[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 5]
[Senate]
[Pages 6535-6536]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         TRIBUTE TO PHIL WALDEN

  Mr. CHAMBLISS. Mr. President, I rise today to talk about an 
individual who is a native of my State and probably is not well known 
to Members of this body. He was involved in an industry for which all 
of us have a great appreciation. The name of the gentleman is Phil 
Walden.
  About 40-plus years ago, when I was at the University of Georgia, I 
had a college roommate who was responsible for booking bands for a 
number of fraternities, sororities, and whatnot at the University of 
Georgia. He came into contact with a man named Phil Walden. I got to 
know Phil through my roommate Mike Brody.
  Phil Walden was an unusual individual. After graduating from Mercy 
University in 1962 in Macon, GA, he became a full-time professional 
promoter of bands. During his college days, he teamed up with an 
individual from Macon, GA, who became a superstar. That superstar's 
name was Otis Redding.
  Phil Walden found Otis Redding at a nightclub in Macon, GA, and made 
him a rich and famous person in the music industry. Otis Redding was 
the heart and soul of soul music for a number of years. Unfortunately, 
Otis Redding died in a plane crash in 1967, and a lot of Phil Walden's 
hopes and dreams died with him.
  But Phil Walden didn't stop with just rhythm and blues bands. About 
the time that Otis Redding's plane went down, Phil Walden founded 
Capricorn Records and found another band in Macon, GA, called the 
Allman Brothers. He then promoted the Allman Brothers into superstar 
status, and the Allman Brothers became the heart and soul of southern 
rock and roll music.
  Phil Walden hit hard times when heavy rock and roll hit hard times. 
Unfortunately, Duane Allman was killed in a motorcycle accident in 
1971. Another star member of the band, Barry Oakley, was killed shortly 
thereafter. The Allman Brothers hit on hard times, and so did Phil 
Walden. He had problems with abuse and use of alcohol and drugs, like 
so many folks in the music industry.
  Phil Walden hit a low point in his life, but Phil Walden rebounded 
from that, just like the music industry he knew and loved so well. He 
moved to Nashville and stayed for a time in Nashville.
  While he was in Nashville, he discovered another band in Athens, GA, 
called Widespread Panic. They are a little beyond my generation, but my 
son has been to a number of Widespread Panic concerts around the 
Southeast, and I venture to say that the children of a lot of our 
Members likewise, if you mention Widespread Panic to them, their eyes 
light up.
  Phil Walden was the kind of man who had the ability to bounce back, 
and he did so. He was an icon in his industry. He represented, I 
noticed in looking at the various obituaries, a number of folks, 
frankly, I did not know he represented in all the years I knew Phil. 
Here are several of the bands and acts Phil Walden either managed at 
Capricorn Records or promoted otherwise: I mentioned Otis Redding and 
the Allman Brothers, Percy Sledge, Boz Skaggs, the Charlie Daniels 
Band, the Marshall Tucker Band, Wet Willie, Kenny Chesney, 311, Cake, 
Lynyrd Skynyrd, Hank Williams, Jr., Billy Joe Shaver, and Stillwater.
  Phil Walden hit on hard medical times also in recent years. Last 
Sunday, Phil lost his battle with cancer and, unfortunately, passed 
away. He had a burial last Thursday in Macon, GA, at Rose Hill 
Cemetery, where he was laid to rest in the same cemetery as Duane 
Allman and Barry Oakley.
  Phil Walden was truly an unusual person in the music industry. In the 
1960s, he took a Black man in Otis Redding, brought him to a White 
university, White universities all across the Southeast, without any 
major incidents whatsoever, and that was significantly unusual. As 
Peter Conlin, a promoter and longtime friend of Phil Walden, said:

       If you look at a white guy from the south in the '60s 
     trying to promote a black singer, that was a brave thing to 
     do.

  And it truly was. Phil Walden did it with class, he did it with 
style, and he did it with success. Phil Walden then took the Allman 
Brothers and did it with style, did it with class, did it with

[[Page 6536]]

success. He was a true dream story, a true story of the American dream 
in the music industry. He is someone the music industry is going to 
miss.
  Phil certainly lived an interesting life, and his wife Peggy, who 
stood by his side for so many years, deserves a lot of credit for the 
success Phil had, both in the music industry as well as in bringing his 
life back together. We are all going to miss Phil Walden.
  I yield the floor, Mr. President.
  Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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