Issue link: http://maconmagazine.uberflip.com/i/1474185
PINETOPPERS TO CHART TOPPERS: BO PONDER Macon's Bo Ponder was just 16 when he filled Otis Redding's shoes in Johnny Jenkins's Pinetoppers. Redding was leaving the flamboyant Macon guitarist's group to begin his solo career. Replacing Redding acknowledged Ponder's considerable talent and began his lifelong career as singer, songwriter and recording artist for labels, including Capricorn Records. "My uncle played bass for Jenkins, and I followed him around to juke joints and other places," Ponder, 75, said. "The night Otis left he handed the mic to Oscar Mack, and Oscar Mack handed it to me." Mack often opened for Redding and would later go on to have his own soul career on Stax. At times, Ponder would share the Pinetoppers' singer spotlight with Mack and vocalist Wylene King. "It's hard to pick highlights of 61 years in music," Ponder said. "I've been blessed to be out there with top musicians like Jackie Wilson and Tyrone Davis, and then there are all the people right here in Macon. I was happy to be singing, and every moment was a highlight." But Ponder does recall opening for Little Richard as special. He remembers winning silver dollars himself in the Macon talent contest Redding got barred from because he always won. He remembers playing Macon's Roxy Theatre in his Tybee/Greenwood Bottom neighborhood where Little Richard played and careers were born. And he remembers his birthday being declared Macon's Bo Ponder Day. Though blind for the past two years, Ponder still records and performs occasionally. He had a 2019 regional hit with "Midnight Lady" and plans to record more. Being blind hasn't stopped him. "I don't sing with my eyes, now do I?" he asked. "I'm thankful for everything I have." — MICHAEL W. PANNELL THE GODFATHER'S GUITAR MASTER: ROBERT LEE COLEMAN At 77, Robert Lee Coleman still plays the blues he loves on his red, hollow- body, Trini Lopez model Gibson guitar. Now and again he plays at Grant's Lounge and other southern spots. Though inspired at a young age by watching his stepfather play around the house, Coleman said he plays by ear, having never had a single lesson. "I looked and learned," he said. "About half my playing has been in gospel groups in churches here and there, which I started doing real young." Much of Coleman's other playing has been with the biggest names in soul, blues and funk. When soul-great Percy Sledge was in Macon and looking for a guitar player, he picked the 19-year-old Coleman to travel nationwide in his band. When James Brown needed a guitarist in the early 1970s, he took Coleman from Sledge. "I got to see so many places and play for so many people," Coleman said. "But I'd been playing quite a while before that and knew what I was doing. I guess my hero was always B.B. King." Though accomplished, Coleman said playing with Brown was scary. Why? "He was stricter than any band leader I know of but the scariest thing was – he was James Brown, right? The legendary James Brown," he recalled. Coleman worked as a carpenter when not playing, but music journalists credit him as an innovator and builder of the modern soul and funk sound. "Music, the blues, that's my life," he said. "I play it my way. That's the only way I can." — MICHAEL W. PANNELL PHOTO BY DSTO MOORE JUNE/JULY 2022 | maconmagazine.com 67