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The Birthplace Of Country Music's First Hit Is Being Threatened By Modern Construction

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

Nashville may be - what do you mean? - Nashville is the country music capital. But the industry for which it's famous began in Atlanta. Now a drive to preserve a historic downtown building that highlights that, perhaps unappreciated, role of Atlanta is underway. Activists¹ are trying to stop a developer from demolishing² the place where the first country music hit was recorded to build a Jimmy Buffett Margaritaville high-rise complex. NPR's Debbie Elliott reports.

DEBBIE ELLIOTT, BYLINE³: Architect Kyle Kessler takes me to a short block in the heart of Atlanta's bustling⁴ city center.

KYLE KESSLER: We're coming up on 152 Nassau, which was where music history was made in Atlanta.

ELIOTT: He stops in front of an unmarked two-story rose brick storefront on Nassau Street.

KESSLER: So this is it (laughter).

ELIOTT: Kessler is part of Historic Atlanta, a preservation⁵ group trying to stop the planned demolition⁶ of this building to make way for a high-rise hotel and restaurant because this was the site of a pop-up recording⁷ studio in 1923.

KESSLER: This was where recording executives from New York came down to the South to record jazz, gospel, blues⁸ and country music.

ELIOTT: The acts included Alabama blues singer Lucille Bogan.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "THE PAWN⁹ SHOP BLUES")

LUCILLE BOGAN: (Singing) All the girls in Atlanta town done found out that Joe was nothing but a clown.

ELIOTT: A gospel quartet from historically black Morehouse College and an Atlanta jazz orchestra named Warner's Seven Aces¹⁰.

(SOUNDBITE OF WARNER'S SEVEN ACES' "WONDER IF SHE'S LONELY, TOO")

KESSLER: It was completely acoustic¹¹. There was no microphone. There was no postproduction. It was all singing or playing your instrument into a horn. And that carried down to a needle, which carved, in the grooves¹² of the record, all the sounds that were heard in that building at that time.

(SOUNDBITE OF WARNER'S SEVEN ACES' "WONDER IF SHE'S LONELY, TOO")

ELIOTT: Behind the recording was a man named Ralph Peer.

LANCE LEDBETTER: Ralph Peer was really good at discovering new talent. And he had a huge hit in 1920 with a blues artist named Mamie Smith.

ELIOTT: Lance Ledbetter better runs Dust to Digital, an Atlanta outfit¹³ that makes records, films and does music research.

LEDBETTER: He had this idea to come down to the South and try to record people from the region that maybe they couldn't find from their offices in New York.

ELIOTT: Peers' big discovery in Atlanta that day in 1923 was Fiddlin' John Carson.

(SOUNDBITE OF FIDDLIN' JOHN CARSON SONG, "THE LITTLE OLD LOG CABIN IN THE LANE")

ELIOTT: Carson played and sang an old minstrel tune¹⁴, "The Little Old Log Cabin In The Lane."

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "THE LITTLE OLD LOG CABIN IN THE LANE")

FIDDLIN' JOHN CARSON: (Singing) Now I'm getting old and feeble. And I cannot work no more. That rusted¹⁵ bladed hoe I've laid to rest. Old master and old missus, they are sleeping side by side. Their spirits now are roaming with the blessed.

JAMES KELLY: Fiddlin' John Carson worked in the mill and lived here in Cabbagetown.

ELIOTT: James Kelly is a music history buff and record collector who also lives in Atlanta's Cabbagetown neighborhood, an old cotton mill area that drew workers from Appalachia, like Carson.

KELLY: He was a champion old-time fiddler. He won so many of the contests that they banned him from entering any more. He was amazing.

(SOUNDBITE OF FIDDLIN' JOHN CARSON SONG, "THE LITTLE OLD LOG CABIN ON THE LANE")

ELIOTT: Carson's record was an instant hit, says Lance Ledbetter.

LEDBETTER: The sales here in Atlanta and throughout the South just started to explode. People were buying these records like crazy because they never heard their musicians that they're used to on record.

ELIOTT: The first pressing sold out almost instantly. Ledbetter says that success put record companies on notice.

LEDBETTER: This isn't just dumb rednecks or dumb hillbillies or whatever they want to think it is. This is music that's important. And people love it. And Fiddlin' John Carson in 1923, when he made that recording - it opened the doors on what country music was to become.

ELIOTT: Four years later, Ralph Peer traveled to Bristol on the Tennessee-Virginia line for what's called the big bang of country music - sessions featuring the Carter Family and Jimmie Rodgers. But for Fiddlin' John Carson, fame was short lived, says James Kelly.

KELLY: Fiddlin' John ended up being an elevator operator. He just played around here. He never really had a big career. He played for the governor-elect. And the governor liked him, so he gave him a job as an elevator operator in the Capitol. And that's where he worked most of his life.

ELIOTT: The little brick building where Fiddlin' John Carson cut that first country hit sits amid Atlanta's tourist attractions - Centennial Park, a giant Ferris wheel and the Mercedes-Benz Stadium, which was host to the Super Bowl this year. Preservationist Kyle Kessler says it's hard for old buildings to compete.

