By By LYDIA GRIMES – features writer
Shannon Brantley, owner and operator of George's Barbeque has been playing guitar since he was 14 and writes a lot of the material he plays.
Brantley and Gleaton put together a band while he was still in high school and called themselves &#8220The Mudcats”. It later broke up but now they are back together and called &#8220Sweet Lovin Daddy,” playing the blues.
Over the next few years, Brantley continued to play and in 1996, he and Steven Dolihite of Castleberry put together their first CD in Dothan.
The group evolved to where Brantley plays the guitar, Dolihite plays bass and Neil Jackson is on the drums.
Brantley has not been content to be part of just one band. Over the years others have come and gone.
Brantley was born in Brewton and raised in a quiet family setting. He loved the outdoors and helping on his grandfather's farm.
The family moved to Castleberry when he was very young and he attended school there until he was in the third grade. The family then moved to Brewton and he entered the city school system at Brewton Elementary School. He graduated from T.R. Miller in 1994. He described himself as just a &#8220regular guy,” no better or worse than the average student.
He attended Jefferson Davis Community College for two years.
He transferred from JDCC to Troy State University where he graduated in 1999 with a degree in environmental science. He ended up teaching pottery classes at Troy State for the next year.
He had joined a pottery class at Troy State and he also met a girl whom he dated for the next two years after graduation. But Brantley had his roots in Brewton and that is where he wanted to be. He had several good job offers elsewhere but he did not want to leave Brewton. He said he had spent enough time away from the hometown and wanted to be back in Brewton. He worked with his dad for a while and then took a job with Owen Milligan at &#8220Hurri-clean.” Milligan had been his college roommate at college.
Brantley found himself frequenting a local barbeque place. He said he probably ate there three or four times a week.
He bought George's Old Time Barbeque in 2004 and runs it with the help of a friend, Bart Langham. George even stops by occasionally to keep his hands in barbecue.
During these years, Brantley has also kept up with pottery and even taught a class at one time.
The music is so important to him; he hardly has time for anything else.
In his spare time (since he has so much of it), he is remodeling a house. When it is finished it will have a place of honor for his collection of guitars.