When the PBS series America’s Forests with Chuck Leavell learned of Reinhardt University’s American Chestnut tree research and revitalizing efforts, they wanted to feature it in one of their shows. On November 10, 2025, a full production crew accompanied host and acclaimed rock-and-roll piano player Chuck Leavell to an orchard on a farm owned by Reinhardt trustee Dr. Austin Flint and emerita professor Bea Flint. Blight nearly eradicated the American Chestnut in the 20th century, and efforts at the Flint’s two orchards aim to discover how to restore it and ensure its survival.
“One of the things that makes Dr. Flint’s orchards so unique is that we’re used to experimental orchards being on university campuses or on state or federally owned land, but this is privately-owned land,” explained Executive Producer Kate Raisz. “The scientists are coming from Reinhardt University to do the work, but on a private property that spans generations. We’re now looking at Dr. Flint’s great-grandchild who will hopefully carry on this tradition of keeping the forest alive.”
During the filming, Leavell interviewed Vinny Varsalona (RU-Dec. 2025), Reinhardt Biology Instructor Kylie Stover (RU-2019), and Dr. Austin Flint, to learn about the orchard’s history, their hybridization and inoculation efforts, and their hope for the revival of the iconic tree.
Varsalona, a biology major, chose to attend Reinhardt specifically because of the orchard. For the past four years, he conducted maintenance and experiments, learned how to manage a scientific orchard, and engaged both the scientific and local community with the orchards. He presented his research at three conferences including the American Chestnut Foundation (TACF)’s Chestnut Symposium, held two internships with TACF, and is mentoring and training other Reinhardt students at the orchard to continue the mission. In January, he begins pursuing a Ph.D. in Forest Pathology at Virginia Tech.
Stover, who became involved in the orchard as a Reinhardt student, now serves as its manager and engages her students in its mission. She executes strategic decisions made by Dr. Flint who works closely with TACF. “Dr. Flint is very generous to share his time, property, and equipment with students at Reinhardt so we can pursue research topics and get hands-on experience in the field,” exclaimed Varsalona.
Raisz hopes the show raises awareness for the American Chestnut, so that it will flourish again in the future. The episode will air in 2026, but dates have not been determined.
Rolling Stone’s Chuck Leavell to help launch Georgia’s newest land trust east of Atlanta.
September 13, 2025 | 8pm | @ historic Madison-Morgan Cultural Center Auditorium | Madison, GA
Chuck Leavell understands the importance of land conservation. He and his wife, Rose Lane, even permanently protected hundreds of acres of their family farm. Now he’s helping support the Madison-Morgan Conservancy expand into Georgia’s newest land trust to increase the pace of this kind of permanent land protection in Georgia.
For 25 years, the Conservancy has been working to permanently protect “farms, forests, and front porches” for future generations. 6,000 acres later, the Conservancy is celebrating its 25th anniversary by hosting An Evening with Chuck Leavell at the Cultural Center’s historic, intimate, 400-seat auditorium, renowned for its exceptional acoustics – the perfect place to hear Chuck Leavell tinkle the ivories and talk about his music career and passion for conservation.
Chuck says about land and trees, “Like many people, I’d taken trees and forests for granted most of my life, but as I studied this, I began to realize all the things that they give us. You know, materials to make our homes and schools and churches. Materials to make books and magazines. Newspaper, fine furniture. They clean our air, they clean our water…”
“As Metro Atlanta expands east, it is critical for growth to include conservation of natural resources on the front end. You know, protect it before it’s gone, and grow around it,” says Christine Watts, Executive Director of the Conservancy. “This kind of approach is not seen often in Georgia, but that’s what this Conservancy is trying to do in these 7 counties east. It’s cheaper that way, too, than trying to reclaim those resources on the backend.”
You can help keep this part of Georgia productive, wild, and beautiful by joining the Conservancy for this once-in-a-lifetime event. Tickets: mmcGeorgia.org.
Chuck Leavell has played with the greats since the 1960s: Allman Brothers, Eric Clapton, Widespread Panic, John Mayer, Black Crowes, and the list goes on and on. He is currently the pianist/keyboardist and musical director for the Rolling Stones, but when he’s not on stage in front of thousands, he’s working to protect forests.
