The Beggars' Guild are Atlanta's answer to blue-collar music. They play American Rock
and Roll in the vein of Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers and Bruce Springsteen. With
lyrical stories carried by hooky guitars and an honest voice, The Beggars' Guild draws
from familiar influences to write songs that are instantly accessible, yet distinctly
memorable.
Playing in South Carolina bars, while preparing to become an Episcopal priest, TJ
Edmond decided to trade in his white collar for blue. He grabbed his guitar and moved
to Rochester NY for the winter, where he worked in a music store during the day, and
wrote songs at night in the studio of the store's basement. The music that came from
that lonely winter, would end up becoming the songs on the band's first EP, Breaking
Me Down.
One of ten children, TJ returned to the South to follow his brother Jeremiah (drummer
for Columbia records band Manchester Orchestra) to Atlanta to put his path into action.
With the addition of some like-minded studio and touring musicians, The Beggars' Guild
was born.
“There's a certain amount of humility, calling ourselves beggars, but there's also a
roguish camaraderie and dignity, of embracing our flaws and each other's alike,” says
Edmond.
Since then, the Beggars'' Guild have toured around the South creating a grassroots fan
following, catching the ear of legendary 99X/current WRXP Program Director, Leslie
Fram, who has dubbed the band “the next great American rock band.”
Having already received the honor of sharing the stage with the Marshall Tucker Band, Col. Bruce Hampton, and the Zac Brown Band, the band recently finished their first full length
album, It Only Gets Better From Here, produced by Chris Unck, Bret
Hartley, and Dan Hannon.The band is currently preparing to tour to support the album.
