MACON, Ga. — This Black History Month we're highlighting the cultural history right here in Central Georgia.
Many soul makers from the golden age of Macon's music scene in the 60s and 70s have long since passed.
But one award-winning Macon musician remembers this time well.
Jessica Cha spoke with him about how far a kid and his trumpet could go and what soul music means to him.
"You would see The Temptations, The Miracles, Marvin Gaye," musician Newton Collier said.
Collier grew up seeing many of the greats roll through Macon but music has always been in his family.
"My mother, aunt, grandmother, and I think my daddy were all musicans. I was around a lot of guys who played in the church bands. I was like four or five years old," he said.
Collier starting taking piano lessons at age six from one of Macon's first black female band leaders Gladys Williams.
She opened his eyes to a whole a new world.
"Any given time, you go to her house, you might see anybody there. Walked in and there was Sammy Davis Jr. He was playing trumpet. And so I asked him basically, 'hey that's cool let me try it.' Boop! He said, 'wow you could be a trumpet player,'" Collier said.
And so he was.
He took up the trumpet at age 10 and played until he graduated high school.
He played with bands like The Pinetoppers, and with Otis Redding's original backing band on the chitlin' circuit.
"The chitlin circuit was made up of a lot of clubs strung across the south," Collier said.
At a time when black people weren't allowed to perform in white establishments the chitlin circuit were black-owned night clubs and dance halls.
Macon was one of the main stops.
"So, you have James Brown musicians, Little Richard musicians. All these different musicians coming through town," he said.
Collier played trumpet with several acts but belonged to none until he got picked up.
"I ended up getting a permanent job with Sam and Dave," he said.
Grammy award winners Sam and Dave took their R&B, soul music, and Collier on the road to the Apollo, Madison Square Garden, The Ed Sullivan Show and around the world.
Collier toured with them for over 20 years.
"The dream come true was to be sitting at home in Macon, Georiga and looking to see Thad Jones direct the band on The Ed Sullivan Show. And now, Thad Jones is standing there watching you play."
Music was everything Collier had known but one night in 1976 everything changed.
"I worked at a club called The Sugar Shack. That's in Boston," he said.
Collier was the person who took all the earnings for the the band at the end of the day and deposited them.
"Two miles from the club, I would say. I saw this car behind me," he said.
Someone in the car was following Collier and they shot him as he drove by. He was wounded in the leg and the mouth.
"Had to take all of my teeth out on this whole side because it just smashed up everything," he said.
Collier gained a mechanical jaw but lost the ability to play trumpet.
He wouldn't even be able to try for five years.
"Without music, there's no life. Why you think the birds sing, why do you think the wind blows? That's music."
In 1978, Collier was given an electric trumpet. He can play it by humming into it.
He says it's not the same but at least he can play music again. He still thinks about the golden days of music.
"At one time, I said I never want to see another hotel, another airplane. I'd do it all over again if I had to," Collier said.
He came back to Macon in 1988.. The place where his love of music was born.
Newton Collier now dabbles in a little of everything.
He owns Mid South Travel on cherry street and he still goes out to listen to Macon's music.