Ryan Abel walked out disappointed after a Marshall Tucker Band concert a couple of years ago.
“There was only one original member left,” he said, and the music just wasn’t the same.
He wasn’t the only one in the audience who felt that way.
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“When I was walking out, a friend said ‘Ryan, you ought to do that music. You could do better than that.’ I thought that wasn’t a bad idea,” said Abel, who pulled together a group called Goin’ South, a Southern rock tribute band, who will be in concert at 7 p.m. on May 15 at Burke County High School’s auditorium.
The concert is the finale to the 41st season of the Waynesboro-Burke Concert Series.
Goin’ South covers bands such as The Marshall Tucker Band, Lynyrd Skynyrd and The Allman Brothers Band. The band’s first concert was in November 2018. It typically does a few large events a year.
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Keith Jenkins leads the Goin’ South band. At the age of 20, Jenkins auditioned for James Brown and by the age of 25, he was leading Brown’s band, the Soul Generals, according to his bio at the James Brown Family Foundation’s website.
Tickets are $25. For ticket information, call (706) 526-5062.
Music is a passion for Abel, but it’s not his full-time job. The North Augusta resident is a regional sales manager.
He got his start singing in public as a teen at First Baptist Church of North Augusta.
He also performs in musical theater productions with groups such as the Augusta Players and is a part of Schrodinger’s Cat, the improvisation group at Le Chat Noir.
While he sings mainly covers, he does write his own songs. In 2018, he released an EP with songs he co-wrote with Phillip Lee, who passed away that same year.
“Writing songs is a therapy for me,” he said.
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Not only does Abel supply the lead vocals for Goin’ South, he also sings lead with Ed Turner and Number 9, whose most recent appearance was April 30 at the dedication for the Sharon Jones Amphitheater in North Augusta.
Ed Turner and Number 9 covers songs from the 1960s and 1970s.
Sometimes, the songs performed by the two groups intersect, Abel said.
Ed Turner and Number 9 has sold out many concerts at the Imperial Theater, and in January, a recorded version of a sold-out concert featuring Beatles’ tunes was pulled out of the archives to raise money for the historic venue. The streaming concert raised $4,555, according to a Facebook post by Ed Turner in the Ed Turner Rock and Soul Revue Facebook group.
The band will be the headliner for Saturday in the Park on May 29 at the Evans Towne Center Park.
Opening for the concert will be King Cat and the Elders at 6 p.m. with Ed Turner and Number 9 at 7:30 p.m.
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Tickets are $25 for general admission and $75 for VIP. The VIP ticket includes seating, dinner and two beverage tickets. Children 12 and younger are free with general admission only; all ages must have a VIP ticket.
For ticket information on Saturday in the Park, visit columbiacountyga.gov.
Charmain Z. Brackett is the Features Editor for The Augusta Press. Reach her at charmain@theaugustapress.com.
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