Murray Attaway, Peter Holsapple, and Don Dixon: Trio in the Attic

**Murray Attaway, Peter Holsapple, and Don Dixon live at Eddie's Attic!**

Murray Attaway, best known as the lead singer and songwriter of Guadalcanal Diary, resurfaced in 2025 after years of silence with Tense Music Plays — his first solo record since In Thrall some three decades ago — released May 9th on Moon Ray Sound.

Across four classic albums on Elektra Records, Guadalcanal Diary became one of the defining bands of '80s Georgia alternative rock, anchored by Attaway's literate, restlessly inventive songwriting.

Tense Music Plays was written and arranged over two years and recorded almost entirely by Attaway in his home studio, with veteran engineer and producer Mark Williams. The album wanders through Attaway's unique landscape, staying close to the styles he's known for while carving out a few new ones. It drew warm reviews and appeared on several "best albums of 2025" lists; SoundCafe called it "a poignant, fearless, and frequently electrifying reminder that true artistry doesn't rust; it deepens," and Musoscribe hailed "the triumphant return of a valued artist." As Attaway puts it, "It's always been my goal to do music that goes somewhere different, but it invariably ends up in my yard." And that's a very good yard.

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Peter Holsapple has had quite an eventful year, following the release of his third celebrated solo album The Face of 68 in 2025.

The reviews for the album were overwhelmingly positive, with a four-star review in MOJO (calling it “a smart self-portrait”) and 13th Floor’s appreciation that the record is “as fine a collection of power pop/rock as you’re gonna hear in 2025.”

With standout tracks like the mischievous “That Kind of Guy” (Variety says, in their Best Songs of 2025, “Every rock ‘n’ roll record geek should hear and love this song, which is practically an issue of Goldmine magazine or a Hoffman Forums message thread made flesh,”) Holsapple has toured solo and with regional backing bands for most of the past year, including a performance on Mountain Stage Radio Show in March 2026.

This year, he’s heading to Europe for ten dates in June, his first ever solo tour outside the country. He’ll be heading to Spain, Scotland, England, France, Belgium and the Netherlands. And Peter’s filling his domestic datebook for Autumn 2026 as well, including a number of shows with his old friends and colleagues Don Dixon (R.E.M. and The Face of 68 producer) and Murray Attaway (Guadalcanal Diary).

Many of his contemporaries are slowing down or retiring from their active pursuits in music, but Holsapple has seemingly redoubled his efforts to get out on the road and play for people. His live shows are like jewel boxes full of dozens of superb songs, from his days in The dB’s and Continental Drifters through his newest tunes, all showing the skill and versatility of one of rock’s best-loved songwriters in a fan-friendly acoustic form. A classicist pop guy at heart, Holsapple never strays from memorable melodies and intelligent wordplay, and in his most modern songs, those qualities are particularly evident.

Come to a Peter Holsapple show and see and hear for yourself.

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Born in South Carolina, Don Dixon is a songwriter, singer, musician, record producer and very occasional actor who now resides in Ohio.

Dixon has been a professional musician since his early teens, forming Arrogance with Robert Kirkland in 1969 while a freshman at the University of North Carolina. As a solo performer, he has recorded 15 albums including his minor MTV hit “Praying Mantis” which opened the doors for a brief period of success in Belgium, Holland and Norway.

He has written songs recorded by Joe Cocker, Robert Crenshaw, Hootie and the Blowfish, Marti Jones, and Ronnie Spector, and other less well known folks. He has co-written songs with Caitlin Cary, Marshall Crenshaw, Counting Crows, Bill DeMain, Marti Jones, Fred Koller, Bill Lloyd, Kelley Ryan and many others.

When not in the studio, Dixon has toured consistently throughout his 60 year career, often with his wife Marti Jones. He has also toured in a trio configuration with Parthenon Huxley and Rob Ladd or Jim Brock and Jamie Hoover. For the past fifteen years he has played bass on the road with Mary Chapin Carpenter.

He has produced rock bands from The Smithereens, Gin Blossoms, R.E.M. (with Mitch Easter) and Hootie and the Blowfish to singer-songwriters like Marshall Crenshaw, James McMurtry and Marti Jones. Add to his credits, legacy artists such as Kim Carnes and John Ellison (with the Carpenter Ants) as well as younger phenoms like She Returns From War and Secret Monkey Weekend. He has made records with over 150 different bands, singers or instrumental specialists.

Acting is not his main focus but for a laugh, check out the movie Camp (2003) and try to catch a performance of King Mackerel and the Blues Are Running, a musical by his friends Bland Simpson and Jim Wann.