Rob Evans and The Buckleys pay tribute to the Bragg brothers

Just before Brax and Tate Bragg started their fateful 1999 cross-country trip that ended their lives in a Texas car accident and led to the weekend’s annual Bragg Jam Concert Crawl, Brax asked a young Rob Evans to record his band, The Buckleys.

That was before Evans became Capricorn Sound Studio’s chief recording engineer and head honcho, meaning he has oversight of the Mercer Music at Capricorn complex. And it was before his many other musical endeavors including his early Star Motel Recording Studio and Records, a wide range of sound engineering duties plus his later becoming co-owner of Creek Media, its radio station 100.9 FM-The Creek and
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Back then, Evans only had some recording gear at his house with some he could carry around here and there.

“Brax asked me to record them before they were about to go off on a long trip,” Evans told me. “At that point, I hadn’t opened the studio. I started engineering and making recordings when I was 16, and they knew I had some equipment and recorded stuff. The day I was to record them at a practice session, I ended up being a little late because I was coming back from Athens, but still, I captured the moment and got the only recorded version of songs Brax had written.”

Evans said he knew Brax and Tate from being musicians around town and from hanging out a lot. Then as now, many Macon musicians knew each other and often played, jammed and filled in for one another.

“Brax lived near me, plus his girlfriend worked at Natalia’s, and my fiancée did too,” Evans said. “I’d wait to pick up my wife, and he’d wait for his girlfriend, so we spent a lot of time together and got to be good friends. We’d hang out and have jam sessions.”

I didn’t mention Evans is an accomplished guitarist and part of the re-formed Buckleys which opens Bragg Jam each year. This year they kick things off Saturday at Grant’s Lounge at 4:30 p.m. Evans will be on guitar with other Buckleys members from across the years plus, organizers tell me, there’ll be a few related surprises.

“Every year we look forward to seeing The Buckleys start Bragg Jam, but this year is especially poignant and I think extremely honoring to Brax and Tate since it’s Bragg Jam’s 25th year,” said Olivia Walter, Bragg Jam board president.

It was 25 years ago that a group of the Bragg’s friends organized a somewhat impromptu memorial/celebration of the brothers at The Rookery and thus began the long-lasting signature Macon concert crawl.

“The event has become so meaningful in remembering Brax and Tate and in celebrating Macon music and looking toward the future, which is what they would have wanted,” Walter said. “It’s gratifying that Bragg Jam has lasted so many years and that it’s had such an impact. It’s introduced a lot of artists to Macon and inspired some of those who’ve come to listen to start playing themselves. Like TORRES who’s from Macon but never played a concert here before this year when she’ll be at the concert crawl. Having Bragg Jam as her homecoming shows how Macon musicians keep evolving. Then there’s Ashlynn Kilcrease, the rhythm guitarist for Ash Tuesday, who’ll be at JBA. She called Bragg Jam a ‘pilgrimage’ for her and her friends. She said she was inspired by a band who played Bragg Jam.”

Looking back, Evans recalls the moment he and others learned about their friends’ deaths. “We just couldn’t believe it,” he said. “I was in complete disbelief; it didn’t seem possible that that’s what happened. We all felt that way. They were on the verge of some great things.”

Now, Evans is a significant figure in what was then Macon’s musical future. Bragg Jam organizers say in remembering the Braggs it’s important to look further to the future and what can be as well as what is. The group’s mission, in part, is not only to promote Macon and its music but the well-being of musicians and their livelihoods.

Contact writer Michael W. Pannell at mwpannell@gmail.com and join him on Instagram at @michael_w_pannell.