An embarrassment of riches. It seems so obvious now, but it wasn’t in summer 2021 when we started the Northside Tavern documentary project.
What did we know?
We knew that we wanted to tell the story of how Ellyn Webb took her family’s little neighborhood tavern/pool hall and turned it into a renowned and infamous blues dive.
How a young white musician named Mudcat became the de facto concierge of the Atlanta blues scene at the Northside.
How she resisted the siren call of developers who came tearing down the road and erecting fancy high-rises, furniture stores and restaurants.
How the place abides to this day after her death in 2017 thanks to her brother, Tommy Webb.
(But one still can’t help but wonder, for how long?)
What we didn’t expect was just how big a role this little dive played in Atlanta’s music community — and in Atlanta’s rich music history of blues and r&b.
Interview after interview (lost count after 50) revealed the extent of the Northside’s reach. The connections that the older musicians like Frank Edwards and Eddie Tigner had with their elders. The connections that younger musicians like Oliver Wood and Sean Costello had with them and 1970s southern rock star legend Donnie McCormick. And on and on.
All because Ellyn gave them a stage and they gave her their love, appreciation and loyalty.
We thought we were making a 45-50 minute documentary.
Now it seems 94 minutes isn’t long enough.
There’s still so much to say.
