Country stars to unplug for Tift show

TIFTON — A quartet of country music hitmakers will unplug for an intimate “writers-in-the-round” show at the historic Tift Theatre Aug. 4.

Andy Griggs, Buddy Jewell, Jeff Bates and James Otto will share their songs and the stories behind them during McAlpin Entertainment’s “Unplugged” show at the Tifton venue.

“Man, for the people who really love music, who love to know the stories behind the songs that they hear on the radio, this is going to be their kind of show,” TyTy-based McAlpin Entertainment’s Austin McAlpin said of Unplugged. “This is going to be as stripped-down and personal as it can be. All four guys will be up there at the same time, sitting on bar stools, and they’ll take turns singing songs and telling the stories about how they came to write them.

“The really cool thing about this show is that even though these four guys know each other well — they all kind of hit about the same time — they’ve never done a show together. Buddy and Jeff have played a show together, and Jeff and Andy have, but this will really be a first for them. All four of them have told me how excited they are about this format.”

The four singer/songwriters have scored a number of hit songs on country radio, including Griggs’ “If Heaven,” “She Thinks She Needs Me,” “She’s More” and “You Won’t Ever Be Lonely;” Jewell’s “Sweet Southern Comfort,” “If She Were Any Other Woman” and “Help Pour Out the Rain;” Bates’ “Long Slow Kisses,” “The Love Song” and “I Wanna Make You Cry;” as well as Otto’s “Groovy Little Summer Song,” “Just Got Started Lovin’ You” and “These Are the Good Ole Days.”

And while they may not be as well-known to fans for the songs they’ve written for other stars, it’s their songwriting skills that not only brought them to Nashville but gave them their start in country music.

“You look at someone like James Otto, who had the most-played song on country radio in 2008 (“Just Got Started Lovin’ You”), people know him by that song,” McAlpin said. “But not as many are aware that he wrote hit songs for Zac Brown and Jamey Johnson.”

Tickets for the show, which are $30, are available online at www.freshtix.com. Doors at the 320 Main St. Tift Theatre venue will open at 7 p.m. for the Aug. 4 show.

“I know we’ve had some really big shows over the last couple of years, the Merle (Haggard) and Willie (Nelson) shows and some of the others,” McAlpin said. “But as far as bringing an entirely different concept to the people in this region, this could turn out to be the best show I’ve ever done.

“All four of these guys are friends, and there’s a strong possibility they’ll do some stuff together. That’s the cool thing about this writer-in-the-round format, it’s very behind the scenes. There’s no script; that’s all out the window. There won’t even be a set list. Everyone will play what they feel like playing when they get on the stage.”

Information about Unplugged is available at www.mcalpinentertainmnet.com.