From Jersey to Atlanta with Roger "Hurricane" Wilson

One guitar lesson at nine years old. One finger on the first fret. One note that changed everything. That is where Roger “Hurricane” Wilson starts, and from there the story opens into a full, very Atlanta life: the clubs, the record stores, the people who mentored him, and the long stretch of miles that turn a young player into a Georgia artist with real history behind the songs.

We talk about growing up near New York, coming back to Georgia in 1967, and getting completely flipped around after seeing Duane Allman play up close. Roger and I swap memories of the pre-streaming music world, when radio and records were the pipeline and you sometimes waited weeks for an album to hit the store. He also brings the 1970s Atlanta live music scene into focus, from places like Music Mart to the apartment clubhouse gig circuits around I-285 where bands could stay busy and actually make money.

Then the conversation takes a sharp turn into Atlanta broadcasting. Roger shares how he worked his way through radio jobs, freelanced across multiple stations, and kept saying yes to the behind-the-scenes work that made him indispensable. That path leads straight into sports broadcast production with the Braves, Georgia Tech, Falcons, Hawks, and more, including vivid tape-era details like flagging highlights on reel-to-reel and building post-game stacks for replay. We close with what he is doing now: the Roger Hurricane Wilson Trio, Blue Storm Records, new original releases, and a new role as the Host for That Georgia Rhythm Podcast

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