The dean of Macon music: Newt Collier is the subject of an upcoming documentary set for next year

Two men were in front of the Terminal Station when a city bus pulled up.

One of the men started looking at the images of legendary local musicians on the side of the Macon Transit Authority’s electric bus, which is named the Melody.

He noticed the profile of a trumpet player near the front door of the bus.

When he looked over at Newt Collier, he did a double take.

His eyeballs returned to the 35-foot-long bus.

He took one more astonished glance at Newt, his head on a swivel.

“Yep, that’s me,’’ Newt said, breaking the silence between them. “I thought you were going to get whiplash.’’

“Double vision,’’ the man said, laughing.

Newt Collier is Macon’s ubiquitous hornsman, the famous sideman on the side of the bus.

He was NIL (Name, Image, Likeness) long before NIL was cool. His footprints can be found on downtown sidewalks. His musical legacy is written inside the margins of the city’s clubs and music venues.

Newt has a permanent home on the “Walk of Fame” at the historic Douglass Theatre with the inscription: “Dean of Macon Music.’’ He is an ambassador for his hometown, often called the “song and soul of the South.’’ No one has their finger on the pulse of the local music scene like Newt.

He lives at the Dempsey Apartments on the corner of Third and Cherry, where his father once worked as a cook in the days when it was a hotel. It’s safe to say he is the only resident of the Dempsey who has appeared three times on “The Ed Sullivan Show” and performed on stage at Madison Square Garden.

In the days before Uber and DoorDash, Newt drove a taxi for Radio Cab on Houston Road. He once owned and operated a record store on Napier Avenue. He still carries a flip phone, which is a lot like listening to jazz on an 8-track.

He can be found from the top of Poplar to the foot of Mulberry wearing his custom-made “Newt Town’’ T-shirt. (Not to be confused with NewTown, of course.)

Soon, you will be able to see him in a movie.

He stars as himself in “Newt: A Short Documentary.’’

The movie should be released next year – just in time for his 80th birthday in July and the Macon Film Festival in August.

Back in June, Moira Glennon was working with an independent film crew on a movie called “The Preacher’s Daughter.’’ They were shooting scenes around Macon and were trying to get in the doors of the Grand Opera House and Douglass Theatre.

“We ran into Newt, and I asked him if he thought he could get us into the Douglass. He said, ‘Come on,’ ’’ she said. “He hung out with us while we were filming, and we ended up putting him in the film for a bit role.’’
Win Scott, of Atlanta, was helping work on the movie. He was so impressed with Newt he called Moira a few days later.

“Hey, if I wanted to make a documentary about Newt, would you help me?’’’ he asked.

“One hundred percent,’’ Moira said.

A Kickstarter campaign raised three times its $1,200 goal. The filming is almost complete.

Moira has plenty of experience working with national treasures. She is the administrative coordinator of the Ocmulgee National Park and Preserve Initiative.

“Now I have worked with another national treasure,’’ she said. “Newt has stories to tell. I appreciate his advocacy with young musicians and mentoring. It just shows you what an amazing human being he is. He wants to share his knowledge with other people. And he encourages local musicians to get out there, to go on tour and make something happen for themselves.’’

Newt has never been one to toot his own horn, but he has been flattered by all the buzz generated by his being the subject of a documentary.

“I was honored,’’ he said. “It was nice to wake up every morning with a purpose.’’
He spent almost three decades as a studio musician and sideman for some of the great blues and soul singers of the 1950s and ’60s.

Of course, his main claim to fame was the years he spent with Sam & Dave, one of soul music’s most successful duos. (Dave Prater, who died in 1988, also had Middle Georgia connections. He was born in Ocilla.)

Newt toured the world with the band, one year doing 280 shows. Sam & Dave were singing “Soul Man” long before there was a Blues Brothers in “Animal House.’’

He has come a long way from the Tindall Field neighborhood in Macon, where he grew up in the 1950s. Johnny Jenkins and Otis Redding once practiced in a house across the street with their band, the Pinetoppers.. As a child, his mother, Lucile, did not allow him to cross that street by himself, so he sat on the front steps and listened. (Newt later introduced guitarist Jimi Hendrix to Jenkins, who became one of Hendrix’s musical influences.)

Gladys Williams was Newt’s piano teacher and a legend herself. She had her own orchestra. A who’s who of musicians paraded through her home, including Redding and James Brown.

She was listed in the “Green Book’’ – a guidebook for Black travelers to find safe havens in the segregated South.

One day, a Rolls-Royce pulled up and entertainer Sammy Davis Jr. hopped out. Newt got to meet him, and Davis let him pick up his trumpet and play it. It changed his life.

Newt convinced his mother to let him take lessons from Robert Scott, who was the band director at Ballard-Hudson High and gave private instruction at Booker T. Washington Community Center.

It wasn’t long before Newt was in such demand as a teenage horn player that he used to sneak out of the house at night to play in nightclubs, returning for a few hours to sleep before school.

Over the years, Newt has made music with the likes of Carla Thomas, Joe Tex, Johnny Taylor, Wayne Cochran, Rufus Thomas, Arthur Conley, Wilson Pickett, Albert King, Percy Sledge and Maceo Parker, who was James Brown’s famed saxophone player.

It’s hard to believe it has been almost 50 years since that April night in Boston, when his music career took a near-tragic detour during a period of racial unrest and riots across the city.

He was the victim of a shooting while stopped at a traffic light. A bullet from a .38 struck and shattered his jaw and teeth. He underwent multiple surgeries, and it all but shut down his career as a musician. Today, he has a plate and no teeth on the right side of his mouth. It is a struggle to purse his lips to garner enough pressure to produce a sound.

Newt still plays an electric trumpet. It has to be amplified to be heard. He puts on his headphones and plays quietly to himself. His neighbors at the Dempsey can appreciate that, especially if he ever decided to play Reveille in the hallway early one morning.

He mentors local musicians and critiques jam sessions at both the historic Grant’s Lounge on Poplar Street and the Vice Bar on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. The Vice is across the street from the old Ann’s Tic Toc Lounge, where Little Richard Penniman used to appear from the kitchen, where he was a dishwasher, and perform. Some claim Tic Toc was the genesis of rock ‘n roll.

Newt has to shake his head when he introduces himself to some of the young musicians these days.

“When they say they’ve never heard of Sam and Dave, I tell myself, ‘This is going to be a long night.’ ’’