A Drummer Who Lived Through It

Atlanta didn’t just “have a scene” in the 1970s. It had a nightly, citywide engine of clubs, musicians, promoters, and studios that turned hungry players into road veterans and, sometimes, legends. Roger “Hurricane” Wilson sit down with Barry “BB” Borden, a drummer whose resume reads like a Southern rock map: Mother’s Finest, Molly Hatchett, The Outlaws, and nearly three decades with the Marshall Tucker Band.Barry takes us straight into the heartbeat of the era, when you could work constantly, meet everyone by sharing bills, and learn the craft the only way that counts, on stage. We talk Studio One, the songwriter power of Buddy Buie, and why the Atlanta Rhythm Section sound still defines “Georgia Rhythm” for so many musicians. If you care about Atlanta music history, Southern rock, classic rock touring, and how a city becomes a sound, this conversation delivers the details.Then come the road stories: how tour buses really work, what happens when a driver doesn’t know the band yet, and the day Barry stepped off at a rest stop in Florida and watched his bus disappear. From there we jump to the career highs, including Mother’s Finest hitting the touring circuit hard, opening for major acts like The Who, and crossing paths with names that shaped rock history.Subscribe for more deep dives into Georgia music, share this episode with a friend who loves Southern rock, and leave a review so more listeners can find the stories. What’s the best live show you ever saw in a club?