It’s been a while since I’ve paid a visit to The Green Room of Mableton, the restaurant and music venue located at 1391 Veterans Memorial Hwy SW Suite 114 on the western edge of Mableton and the eastern edge of Austell.

I first visited in 2019, when the Green Room was basically a construction site. Then I dropped by in February of last year when the interior, kitchen and stage were taking shape.

So last Friday evening, at the invitation of Linda Brackner, who owns the Green Room with her husband Ben, I dropped by, spoke with Linda, and listened to some of the evening’s music.

The term “Green Room” is a reference to the backstage lounge area in a theater or music venue where actors or musicians hang out before and after a performance.

The Brackners spent years getting the restaurant and venue ready for launch, and the offerings include pizza from a 4,000 pound Italian oven, live performances on a 24 x 16 foot stage, locally sourced beer and coffee, and a 30-foot bar.

I asked Linda what has been going on since I last visited.

“It’s, it’s been a fun year,” she said. “We’ve been meeting a lot of our community. “We do some give-back nights for the PTA … with Mableton Elementary and the Mount Harmony preschool.”

“And we do 10 percent give-back through our giving garden,” she said.

Music at the Green Room

“We’ve had some really good music and it’s been incredible to watch,” Brackner said. “It’s very intimate to sit and watch a live show with very vibrant musicians and have a nice meal and just meet the community.”

The night I visited the featured band was the Deemsters.

The Deemsters describe themselves on their website as follows:

Formed in early 2019, Deemsters brings together elements of Phish, The Grateful Dead, String Cheese Incident, and original Deemsters tunes. We have all been playing around Atlanta for many years in different incarnations of bands, and finally all got together and said “This is it! This is everything that we have always wanted to do, all wrapped up into one group, with all arrows pointing to channeling the inspiration of our influences into new, original music.”

We have all of our own sound and production gear, including an amazing light show.

I stayed around for their first three numbers after talking with Linda Brackner, and the Deemsters are a band worth watching. Their general approach, with vocals interspersed with extended instrumental solos, will be familiar to Grateful Dead fans. I even heard brief bursts of Frank Zappa influence, with short eccentric instrumental riffs.

Linda said that on Sundays, the Green Room features an open mic from 2 to 5 p.m. that includes music and spoken word.

She said a goal of hers is to book reggae and jazz, and that the Green Room features a bluegrass band regularly.

For a Valentine celebration on February 19, the Green Room will feature the Atlanta Brass Cats.

On their website, the Atlanta Brass Cats describe themselves as follows:

Atlanta Brass Cats (”ABC”) was originally formed in the spring of 2016 to play with uncompromising authenticity the music of Chicago and the other bands who created the greatest hits of all time with horns.  ABC’s 10 Band Members include 4 versatile lead vocalists plus an all-star rhythm section of keyboards, two guitars, bass, and drums.  Our trademark horn section of sax, trumpet and trombone adds an organic musicality that no synthesizer can duplicate.

The Food

The Green Room’s featured food is pizza, but other choices are available as well.

“Our menu keeps expanding, we keep changing it,” Brackner said. “We still we make our own dough and our own sauce. We have three different sauces to choose from. I’ve been making ice cream. We have a good variety of local craft beer and wine.”

To keep updated on the Green Room of Mableton, visit their Facebook page regularly.