Georgia is southern soul country now
For years the circuit skipped the state. Now its biggest young stars live here and Atlanta opens the new year with a headline bill.
Southern soul was built in Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana and Memphis. Georgia was the state the circuit drove through. That has changed, and 2026 made it hard to miss.
The artists
Three of the genre's most in-demand performers call Georgia home. Tonio Armani is from Columbus. Mike Clark Jr. came up in Macon. West Love was honored at the State Capitol in February. When the Atlanta Journal-Constitution looked at the scene in October 2025, it pointed to Armani and Clark as two of the Georgia acts carrying the sound, and noted both were booked for the first trail ride set in One Musicfest history.
The rooms
The bookings tell the same story. In April the Blues Is Alright Tour played back-to-back Georgia nights, in Fayetteville and then at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre for the 20th annual ATL Blues Festival. On Labor Day weekend King George headlined a southern soul bill at the amphitheater in Stockbridge with T.K. Soul, Tonio Armani, Marcellus TheSinger and E.J. Jones.
Next up is the New Years Weekend Southern Soul Takeover on Saturday, January 2, 2027, back at Cobb Energy. King George, Cupid, Tonio Armani and Mike Clark Jr. are on the bill. It is the second January in a row that the venue has opened its year with a southern soul show.
Why it took so long
Daddy B. Nice, who has chronicled the genre at SouthernSoulRnB.com since the 2000s, wrote in September that for decades Georgia had almost no southern soul radio, few concerts and few artists of its own, and that Atlanta's attention was on hip-hop and urban R&B. His read is that the shift came after the pandemic, and that the state now produces festivals, radio shows, DJs and recording artists at a pace that matches its size.
The smaller rooms back that up. Between now and New Year's Eve the calendar lists shows in Atlanta, Marietta and Buford.
See the full calendar for dates.