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June/July 2024 | maconmagazine.com 29 Tommy Talton R ock artists aren't o en remembered for their beautiful spirit above all else. Famous rock artists, less o en. Yet Tommy Talton, foundational Southern Rock guitarist, internationally-touring singer-songwriter, and sought- a er Capricorn session player, is remembered so. He passed away a er a long bout with cancer on Dec. 28, 2023, at age 74. The proud and doting husband and father of three daughters "was truly one of the bravest and most compassionate people I've ever known," said musician Randall Bramblett in a social media post. A er starting out in 1965 with Florida garage band We The People, Talton co-founded the Capricorn Records band Cowboy with Scott Boyer and released four well- regarded records on the label from 1971-1977. He "honed his slide guitar licks jamming with Duane Allman, wowed sold-out crowds at Carnegie Hall in New York City and the Fillmore West in San Francisco, and lived the rock 'n' roll lifestyle with the Capricorn Records music crew," wrote The Phil Kloer in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC). Talton appeared as a session player on the works of Gregg Allman, Dickey Betts, Billy Joe Shaver, Bonnie Bramlett, Clarence Carter, Johnny Rivers, and other notables. From 1994-2001, looking for a different lifestyle, he began an expat career in Luxembourg, forming The Rebelizers and touring Europe. By 2002, he returned to Georgia, married, and later began releasing more albums with fellow Cowboy Scott Boyer. During the final years of his life, a battle with cancer began, but Talton's longtime friend and Muscadine Studio owner Paul Hornsby told The AJC, "He played music right up to the end. I don't know how he did it. The cancer was all over him. He'd be headlining some big show and playing his (rear) off. I only hope when it's my time to go I can be half as brave as that guy." In April 2022, nearly 50 years a er they played together on Gregg Allman's "Laid Back Tour," a group of Southern rock legends – Chuck Leavell, Randall Bramblett, Charlie Hayward, Bill Stewart and Rick Hirsch – reunited with Talton at Capricorn to record an 80-90 song anthology of Talton's work, called "Seven Levels," to be digitally released later this year. Thank you for the music, Tommy.