Macon Magazine

heart of visitors' experiences. "The fun part is seeing people's reactions," he said. "There are always new stories to hear and tell. At the same time, we freely recommend people take in other spots like the Big House Museum, the H&H, Grant's Lounge and Rose Hill Cemetery. They're all part of the story." In the building's southern end are rentable offices housing organizations like Macon Pops, the Macon Film Festival and Rock Candy Tours, among others. There are well-equipped conference rooms and rentable seating at tables in a common space with office equipment at hand. Nearby are two floors of rooms where bands and artists can rehearse, write music or otherwise "incubate." Finally, there are the Mercer students who come for Evans's capable tutelage. "We're teaching studio technology. At Capricorn in its early years, Leavell remained in Central Georgia and is an in-demand studio musician, bandleader, early member of the Allman Brothers and the Rolling Stones' keyboardist and musical director. He's in the studio a lot, recently recording keyboards for theme music for The World Games to mix with tracks from elsewhere. Tommy Talton is another Capricorn original who's used the studio, most recently recording new songs to add to an anthology of his music. Talton co-founded Capricorn band Cowboy and was part of the studio's house band, plus he played guitar on Gregg Allman's first solo tour. Of the magic and mojo, he said it's "definitely there." "There's a strong feeling of the heavy events that went down in that building," Talton said. "It's hard for me to separate my memories of five years there with close friends from what visitors might feel is still hanging in the air, but yeah, I still feel the mojo." CAPRICORN MUSEUM And that mojo isn't just felt by those who record there. Outside Capricorn's two studios is the building's lobby-gift shop leading to the museum, open Wednesday through Sunday. It's here, when he's not working in the studio, you'll often find Bob Konrad. Konrad's key role is museum director. "There's a lot that draws people here," he said. "Music tourism is especially important in Macon because we have so much to hang our hat on. It's important economically, and it's important my generation tell the story to coming generations. People visit from all over." Even with a global pandemic altering the world just three months after opening, the Capricorn Museum has welcomed visitors from 42 states and 13 foreign countries. At the core of the museum are memorabilia and "digital record bins" where guests can listen to most music released by Capricorn Records. From experience, Konrad said there are 600- plus hours to hear. Despite the technology, Konrad said stories among guests are often at the PICTURED: INSIDE THE CAPRICORN MUSEUM. ALMOST THE ENTIRE CAPRICORN CATALOGUE IS DIGITIZED AND AVAILABLE FOR LISTENING IN THE MUSEUM. STUDIO A AND STUDIO B ARE AVAILABLE FOR RECORDING SESSIONS. CAPRICORN'S LOBBY INCLUDES A BAR AND MERCHANDISE. 114 maconmagazine.com | JUNE/JULY 2022

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