An Evening with Murray Attaway, Don Dixon & Peter Holsapple

About this show

Murray Attaway is a phantom. After years of silence, he's resurfaced with a new album, Tense Music Plays. The legendary Guadalcanal Diary lead singer and songwriter explains, "I kept meaning to do another record, but I'm easily distracted. It took me a while to focus. “With their four classic albums on Elektra Records, Guadalcanal Diary cemented their place in the pantheon of 80’s alternative bands. Rolling Stone described them as a "great second-generation Georgia band” defined by “searching earnestness”. Trouser Press opined, “” Guadalcanal Diary distinguished itself from any smart, tuneful American guitar combos” with “Attaway's songs which reflect a bizarre variety of far-flung interests …with provocatively twisted lyrics. Don Dixon is an American record producer, songwriter, and musician. He is one of the key producers of what is called the jangle rock movement of the early 1980s, including working with R.E.M. and The Smithereens. Dixon and several fellow freshmen at UNC-Chapel Hill formed the band Arrogance. Arrogance recorded six albums and helped create a local music scene. In 1982, Mitch Easter asked him to co-produce R.E.M.’s debut LP Murmur and their 1984 follow–up LP Reckoning. Dixon then spent several years producing artists such as Chris Stamey (The dBs) The Smithereens, Fetchin’ Bones, Richard Barone (The Bongos), Guadalcanal Diary, Marshall Crenshaw, Tommy Keene and James McMurtry, among many others. Peter Holsapple is an American musician who, along with Chris Stamey, Gene Holder and Will Rigby, comprised the dBs. He became the band's principal songwriter and singer after Stamey's departure. Holsapple played as an auxiliary musician with R.E.M. and Hootie & the Blowfish before joining the Continental Drifters. In 1997, he released his first solo album, Out of the Way. He followed it up 2018’s Game Day. In 2024, the dBs reformed and are currently touring behind the re-releases of their catalog. Peter's third solo album was released April 12, 2025, produced by Don Dixon.