KESSLER: I think Atlanta still struggles with its identity. I think on any given weekend, the city is a different city with whatever convention or sporting event is in town. Atlanta, since the Civil Rights era, has claimed to be the city too busy to hate. I think oftentimes we're just too busy.

ELIOTT: City planners did push for landmark¹⁶ status for the building, but the designation didn't get through. And developers now have a demolition permit. Kessler has launched an online petition to try to convince Jimmy Buffett to intervene and prevent the building from being torn down. An attorney for Margaritaville said in an email he is unaware¹⁷ of the history of the building or whether the permit is connected to a future deal with Margaritaville. Debbie Elliott, NPR News, Atlanta.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "THE LITTLE OLD LOG CABIN ON THE LANE")

FIDDLIN' JOHN CARSON: (Singing) But the only friend that's left here is that good old dog of mine and the little old log cabin in the lane.

1 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 demolishing   

v.摧毁( demolish的现在分词 )；推翻；拆毁（尤指大建筑物）；吃光

参考例句：

• The machine was designed specially for demolishing old buildings. 这种机器是专为拆毁旧楼房而设计的。 来自《用法词典》
• Conventional demolishing work would have caused considerable interruptions in traffic. 如果采用一般的拆除方法就要引起交通的严重中断。 来自辞典例句

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 bustling   

adj.喧闹的

参考例句：

• The market was bustling with life. 市场上生机勃勃。
• This district is getting more and more prosperous and bustling. 这一带越来越繁华了。

5 preservation   

n.保护，维护，保存，保留，保持

参考例句：

• The police are responsible for the preservation of law and order.警察负责维持法律与秩序。
• The picture is in an excellent state of preservation.这幅画保存得极为完好。

6 demolition   

n.破坏,毁坏,毁坏之遗迹

参考例句：

• The church has been threatened with demolition for years. 这座教堂多年来一直面临拆毀的威胁。
• The project required the total demolition of the old bridge. 该项目要求将老桥完全拆毁。

7 recording   

n.录音，记录

参考例句：

• How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？
• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。

8 blues   

n.抑郁，沮丧；布鲁斯音乐

参考例句：

• She was in the back of a smoky bar singing the blues.她在烟雾弥漫的酒吧深处唱着布鲁斯歌曲。
• He was in the blues on account of his failure in business.他因事业失败而意志消沉。

9 pawn   

n.典当，抵押，小人物，走卒；v.典当，抵押

参考例句：

• He is contemplating pawning his watch.他正在考虑抵押他的手表。
• It looks as though he is being used as a political pawn by the President.看起来他似乎被总统当作了政治卒子。

10 aces   

abbr.adjustable convertible-rate equity security (units) 可调节的股本证券兑换率；aircraft ejection seat 飞机弹射座椅；automatic control evaluation simulator 自动控制评估模拟器n.擅长…的人( ace的名词复数 )；精于…的人；（ 网球 ）（对手接不到发球的）发球得分；爱司球

参考例句：

• The local representative of ACES will define the local area. ACES的当地代表将划定当地的范围。 来自互联网
• Any medical expenses not covered by ACES insurance are the sole responsibility of the parents. 任何ACES保险未包括的医疗费用一律是父母的责任。 来自互联网

11 acoustic   

adj.听觉的，声音的；(乐器)原声的

参考例句：

• The hall has a fine acoustic.这个大厅的传音效果很好。
• Animals use a whole rang of acoustic, visual,and chemical signals in their systems of communication.动物利用各种各样的听觉、视觉和化学信号来进行交流。

12 grooves   

n.沟( groove的名词复数 )；槽；老一套；（某种）音乐节奏v.沟( groove的第三人称单数 )；槽；老一套；（某种）音乐节奏

参考例句：

• Wheels leave grooves in a dirt road. 车轮在泥路上留下了凹痕。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Sliding doors move in grooves. 滑动门在槽沟中移动。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

13 outfit   

n.（为特殊用途的）全套装备，全套服装

参考例句：

• Jenney bought a new outfit for her daughter's wedding.珍妮为参加女儿的婚礼买了一套新装。
• His father bought a ski outfit for him on his birthday.他父亲在他生日那天给他买了一套滑雪用具。

14 tune   

n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整

参考例句：

• He'd written a tune,and played it to us on the piano.他写了一段曲子，并在钢琴上弹给我们听。
• The boy beat out a tune on a tin can.那男孩在易拉罐上敲出一首曲子。

15 rusted   

v.（使）生锈( rust的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• I can't get these screws out; they've rusted in. 我无法取出这些螺丝，它们都锈住了。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• My bike has rusted and needs oil. 我的自行车生锈了，需要上油。 来自《简明英汉词典》

16 landmark   

n.陆标，划时代的事，地界标

参考例句：

• The Russian Revolution represents a landmark in world history.俄国革命是世界历史上的一个里程碑。
• The tower was once a landmark for ships.这座塔曾是船只的陆标。

17 unaware   

a.不知道的，未意识到的

参考例句：

• They were unaware that war was near. 他们不知道战争即将爆发。
• I was unaware of the man's presence. 我没有察觉到那人在场。