Chuck understands the importance of land conservation so much that he and his wife, Rose Lane, permanently protected hundreds of acres of their family farm. Now he’s helping sup- port the Madison Morgan Conservancy to expand into Georgia’s newest land trust to increase the pace of this kind of permanent land protection in Georgia.
For 25 years, the Conservancy has been working to permanently protect “farms, forests, and front porches” for future generations. 6,000 acres later, the Conservancy is celebrating its 25th anniversary on September 13th by hosting An Evening with Chuck Leavell at the Cultural Center’s historic, intimate, 400-seat auditorium, renowned for its exceptional acoustics – the perfect place to hear Chuck Leavell tinkle the ivories and talk about his music career and passion for conservation.
“Like many people, I’d taken trees and forests for granted most of my life, but as I studied this, I began to realize all the things that they give us. You know, materials to make our homes and schools and churches. Materials to make books and magazines. Newspaper, fine furniture. They clean our air, they clean our water…” Leavell says.
“As Metro Atlanta expands east, it is critical for growth to include conservation of natural resources on the front end. Protect it before it’s gone, and grow around it,” says Christine Watts, executive director of the Conservancy. “This kind of approach is not often seen in Georgia, but that’s what this Conservancy is trying to do in these seven counties east. It’s cheaper that way, too, than trying to reclaim those resources on the backend.”
The Conservancy invites the public to join them September 13th for An Evening with Chuck Leavell. Proceeds from the event will go towards the Conservancy’s work to keep this part of Georgia productive, wild, and beautiful. For tickets go to the Conservancy’s website, www.mmcGeor- gia.org.
About the Madison-Morgan Conservancy
For twenty-five years, in the midst of the Southeast’s largest and fastest- growing metropolitan area, the Madison-Morgan Conservancy has been protecting farms, forests, and front porches for future generations, successfully protecting critical resources and creating a culture of conservation like nowhere else in Georgia. Thanks to the Conservancy’s 600+ members, hundreds of donors, and terrific partners, Morgan County now boasts of 6,000+ acres of permanently protected land – a solid start to protecting the critical mass of land required to avoid sprawl. Now in its 25th year, the Conservancy is working to become Georgia’s first accredited, regional land trust since the 1990s to help this region remain productive, wild, and beautiful for generations to come.
Come Celebrate 20 years / Join us as we celebrate 20 years of the Center for Heirs’ Property Preservation! For two decades, we have been dedicated to empowering families, protecting land, and preserving generational wealth through education, legal services, and sustainable land use. This will be an unforgettable evening filled with inspiration, connection, and celebration.
Keynote Speaker ~ Chuck Leavell
Known as the longtime keyboardist and Musical Director for The Rolling Stones, Chuck’s legendary career spans collaborations with Eric Clapton, George Harrison, The Allman Brothers Band, John Mayer, and more. Beyond the stage, he is an author, award-winning tree farmer, and host of the PBS series America’s Forests with Chuck Leavell.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – More than 4,000 members of the Daughters of the American Revolution convened this week in the nation’s capital for the 134th Continental Congress, the latest gathering of the longstanding service organization’s annual meeting. The week-long convention consisted of business sessions, committee meetings, and social functions, and was topped off with formal evening ceremonies at which national DAR award recipients were honored. In attendance were Chapter Regent Paula Mattix-Wand, Chapter Registrar Diane Waldo, Chapter Treasurer Kathy Wilson, and Carol Borner, all members of the Ninian Edwards Chapter located in Alton, Ill.
At the Opening Night Ceremony, Chuck Leavell received the DAR President General’s Medallion for his musical achievements and advocacy for our nation’s forests. The National Defense Night Ceremony, celebrating our nation’s military personnel and veterans, welcomed Gina Bennett, counterterrorism expert and former CIA Analyst as the DAR Patriot Award winner. Other national awards were presented during the week to outstanding individuals celebrating excellence in historic preservation, education and patriotism. While at Congress, Ninian Edwards Chapter participated in Virtual Voting, learned more about the worldwide mission of the DAR by attending business sessions, and served as volunteers on Congressional committees.
