And The Winners Are...

For decades, Georgia State's School of Music has recruited gifted faculty and produced talented graduates who have performed in impressive venues, won numerous industry awards and collaborated with big time artists.

So success stories coming out of the school are nothing new.

This story is exceptional, however, because on Jan. 31, 2010, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, three GSU musicians - an alumnus, a faculty member and a music management student - each brought home one of the highest honors a musician can receive: a Grammy award.

"To have three in one year is pretty remarkable," said W. Dwight Coleman, director of the School of Music. "It goes without saying how proud we are of these guys."

Coy Bowles

Coy Bowles: Roots Rocker

At the ripe age of 13, Coy Bowles (B.S. '04) started his first band, Betty Doom, with two friends from school. They practiced grunge rock covers in his parents' attic and played at church functions.

Today, now 31, Bowles is a member of the Zac Brown Band, a country music group headlining nationwide tours and pairing up with acts like the Dave Matthews Band and Jimmy Buffet.

Even though Bowles, who plays guitar, piano and organ with the band, has shared the stage with some of the biggest names in popular music, he admits he was stunned when he went to accept the "Best New Artist" Grammy with his Zac Brown Band members.

"It was, by far, the most overwhelmed I've ever been in my life," he says. "There were only three words I had to say in the thank you speech - family, friends and crew - and I could barely say that."

Given his talent and dedication, people who know Bowles aren't surprised he reached this level of success.

"I remember Coy being a very motivated and hard working student," says David Frackenpohl, academic instructor in the jazz studies program. "He always wanted to get better and he had a lot of questions for me."

Bowles says he started playing guitar at age 10 when his mother signed him up for lessons to keep him "out of trouble."  At first he didn't like the instrument, but soon enough he was writing his own songs.

In college, Bowles majored in biology but quickly decided to follow his calling towards music.

"It was an amazing experience," Bowles says of his time at GSU. "It was one of the best experiences in my life, being around horn players and playing in a big band, writing and arranging music."

After graduation, Bowles taught guitar lessons and formed a band, "Coy Bowles and the Fellowship." The group recorded a full-length album, "Into the Distance," which was released in 2006.

While hustling around Atlanta with his band, Bowles crossed paths with an old friend, Zac Brown, who liked what he heard from Bowles on stage and invited him to play.

"It's a very amazing, fertile, creative brotherhood," Bowles says of the Zac Brown Band. "If I had to paint a picture of the band I wanted to be in when I was a teenager, this would be it for sure."

Bowles joined the Zac Brown Band just as their first album, "The Foundation," was taking off.  The first single "Chicken Fried" peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot Country Chart, and "Whatever It Is" and "Toes" also reached No. 1.

Then came the Country Music Awards, the three Grammy nominations and the "Best New Artist" Grammy win. On Grammy night, the band performed with music legend Leon Russell, and the experience is one Bowles won't soon forget.

"I'm loving every second," he says. "Things are happening so fast, so all you can do is stay humble and stay close to friends and family. You have to be true to yourself."

Dru Castro

Dru Castro: Mix Master

For Andrew "Dru" Castro, Grammy night was like old hat. The 33-year-old music management senior, who has served as producer and recording engineer for some of Hip Hop and R&B's biggest hits over the last decade, had been there before - seven times to be exact - but never had he taken home the award.

This year and this nomination, however, felt different, he says.

Castro produced and engineered India Arie's chart-topping "Testimony Vol. 2: Love and Politics," and he knew it was an outstanding recording. The album was nominated for "Best R&B Album," and the song "Pearls," featuring songstress Dobet Gnahore, was nominated for "Best Urban/Alternative Performance." 

"It felt great to be nominated, and I had a really good feeling about it," he says. "But to be honest, I kind of expected it this time. This was India's 20th nomination."

It's true that Arie has a score of nominations and two Grammys to her credit, but for Castro, who also has worked as a recording engineer with Eminem, Mary J. Blige and Jamie Foxx, the award had eluded him.

So when "Pearls" won for "Best Urban/Alternative Performance," Arie brought Castro on the Staples Center stage to accept the award.

"That was pretty cool," Castro says nonchalantly.

Not bad for a guy who, back in 1999, was selling and installing studio equipment for local producers. It was Castro's in-depth knowledge of his wares that, in fact, led him to a career as producer and engineer.

"Some of the people who I sold equipment to would call me back and say 'How do I use this?'" he says. "And it really took off from there."

Since breaking into the industry, Castro has worked steadily, producing and engineering dozens of albums and singles. He received his first Grammy nomination in 2006 for Arie's "Testimony Volume 1: Life And Relationships," which was up for "Best R&B Album."

That same year, Castro opened Music House Studios, now widely known as one of Atlanta's premier recording studios. At Music House, Castro has worked with such artists as Keyshia Cole, Usher, Ciara, New Kids on the Block and Nelly.

So forgive him for taking his time finishing up his degree here.

"When things get busy, I have to take time off [from school] and focus on work," he says. "But I'll get there, I took four classes last semester, and I'm making it a point to work it all into my routine."

Mace Hibbard

Mace Hibbard: Jazzman 

Long before he was legally able to buy a drink at the bar, Mace Hibbard was a fixture at the late-night jazz clubs in and around his hometown of Waco, Texas. As a teenager, he played saxophone alongside his father, Dave Hibbard, a well-known jazz trumpet player, during the elder Hibbard's gigs. 

Since then, Hibbard has earned a master's degree in jazz studies from the University of Texas and has become an accomplished classical saxophonist and composer. That hasn't stopped him from performing in those smoky, late night dives, however. The instructor of jazz saxophone in the School of Music can still be found around Atlanta with his band, the Mace Hibbard Quintet, performing his brand of straight jazz and modern standards. 

So for a dues-paid, classically trained musician like Hibbard, one who has shared the stage with everyone from Wynton Marsalis to the Austin Symphony Orchestra, winning a Grammy has to be some kind of life changer, right?

"It doesn't change anything," he says. "For me, winning a Grammy is getting the recognition for all those small gigs that you play, and for all those nights when you drive home at 3 a.m. It's knowing that you're doing the right thing."

For his Grammy win, Hibbard played saxophone and wrote the horn arrangements for the Derek Trucks Band's album "Already Free," the "Best Contemporary Blues Album." Hibbard has been playing live and recording with the Derek Trucks Band, a jazz, rock and blues fusion ensemble, since 2005.

"I'm really proud of what I did on the record, but I'm merely a small guy in [Trucks'] machine," Hibbard jokes. "When someone sends you tracks like that, it really makes it easy. My job was not to mess things up."

While Hibbard might downplay his role with the band, his colleague, Gordon Vernick, associate professor and director of jazz studies at Georgia State, says Hibbard's talents make him highly sought after.

"Mace is a consummate professional and he can play whatever people want him to play, and that's why they want to work with him," Vernick says. "In music, you have to lead by example; it's not just talking theory in the classroom, but also performing in the streets, and Mace does that." 

When not writing and performing Grammy-winning arrangements for his friends, Hibbard leads budding Georgia State jazz musicians in improvisation and fronts his jazz troupe. This summer, the Mace Hibbard Quintet is set to record its second album, a follow-up to 2007's "When Last We Met."

The release of his new record means, as soon as it hits the streets, Hibbard will be out, late, performing in support of the album, not resting on the laurels of his new Grammy-winner status.

"It's pretty surreal," he says of the Grammy nod and the attention. "So I won't complain."