which had grown to include such diverse acts as 311, CAKE, Sonia Dada, the reconstituted Lynyrd Skynyrd and Allman Brothers Band spinoff Gov't Mule. Walden was also the first to sign then-unknown country singer Kenny Chesney. After reading an article about a memorial ceremony for blues guitarist Robert Johnson in Billboard in September 1991, Walden contacted Mt. Zion Memorial Fund founder Skip Henderson (who had produced that event) and commissioned a bronze sculpture mounted on a granite headstone in honor of Elmore James, whose catalog was then owned by Capricorn. The memorial was placed on James' grave in the Newport Baptist Church Cemetery in Ebenezer, Mississippi on December 10, 1992. Several members of the Mississippi state legislature attended the event along with Walden, members of James' family and many others. In 2000, Walden sold the majority of Capricorn's catalog. In the early 2000s, with the Capricorn name retired, Walden tried his hand with another startup label, Velocette. The entire staff was made up of Waldens, including his son, Philip Jr., daughter, Amantha, and nephew, Jason. Walden was inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame in 1986. He died of cancer at the age of 66 in his home in Atlanta, Georgia on April 22, 2006. "Phil was one of the preeminent producers of great music in America," former president Jimmy Carter said in a statement. Walden's work with Redding, the Allmans and others, Carter said, "helped to put Macon and Georgia on the musical map of the world." References External links Obituary in the New York Times Obituary in Rolling Stone Magazine 1940 births 2006 deaths 20th-century American businesspeople Mercer University alumni Deaths from cancer in Georgia (U.S. state)