“Continental Congress is a time-honored tradition and opportunity for our members to come together to share ideas and celebrate our country’s rich history. This year is particularly exciting as we prepare for our nation’s 250th anniversary,” said Pamela Wright, President General. “Service to our country is at the heart of everything DAR does, and it is always inspiring to welcome more than 4,000 Daughters here at our historic headquarters in Washington, DC. Working together, we are dedicated to advancing historic preservation, education, and patriotism for generations to come.”
The DAR Continental Congress is an annual gathering that has been held in Washington, D.C. since the organization’s founding. National, state and chapter leaders as well as other members from across the country and around the world meet at the DAR National Headquarters to report on the year’s work, honor outstanding award recipients, plan future initiatives and reconnect with friends.
Maine-based Americana act The Mallett Brothers Band released a new single, “Dogs and Horses,” featuring legendary keyboardist Chuck Leavell. The track is set to land on the band’s forthcoming album, Higher Up in the Hills, arriving on April 4.
The Mallett Brothers Band — guitarists/brothers Luke Mallett and Will Mallett, bassist Nick Leen, fiddler Andrew Martelle, and drummer Brian Higgins — previously shared the Higher Up in the Hills single “Nothin’s Working.”
The group now follows with “Dogs and Horses.” The song “captures the dichotomous nature of rural Americana life,” press materials for the track noted, “with Luke Mallett’s lyrics conjuring up broken-down tractors and mounting gravel piles alongside the nomadism of touring life. The track builds dramatically as violin, electric guitars, piano, and organ cascade over each other, creating a rich sonic landscape.”
“‘Dogs and Horses’ is a love song at its roots. It’s a song about two people building a life around the things that they love and then balancing and supporting each other in those endeavors, Luke Mallett said of the new song. Those endeavors are Luke’s life on the road and his wife Carissa’s commercial horse farm in Maine.
“These lifestyles aren’t compatible at all,” Luke added. “I spend half my life out on the road, and she spends 12 hours a day in the barn taking care of animals. If it isn’t one thing, it’s another, but the way that we try to hold each other up is really what I was moved to write about.”
“Dogs and Horses” also features former Allman Brothers Band and current Rolling Stones touring keyboardist Chuck Leavell, who met The Mallett Brothers Band when they appeared on his PBS program America’s Forests.
“When we were bringing this song to life in the studio, all of us agreed that keys would fit the vibe really, really well,” Mallett said. “Having his piano and organ on the song brought it to a whole new place.”
Listen to “Dogs and Horses,” premiered by Americana Highways, below:
“[W]hen you think about how Mick is engaging the public, that’s his gig, and sometimes it’s not unusual for him to have a question like, ‘Do I come in here?’”
The Rolling Stones’ longtime touring keyboardist and musical director Chuck Leavell is the subject of a new USA Today feature. Leavell gave a glimpse inside what it’s like to direct the legendary rock band.
Chuck Leavell was already a seasoned performer when he joined The Rolling Stones entourage in 1982. Leavell was a member of The Allman Brothers Band in the ‘70s and led his own group, Sea Level. While one might think that the pressure of being The Stones keyboardist, let alone music director, would be a tense gig, Chuck learned something quickly with the band.
“Back in the day with Sea Level or the Allmans, if something would go wrong, I’d tend to get upset,” Leavell told USA Today. “And when I joined the Stones and those moments would occur, it was a lesson learned to just let it go, and don’t dwell on it. Most of the time it all ends up with a laugh.”
The Rolling Stones’ longtime touring keyboardist and musical director Chuck Leavell is the subject of a new USA Today feature. Leavell gave a glimpse inside what it’s like to direct the legendary rock band.
Chuck Leavell was already a seasoned performer when he joined The Rolling Stones entourage in 1982. Leavell was a member of The Allman Brothers Band in the ‘70s and led his own group, Sea Level. While one might think that the pressure of being The Stones keyboardist, let alone music director, would be a tense gig, Chuck learned something quickly with the band.
