The Codetalkers
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The CodeTalkers | |
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 Playing the Freebird live June 2007 Photo: Julia Rodgers | |
| Background information | |
| Origin | Savannah, Georgia |
| Genres | Rock, jazz, blues |
| Years active | 1999–2009 |
| Members | Bobby Lee Rodgers Mark Raudabaugh Andrew Altman |
| Past members | Col. Bruce Hampton - vocals, electric guitar Tyler Greenwell - drums, punctuation Ted Pecchio - upright bass, bass, d Sean Peterson - Bass Nick "Zeato" Buda - Drums |
The Codetalkers were a jazz, rock and roll band from Savannah, Georgia, United States, composed of Bobby Lee Rodgers (lead vocals, electric banjo, guitar, "air trombone"), Mark Raudabaugh (drums, vocals) and Andrew Altman (bass, vocals). The band was formed in 1999, upon the meeting of Rodgers and Col. Bruce Hampton at a show at the Variety Playhouse in Atlanta. The group toured for many years as a four-piece with the lineup of Rodgers, Hampton, Greenwell and Pecchio. In the spring of 2006, the band announced they would be touring without Hampton, who was stepping down for a multitude of reasons. The band was aiming to undertake a heavy touring schedule in support of their recent release, in which Hampton was unwilling and unable to participate. He had lent his name to the project for years in order to help Rodgers gain the recognition Hampton felt he deserved, but as a touring musician for 40 years, the grueling demands that a national tour would place on him didn't seem very alluring. Coincidentally, just as this announcement was to be made, Hampton trumped the press release by citing his own health reasons for leaving the band.
Since 2006, the group had toured as a "power trio" first with Rodgers, Greenwell and Pecchio, and from June 2007 on with the latter two replaced by Raudabaugh and Altman, respectively. Raudabaugh and Altman share Rodgers' college-level musical education in jazz and have helped bring Rodgers' vision for his music back to the place where he felt it was best represented. During a show in Savannah, where Rodgers first met Raudabaugh and Altman, the songwriter confidently proclaimed that the sound and vision of his music that he had been searching for had been found.
Their music has been described as a mix of
The Codetalkers had a reputation among the
While primarily playing the bulk of their live performances east of the
Bobby Lee Rodgers was the primary songwriter, responsible for the original material played by the band, and collaborated on a handful of songs with other band members through the years. He was one of the youngest professors ever to teach at the
According to his website, Bobby Lee Rodgers officially disbanded The Codetalkers in early 2009, not citing specific reasons; however, Rodgers stated in an interview later that year that the band's demise was related mostly to financial issues created by the management firm responsible for their livelihood at the time.[1]
Discography
- 2000 Bootleg Live
- 2004 Deluxe Edition (re-released in 2005 as "Dee-Lux Uh-dish-un")
- 2006 Now (re-released in Japan in 2008 under the name "Bobby Lee Rodgers & The Codetalkers")
- 2008 Galaxy Girl (released only in Japan)
- 2009 Overdrive* (*The trio's studio tracks were never released, though Bobby Lee Rodgers re-vamped the recordings by replacing the bass and drum tracks and releasing the album under his own name.)
References
- ^ DeYoung, Bill. "Rock 'n' Roller Coaster". Connect Savannah.
External links
- Bobby Lee Rodgers official website
- The Codetalkers collection at the Internet Archive's live music archive
- "The Codetalkers: A Language of Funk and Fun", an interview on NPR's Morning Edition on July 24, 2006, retrieved July 24, 2006
- [2]
- Interview from honesttune.com
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