We’re filling the time between now and the first Georgia Bulldog game of the season with one reason per day that it’s great to be a Georgia Bulldog. If we’re talking about reasons Athens, Georgia truly is heaven on Earth, we can’t leave out the music.

Futurebirds are but the first Athens-based group that makes an appearance on this list. For much of the past decade they’ve been weaving a tapestry of gauzy, psychedelic-tinged country rock that calls to mind Gram Parsons, Neil Young, the Jayhawks and more. Their live shows are by turns forceful and wistful, electric and mesmerizing, epitomizing the best of what live music in the Classic City is. Which is something qualitatively different from the army of bros covering “Brown-Eyed Girl” for free beer in your college town, non-Athenian. Until later . . .

Go ‘Dawgs!!!