“Back in the day with Sea Level or the Allmans, if something would go wrong, I’d tend to get upset,” Leavell told USA Today. “And when I joined the Stones and those moments would occur, it was a lesson learned to just let it go, and don’t dwell on it. Most of the time it all ends up with a laugh.”
With months separating Jimmy Carter from his 100th birthday on Oct. 1, Atlanta’s Fox Theatre has announced a celebratory concert to mark the landmark occasion. Deemed Jimmy Carter 100: A Celebration in Song, the event doubles as a benefit that supports The Carter Center, an organization that began 40 years ago with the mission of alleviating human suffering. Today’s announcement includes a list of exemplary musical talents who have signed on to participate.
The artist lineup leans into various genres and reflects pop, rock, gospel, country, jazz, hip-hop, and classical music tropes. Making up the list of musicians who have signed on to participate in the occasion are Chuck Leavell, D-Nice, Drive-By Truckers, Eric Church, GROUPLOVE, Maren Morris, The War And Treaty, and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chamber Chorus. The evening is also billed to include arrivals from Dale Murphy, Killer Mike and Sean Penn.
Despite an already-populous list of participants, Jimmy Carter 100: A Celebration in Song will continue to up the excitement with weekly additions to the artist lineup. Moreover, according to the official announcement, famous friends and dignitaries known for their admiration and support of Jimmy and the late Rosalynn Carter are expected to take part in this special occasion.
To quote former President Carter, “Music is the best proof that people have one thing in common no matter where they live, no matter what language they speak.”
Tickets go on sale Monday, Aug. 5 at 10 a.m. local time.
Tens of thousands in a sold-out stadium are visually stapled to Mick Jagger belting “Start Me Up.” But the band’s eyes will frequently dart to the snow-haired presence stationed stage right.
Chuck Leavell is perched behind his bank of keyboards, electric piano and organ, his hand occasionally airborne, his glances with Jagger and Keith Richards subtle.
But those aren’t just friendly nods. They’re meaningful cues, just as a conductor directs an orchestra.
The maestro of the Rolling Stones, Leavell has served as their keyboardist and musical director since the early ‘80s, coming in as a veteran of the Allman Brothers Band and his own jam-rock outfit Sea Level.
“They count on me if anyone gets lost to be the person to make everyone feel comfortable,” Leavell says in his Southern lilt and with a crinkled smile the night before the April kickoff of the Stones’ Hackney Diamonds tour.
An exclusive look at Rolling Stones history
In his Houston hotel room, Leavell flips through weighty binders, giving USA TODAY an exclusive look at a trove of Stones history.
Pages of white loose-leaf, yellow legal paper and Rolling Stones stationery are meticulously slotted in alphabetical order, many of them bearing the names of song titles etched in rock history – “Miss You,” “Ruby Tuesday,” “Beast of Burden” “Gimme Shelter,” “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” – with notations alongside the names.
Chord changes, song keys and tempos are often scrawled in the margins, necessary reminders for a catalog spanning six decades and for a band that might need that head nod or hand signal as a prompt during one of their massive stadium shows.
Rolling Stones guitar hero Richards readily shares his appreciation of Leavell’s archives, telling USA TODAY in a statement that “without being able to fall back on these priceless records ‒ of chords, keys, arrangements, and other bits of alchemy – we would be truly lost,” while also bestowing the Keith-ism, “Gold rings on you, Chuck.”
Since that tour launch April 28 – also Leavell’s 72nd birthday – the Stones have played the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, with Jagger sharing “Time is On My Side” with its original singer, Irma Thomas (“To have the privilege of being with just the two of them in the dressing room (to rehearse) and then bring it to the band was so exciting,” Leavell says a few weeks after that performance); pulled out infrequently played fan favorites “Monkey Man,” “Shattered,” “Let’s Spend the Night Together” “Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker)” and “She’s a Rainbow” at various shows; and, for Leavell, owned the spotlight at each date with fiery solo work during “Honky Tonk Women.”
