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Dodd Ferrelle and the Tinfoil Stars
If you cruise by Mimi and Harvey Ferrelle's Tybee house, you may well
hear the music of Dodd Ferrelle and the Tinfoil Stars wafting from their
porch.
Dodd is their son, you see.
And, while so many young men from Tybee and Savannah dream of making
it in the music business, Dodd Ferrelle actually has.
Ferrelle's music has taken him a distance from Tybee. He tours the southeast
a lot with his band, the Tinfoil Stars, and he lives in Athens where
many up and coming musicians are incubated. But his heart and mind are
often on Georgia's coast.
His father calls him from his cell phone when crossing Lazaretto Creek
to tell him what the weather is like and to describe the view of the
Cockspur Lighthouse.
Dodd, who was stuck in pouring rain in North Carolina when he gave his
interview to the Tybee News, envied the sunshine the held sway on Tybee
at that moment.
"I can picture your weather right now like I was standing in it,"
he said.
A fourth-generation Savannahian, whose family now lives on Tybee, Ferrelle
says he knew he wanted to be a musician from the age of twelve. His
mother raised him on the Beatles. He also drank in the influence of
Neil Young and U2.
He's also influenced by celtic folk and southern rock, he says: "Being
from the deep south, you can't help but be affected by southern rock."
Though the influence of bands like the Allman Brothers is "not
as heavy" on Ferrelle as it could be, yet, "I'm definitely
southern and I'm definitely a rocker," he says.
By the time he was fifteen, Ferrelle was already recording his work.
"It's really neat when I see an old friend and they give me a tape
I made at fifteen," he says.
But that was not his best work, he concedes. "I didn't have my
voice then That came later. It took a lot of hard work and practice,"
he says.
He attended Calvary Baptist High School where, as an episcopalian, he
"stuck out like a sore thumb," he quips. He didn't look for
instruction there in the music he loves, preferring to find his own
way. Instead, he honed his art in garage bands.
He attended Georgia Southern and Armstrong for a few years, again staying
away from music and toying with an English major. But music was calling
his name.
"I got cursed with the music bug at an early age and never could
shake it," he says.
When he landed in Athens, he hooked up with John Mills "and a couple
other guys" to form Me'anMills. From 1988-93, Ferrelle wrote music
for Me'anMills toured, hitting bars and fraternities.
After Me'anMills broke up, Ferrelle got together with the Tinfoil Stars
in which he is lead singer, rhythm guitar player, and song writer. Now
in his early thirties, Ferrelle has cut several albums. An upcoming
C.D., "Sweet Lowland," will feature songs inspired by Savannah
and Tybee.
The furthest he's been on tour so far has been Virginia, but Ferrelle
hopes to get to New York and to Europe. His songs have been well reviewed
in the Netherlands and Japan.
"My intention when I started out was to see the world and get paid
for it, and it's happening," says Ferrelle.
But in the meantime, Ferrelle's immediate plans are going to bring him
back home to Savannah where he will be playing at Savannah Blues, May
17.
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