A park with a past

It’s no coincidence that the “Down From the Mountain” tour is coming to Chastain Park Amphitheatre. As it turns out, several artists on the July 17 bill (most notably Emmylou Harris, who played the venue on her own last summer) spoke fondly of Chastain when promoters were trying to decide which venue would provide the most appropriate Atlanta setting for the tour’s low-key American roots music.?But the connections between Chastain and the music that inspired the Grammy- winning O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack are historical as well. Chastain (then known as North Fulton Park) began construction toward the end of the Great Depression, around the same time Appalachian folk groups like the Carter Family — whose influence can be heard in every artist on the “Mountain” tour — were becoming popular throughout the South.

One of four parks developed by Fulton County under the supervision of Troy Chastain, it was hoped that the amphitheater would draw crowds to the new park and promote residential development in the area. And the venue’s popularity grew right along with Southern music forms such as country, blues and bluegrass. (Incidentally, the curious Chastain custom of talking loudly during concerts developed sometime later.)

Renamed in Chastain’s honor after his death in 1946, the park and amphitheater were built, in part, by the same sort of prison farm laborers who sing “Po Lazarus,” the opening song on the O Brother soundtrack. So when the Fairfield Four perform the tune in concert, raise a toast to the ghosts of Chastain’s past.

The “Down From the Mountain” tour comes to Chastain Park Amphitheatre Wed., July 17.??