Salvation South magazine likes to tell stories about unsung heroes of Southern culture. In this week's commentary, editor Chuck Reece has a tale about Macon’s Robert Lee Coleman, who, in the 1970"s, made history with the Godfather of Soul, Augusta’s James Brown.

Robert Lee Coleman in front of mural in Macon

Robert Lee Coleman in front of a mural at the Back Porch Lounge in Macon, Georgia

Credit: Courtesy of Adam Smith/Salvation South

TRANSCRIPT:

MUSIC: James Brown – “Hot Pants, pt. 1”

Chuck Reece: You know that guitar lick, don’t you? And if you don’t know it, don’t you feel like you wish you did? Like maybe you’ve been missing some good times cuz you didn’t?

That song, of course, is “Hot Pants” by James Brown. A smash that hit the Billboard charts in the summer of nineteen-seventy-one and stayed there till that Fall.

But that guitar lick—that ba-da-POW! ba-da-POW-POW! That just grabs you and won’t let you go. That was written and played by a Georgian you might never have heard of—although, if you’re from Macon, you probably have.

His name is Robert Lee Coleman. In '71, he was twenty-five years old and had just joined the JB’s—Brown’s brand new backing band. When James wrote a new song, he would line up the JB’s—all thirteen of them—in the recording studio. One by one, he’d put them on the spot. Wanted to see if they had an idea that would help the song. Robert talked about a day like that with James Calemine, a regular contributor to Salvation South, the magazine I edit.

This is how he described it.

“I was standing about midway in the line, but I was ready by the time they got to me.  I had that lick. James made the publishers give me credit for that song.”

Here’s how he put it to GPB’s Grant Blankenship to 2018.

Robert Lee Coleman: “That’s my lick. That’s the only lick he let me create myself.”

Chuck Reece: I tell you this story not just because that was a cool moment, but because Robert Lee Coleman is truly an unsung hero in the history of Southern music. A pioneer of both soul music and later, with James Brown, of funk.

In the early '60's, Robert led an extraordinary band of gifted teenage musicians in Macon. They were called the Underground Railroad. One night in 1964, the great Alabama soul singer Percy Sledge dropped in to hear them. On the spot, he recruited young Robert, who was only nineteen, into his band. That was about two years before Percy released the first Southern soul song to hit the top of the Billboard singles chart. You know it.

MUSIC: Percy Sledge – “When A Man Loves A Woman”

Chuck Reece: But here’s the great news. Today, at age seventy-eight, Robert is playing better than ever. Tim Duffy, who is a founder of North Carolina’s Music Maker Foundation, which for thirty years has supported aging musicians like Robert, told us this: “Guys like Robert are the real secrets to American music history. It still exists, but it’s getting harder to find.” 

Amen to that.

Robert Lee Coleman playing guitar

Robert Lee Coleman playing his guitar at the Back Porch Lounge in Macon, Georgia.

Credit: Courtesy of Adam Smith/Salvation South

But you can still find Robert Lee Coleman in Macon. Most every Monday night, if you visit the Back Porch Lounge on Riverside Drive, you can see Robert, still leading a band of young musicians.

The man is a treasure, and you can read about him—and see some beautiful photos of him playing his Gibson guitar—at SalvationSouth.com.

Salvation South editor Chuck Reece comments on Southern culture and values in a weekly segment that airs Fridays at 7:45 a.m. during Morning Edition and 4:44 p.m. during All Things Considered on GPB Radio. Salvation South Deluxe is a series of longer Salvation South episodes which tell deeper stories of the Southern experience through the unique voices that live it. You can also find them here at GPB.org/Salvation-South and wherever you get your podcasts.