Venturing Out to Athens, Georgia, there is nothing like being close to home for many Athens residents in making this special announcement during Breast Cancer Awareness month.

With Jay Gonzalez of Drive By Truckers, featured in a CD called "A Heaping Helping": songs for the Breast Cancer Research Foundation of Alabama. - The Truckers live in Athens, as well as Betsy Franck and The Bareknuckle Band.

Athens, fairly close to Atlanta, is also where the University of Georgia is located. Many great bands are from Athens; such as REM and The B-52's just to name a couple.

A pleasure to make this announcement during breast cancer awareness month, music artist Scott Ward has launched the CD called "A Heaping Helping".

"Muscle Shoals Down Through Decatur" is a CD Scott Ward's band did with a friend, Rock and Roll Hall Of Famer, Spooner Oldham. Spooner has been in Neil and Pegi Young's touring bands for many years. Spooner has also toured with Bob Dylan, Drive By Truckers, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, Drive By Truckers and The Everly Brothers. Spooner first gained fame at FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals by playing organ on albums by Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett, Clarence Carter, and Percy Sledge- he played organ on "When a Man Loves a Woman".

Spooner and the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section have always been Scott's heroes and he wanted to do "Muscle Shoals Down Through Decatur" as a tribute to the Muscle Shoals Sound and the songwriters of Muscle Shoals; such as Earl "Peanutt" Montgomery (who had songs recorded by George Jones and Tammy Wynette), Emmylou Harris, Merle Haggard, Gram Parsons and Etta James. Peanutt is also a great friend of Scott's.

While Scott Ward did most of the lead vocals on the CD- his friend and producer, Tommy York, sang lead on 3 songs- a song he wrote called "Katydid", "Rendezvous with the Blues" and a song which was done by Alabama Soul and R&B legend Ralph "Soul" Jackson called "Let Your Sweet Love Surround Me". Ralph is another good friend and they have backed him on some dates, of which they hope to do more of in the near future.
The other musicians on the CD are Jeff Ford on lead guitar; Ken Beasly on drums; Jackie Blevins on drums; Ruth Ann Speegle on harmony vocals; Terry Waters on pedal steel; Brad Guinon saxophone; and Tommy York on guitar and organ.

It took Scott Ward about 10 years to see this CD come to fruition. Ward and the others signed a distribution deal with Dynasty Records in Nashville in October of 2011. The CD is in select FYE music stores in the Southeast. It is also available for digital download on Bandcamp- http://scottwardband.bandcamp.com/album/muscle-shoals-down-through-decatur

The track listing is as follows:

1 "Let Your Sweet Love Surround Me" written by Bob Killen

2 "The Lord Loves a Rolling Stone" written by Spooner and Dan Penn

3 "Long Ago" written by Bob Killen and Dan Penn

4 "Katydid" written by Tommy York

5 "George Jones Talkin' Cellphone Blues" written by Patterson Hood and Drive By Truckers

6 "Rendezvous With The Blues" written by Jimmy Hall of Wet Willie and Jack Douglas

7 "The Power Of Love" written by Walt Aldridge

8 "1980" written by Spooner and his wife Karen Oldham

9 "Let Love Come Between Us" written by Johnny Wyker and Joe Sobotka

10 "California Cottonfields" written by my friend Peanutt Montgomery and Dallas Frazier

11 "Don't Cry" written by Spooner and Stephen Foster

"To be able to do this CD with Spooner was a dream come true for me, but more importantly, it paved the way for me to produce a compilation CD to raise funds for breast cancer research. My mother found out she had breast cancer earlier this year. She is doing much better now, and I wanted to do something special for her while she is still with me", said Ward.

Spooner also appears on 3 songs on it along with songs by Shelby Lynne, Bekka Bramlett and Christine Ohlman- the vocalist for the Saturday Night Live Band.

It is a pleasure to know roots from Athens, Georgia is part of this great CD to benefit a wonderful cause.