As the de facto music director of The Rolling Stones during the last 40 years of touring, Georgia’s Chuck Leavell not only handled keyboard duties, he frequently took charge of the music on stage, as a sort of conductor. In performance he kept in eye contact with the late Charlie Watts, since any signal by the music director has to be telegraphed by the drummer. They had a unique relationship and the loss of the legendary drummer hit him hard. But the show goes on and The Rolling Stones, and Leavell, will be performing at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Nov. 11. Bo Emerson spoke with Leavell about the Stones and about his tree-farming life just outside of Macon and he’ll bring us that conversation.

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