It's not often that you can see a legend walking down Cherry Street. But Newton Collier, a fixture at community events, performances, and simply around downtown Macon, once used to tour the country as a musician with some of the greatest stars of his day. And when he was around, there were lots of legends walking around Macon - like Otis Redding, who taught Newt about the business when he was just a kid. Today, Newt has a star on hall of fame in front of The Douglass Theatre - a historic theatre founded by a legend in his own generation. 

2021 marks the 100th anniversary of The Douglass, so we wanted to celebrate with this bonus episode of Newt's story first told for our September 2020 "Macon Magic" show, introduced by The Douglass's former Artistic Director Johnny Hollingshed, Jr. The photo in our show notes is indeed Newt walking down Cherry Street with his trumpet, past the freshly painted music note street mural by Mama Hawk Draws, where you'll find him often. He's happy to talk to young musicians - and he has a lot more stories to tell.

The Heartbeat of Georgia is hosted by Koryn Young and Julia Rubens and episodes are produced by Storytellers Macon based off of the limited stage series in partnership with The Grand Opera House.