Each show, with the core trio of Jagger, Richards and Ronnie Wood and additional players Steve Jordan, Darryl Jones, Matt Clifford, Karl Denson, Tim Ries, Chanel Haynes and Bernard Fowler, Leavell has rolled through set lists of classics usually totaling 20 songs.
There are only a handful of concerts until a July 21 wrap at a nature preserve in Missouri, and Leavell says that already the tour “far exceeded all of our expectations. … To me, it feels very much like a family working together.”
How Chuck Leavell helps Mick Jagger onstage
That’s a heady statement from someone who has been part of the Stones’ inner circle for decades, having played 890 concerts with them as of July 5.
A devout Rolling Stones follower and photographer in the Netherlands, Hendrik Mulder, keeps scrupulous stats about Leavell’s tenure with the band, and by his account, Leavell has performed in 247 cities (London the top location) and played 191 different songs (“Jumpin’ Jack Flash” and “Start Me Up” the most, at 881 and 879 times, respectively).
Leavell, at the suggestion of a band tech, started saving almost every song list from rehearsals, set list from shows, notes about cover songs the Stones might attempt and personal scribbles to nudge his own memory since the band’s 1989 Steel Wheels tour.
Those details are regularly revisited.
“Let’s say there is a song we haven’t done for a while, and I’ve refreshed my memory through the notes and go through soundcheck and I’m looking around at everyone to make sure they remember the parts,” Leavell says. “But when you think about how Mick is engaging the public (on stage), that’s his gig, and sometimes it’s not unusual for him to have a question like, ‘Do I come in here?’ So he can glance at me and with a nod or hand signal (and) I can help him out.”
Leavell has also shared stages and studios with Eric Clapton, David Gilmour, John Mayer and The Black Crowes and is a lauded environmentalist with the notable 2020 documentary “The Tree Man.” He believes that his innately calm demeanor, expressed even more prominently when he returns home to his tree farm in Macon, Georgia, benefits his responsibilities as a behind-the-scenes guardian for the mightiest rock band still performing.
“Back in the day with Sea Level or the Allmans, if something would go wrong, I’d tend to get upset. And when I joined the Stones and those moments would occur, it was a lesson learned to just let it go, and don’t dwell on it. Most of the time it all ends up with a laugh.”
Tempo and the Rolling Stones: ‘There was only one Charlie Watts’
Cadence is a crucial component of the Rolling Stones’ live performances, and many of Leavell’s song sheets include numbers that can look random to an untrained eye – 135 for “Jumpin’ Jack Flash,” 113 for “Miss You,” 143 for “Paint It, Black” – but those beats per minute are truly the heartbeat of each song.
“When you’re on stage, it’s easy to get overly excited, and you don’t want to count a song off and realize, uh-oh, it’s too fast. Or you’re too cautious and counted off too slow,” Leavell says. “We are adamantly checking the tempos in soundcheck, and the variations can be miniscule. On stage, I do a digital readout of the BPMs and take a moment to absorb that tempo. Mick is always concerned about getting the right tempo.”
This is the third tour in which the Rolling Stones are joined by Jordan, who has occupied the drum stool since the death of Charlie Watts in 2021. While reverence for the beloved sticksman is firm – “Charlie was Charlie Watts, man. There was only one,” Leavell laments – there is also much appreciation for Jordan and his different style.
“Steve is a harder hitter, a little more energetic,” Leavell says. “And we love that because it helps get us the energy that we all need. But he also does a great job respecting Charlie’s parts.”
‘Who knows what the future may hold’ for the Rolling Stones?
With the Hackney Diamonds tour trotting to a close, there of course remains the eternal question of when it will literally be the end of the road for the seemingly immortal rock band, all of whose core members are in their late 70s (Wood) and 80s (Jagger and Richards).
Given the impressive level of showmanship and reliable musicianship on this run, there is always the possibility that the band will continue to romp across stages worldwide.
Though Leavell is uncertain about more live shows, he is grateful for the present.
“Who knows what the future may hold?” he says, “But this tour has been historic and so much fun.”
It also has given him many more pages to add to his binders.
