the entire neighborhood needed to go, so it was torn down to make way for the Atlanta Civic Center, which opened in 1968. 

Buttermilk Bottom was recorded for an album that was to be the soundtrack for a movie about Atlanta's post Civil War development and history, according to producer Tommy Stewart.  He made the comments in an interview that was posted on the Pass The Feeling blog. 

"In March of 1973, Mr. Ed Waller dropped by Lance-Arnold Recording Studios to see me. At the time I was producing and arranging for several R&B and funk artists. A partial list of these artists were as follows: Billy Byrd, Southside Coalition, Thomasina Walker, Calvin Arnold, Videlore Jordan, Prophecy, and Liz Lands. Also, we recorded the rhythm tracks to "Let It Flow" and "Boy You're Growing on me" for Tamiko Jones.

When Ed arrived at the studio he had a gentlemen with him by the name of Bill Stokes. Bill was carrying a hand-sketched script of a proposed movie. A meeting was called and Stokes proposed that I write the music score for "The Burning of Atlanta Movie".

The whole interview, including detailed information about all the recording sessions for this project, can be found here.

Want to hear some other Atlanta-related records?  They can be accessed here.