If those walls could talk.
In 1972 the Webb family came into possession of a little neighborhood bar where steel mill workers and adventurous Georgia Tech students could hang out, shoot pool, plug quarters into the juke box, and find a jar of pickled pig knuckles at the bar.
The Northside Tavern.
In 1993, Ellyn Webb took over running the bar after her father’s death. According to legend, she debated to either sell it, or turn it into a blues club or strip joint.
With the help of the Atlanta blues community, she chose the crossroads.
Blues, funk, southern rock.
Older black musicians who had connections to Atlanta’s founding fathers of the blues shared the stage with white musicians, both established and up-and-coming.
Frank Edwards. Beverly Watkins. Eddie Tigner. Albert White. Donnie McCormick. Danny “Mudcat” Dudeck. Sean Costello. Carlos Capote. Oliver Wood. Coy Bowles. Stoney Brooks. Bill Sheffield. Lil Joe Burton. Lola Gulley. Many many others.
The place became a haven for music lovers who didn’t mind — maybe even relished — the crowded sweaty dance floor a few feet away from the stage, the dense fumes of PBR and cigarettes, the bathrooms that required waders, the bartenders with attitude, the pool players, the well-heeled Buckheaders who wandered into the scrum around midnight.
For 25 years, until her death in 2017, Ellyn was The Blues Matriarch of Atlanta. She nurtured young musicians and looked after the older crowd. She created a space where everyone felt safe.
When commercial real estate developers came roaring down the block of the old industrial neighborhood, cranes looming overhead, turning everything into high-rise glass and steel, she held out.
The Northside Tavern abides.
Northside fans since the late 1990s, we (HJacobsCreative team with consulting producer Terri Capote) look forward to telling Ellyn’s story in our upcoming documentary by talking to the people who knew her best and the musicians who loved her.
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Interviewees
Algernon Blue
Coy Bowles
Mico Bowles
Nelson Brackin
Stoney Brooks
Joe Burton
Brenda Bynum
Terri, Josephine & Carmen Capote
Randy Chapman
Rommel Chatman
Mark D’Alessio
Danny “Mudcat” Dudeck
Kathryn Dudeck
Joel Edwards
Tony Erice
Chris Faussemagne
David Fisch
Cory Gillen
Scott Glazer
Grant Green Jr.
Larry Griffith
Lola Gulley
Matt Harper
Jamie Hemphill
Taylor Knox
Jon Liebman
Heather Luttrell
Ira Malkin
Cody Matlock
Josh “Blonju” McCormick
Joe McGuinness
Nate Nelson
Ross Pead
”Magic Fred” Pittman
Jim Ransone
Glynda Ray
JJ Reichert
David Roth
Bill Sheffield
Carlin ‘C-Note’ Smith
Debbie & Glenn Smith (Sean Costello’s parents)
Mandi Strachota
Swami
Stephen Talkovich
Unknown Vincent (Tseng)
Jesse Vogel
Hank Walton
David Webb
Tommy Webb
Albert White
Oliver Wood
Charlie Wooton
Jon Wyatt
Ellyn Webb
1954-2017