Fresh off his latest tour with the Rolling Stones, the legendary keys player talks some of his biggest musical moments—and reveals Nick Saban’s post-game song of choice
When Chuck Leavell recently wrapped his latest concert tour playing keys for the Rolling Stones, his main gig for the past four decades, he got as far from the stage as imaginable—the rural Georgia land where he raises trees.
The through line in his long music career—during which he’s manned the piano, keyboards, and organ for the Allman Brothers, Eric Clapton, and the aforementioned Stones—is easy to find. “One of the things that struck me was, where does that thing that has given me a great career and so much joy come from? Meaning the piano and the resource of wood,” he says of an epiphany he experienced several years ago. “Growing trees is a way of giving back to what’s been so good to me.”
Leavell estimates he has planted about three hundred acres of longleaf pine—the towering, broad-canopied species that once covered the Coastal Plain from Texas to Virginia—in Twiggs County, Georgia, and in recent years he has become an evangelist for the nation’s natural history. Since 2017 he’s hosted the PBS show America’s Forests With Chuck Leavell, a series about sustainable forestry and habitat restoration that has taken him across the continent, including to the Fender Musical Instruments factory in California.
But above all else, Leavell is a Southerner whose connection and contributions to the music of the region is as deep as his love for the soil. We challenged him to reflect on some of the biggest moments of his life in music—the career that now allows him the freedom to spend his downtime surrounded by giants of a different sort.
Leavell already had a hall-of-fame career as a sought-after sideman by the time he appeared on Eric Clapton’s episode of MTV Unplugged in 1992. But Clapton, perhaps inspired by the tasteful piano lines Leavell played on the traditional blues track “Alberta,” proudly announced Leavell’s name to the studio audience at the song’s conclusion. That moment became enshrined in music history as Clapton’s subsequent Unplugged album became the best-selling live album of all time and won a trio of Grammys, including the coveted Album of the Year award.
“I couldn’t believe they left it on the record,” Leavell says of the shout-out. “The other part of that, of course, is that version of ‘Layla’ on Unplugged was a real joy to do, and then probably my favorite is ‘Old Love’ [written by Clapton with Robert Cray and originally on 1989’s Journeyman]. We did the show and went through the whole set and played an encore too, and the audience still wanted more. And I don’t know why Eric turned to me, but he did, and he said, ‘What can we do?’ I said, ‘Eric, do “Old Love,” man.’”
He was the unsung hero of the Black Crowes’ debut
Leavell’s piano and B3 organ parts were essential to the Black Crowes’ 1990 debut album, Shake Your Money Maker, including to the hits “Hard to Handle” and “She Talks to Angels.” They added so much swagger, in fact, that the band soon added keys player Eddie Harsch as a full sixth member. But the collaboration came about through what Leavell calls “a happy accident.”
“George Drakoulias, the producer, reached out to me out of the blue,” Leavell recalls, “and he said, ‘Listen, we signed this band’—they were actually called Mr. Crowe’s Garden at the time—and he said, ‘They’re from Georgia, and they would love to have you play.’ So we had lunch together, and he played me this recording. It was one microphone in the middle of a rehearsal room, but there was no doubt, you could hear the energy and passion.”
The rest is music history: “We convened in Atlanta, and it started out with, ‘Hey, can you play on this song? Oh man, that was good. Can you put organ on it? Well, we got this other song…’ And this went on until I was on the majority of the record.”
Although he’s lived in central Georgia for many years now, Leavell is an Alabamian by birth and carries all the duties and privileges of a native son—namely, cheering for the Crimson Tide on whichever field or court of play they appear. He’s also befriended other ’Bama royalty and discovered he shares a mutual appreciation with the school’s recently retired football coach, Nick Saban.
“I’ve become friends with Coach Saban,” he says. “He’s a big Stones fan, and when he came to our show in Atlanta, I got to hang with him a little bit there. When we first met, he said, ‘You know, after every game, whether I’m going back to the hotel or going home, can you imagine what song I play?’ And I said, ‘No, coach, what do you play?’ He says, ‘I play “Gimme Shelter” at a very loud volume.’”
