A new live music series, The Blue Betty Sessions, will partner an Ellijay group that plays folk and country-inspired roots rock with a rotating cast of regional and national singer/songwriters.
The collaborative music nights are being led by Robin and Afton Salmon, the husband and wife duo that comprise Ellijay’s Surrender Hill.
“It’s kind of a platform that’s curated by us. If there’s somebody who we really connect with and feel that the folks who come to see us would really enjoy them, too, we want to pass that along,” said Robin Salmon, Surrender Hill singer and guitarist. “We did a number of these out in Arizona and it created a nice connection for everybody. I’d like to maybe do two or three of them a year locally.”
The first Blue Betty Session will feature Mark Miller, a Kennesaw singer/songwriter, who will perform along with Surrender Hill at the George Link Jr. Gilmer Arts Playhouse Saturday, July 3. The show begins at 7 p.m.
“Mark has a very soulful country sound that leans toward the traditional side in a big way. He’s been given a voice that can breathe light into the heart of the meanest spirit,” said Salmon, who’s cowritten songs with Miller.
Miller said he was born in Nashville, Tenn., but his family moved to McDonough, Ga., when he was a child. His dad was a traveling gospel singer and his mother played piano, so Southern gospel and country music have long been a staples of his musical repertoire.
For several years, Miller was a worship leader at churches in Georgia and Florida. At that time, his music and songwriting was rooted in the contemporary Christian genre. He’s also cowritten songs with Nashville singer/songwriter Phil Barnhart, who penned several country hits including “No News” by Lonestar, “A Broken Wing” by Martina McBride and “I Want to Be Loved Like That” by Shenandoah.
“I try to write songs based on my own life,” said Miller. “I call it Americana music, which crosses country, bluegrass, soul and roots music. Classic country is where I grew up, and I always have some flavors of that throughout the show. In 2010, I recorded an (album of) the gospel songs of Atlanta blues legend Blind Willie McTell, so I usually throw in one of his songs, as well.”
Miller is no stranger to Atlanta acoustic music venues like Eddie’s Attic and the Red Light Cafe, but he’s also been playing north of the perimeter more often since live music options started picking back up with loosened COVID-19 restrictions.
“I play throughout the Southeast and east coast, but most of my stuff is from Canton and Cartersville to down south toward Newnan and Macon. March 14 of last year was pretty much my last gig when things just shut down immediately,” he said. “In March, April and the first part of May (there was) nothing, then I got a call to come do a front porch concert in Smyrna. In three days, I had nine more of those booked and it kept building and building. Last fall, most of the venues I play north of Atlanta began to open up, and I’ve been as busy as I’ve ever been the past six months.”
This will be Miller’s first time performing at the downtown Ellijay playhouse, but he’s previously played at Talking Rock winery Chateau Meichtry. His latest EP of original songs is called Hope and Healin’, and it can be found on most major digital music platforms.
“At that particular show (at the playhouse) I think I’ll be doing a lot of original music, but I’ll be doing some covers, too,” he said.
Salmon said Surrender Hill will open the show, and Miller will headline with his acoustic band, which includes upright bassist Drew Lawson and mandolin, banjo and fiddle player David Ellis.
Surrender Hill’s sound combines country, folk and rock influences for an Americana sound fueled by twangy guitar picking and the Salmons’ rich vocal harmonies.
Robin had played and produced music, while also writing songs, in Nashville and Atlanta before meeting Afton, who’d worked as a professional choreographer for a modern jazz dance company in New York City. After moving back to Arizona, where she’d grown up, she met Robin and the two began performing together. They formed Surrender Hill in 2014 and later settled down in Gilmer County.
“Afton is an incredibly positive human being in all aspects. She’s brought a lot of light to our songs, whereas I was definitely on the darker side of things. I had written love songs, but they all had kind of an edge, a darker side, to them,” Robin said. “When we started writing together, there was a point where I actually got a little nervous because there was so much love and positivity (in those songs). As we went on, we started getting a better balance.”
Blue Betty is the name of both a recording imprint and studio run by Robin, but the name goes back further to Surrender Hill’s early touring days.
“It comes from a 1998 van we toured in for a long time we called Blue Betty. When we met people along the way at different shows, we’d invite them to come and do a song in Blue Betty,” Robin said.
Things have also picked back up for Surrender Hill since more venues resumed booking live music. They recently returned from a string of shows in Texas and have been appearing regularly at venues in north Georgia and the Atlanta area.
Their latest album, A Whole Lot of Freedom, came out last year, and they’re planning another release, Just Another Honky Tonk in a Quiet Western Town, for August.