Clad in jeans and cowboy boots, musician John "JB" Bell reclined in a green fabric and metal chair on a Saturday morning, surrounded by 16 computers sitting on shelves about a foot from the ceiling. The computer screens glowed blue behind multicolored static, generating so much heat air-conditioning was needed to cool the room.

A Wellness Center at Home

When he's not on tour, musician John "JB" Bell of the southern rock jam band Widespread Panic spends much of his time at a home in Clarkesville, Ga., a tiny mountain town.

Mr. Bell seeks balance at his 1912 white colonial that he's turned into a holistic wellness center. Jeff Herr for The Wall Street Journal

Mr. Bell, 49, said he spends a few hours every night and day he's home in this "energy room," working on lyrics, reading, thinking or sleeping. He says the energy generated by the computers creates an "uplifting vibe very similar to the feeling when the band improvises into new territory, and the audience seems to be right there alongside you." His wife Laura, 48, said, "We joke it's the new way of catching a buzz."

The energy room is just one of the alternative treatments at the home of Mr. Bell, who for more than two decades has been the lead singer and guitarist for Southern rock jam band Widespread Panic. For about half the year Mr. Bell is on the road, playing drawn-out concerts and jamming late into the night. It's a frenetic life, one he seeks to balance at his 1912 white Colonial that he's also turned into a holistic wellness center in a tiny mountain town.

In the entry hall, a bulletin board lists information on workshops in photography, writing and cooking. The yoga classes take place upstairs, in a large, light-filled open loft with a pine floor and a big flat screen television. Mrs. Bell, a licensed counselor, holds sessions in a traditionally decorated office.

A large organic garden, with vegetables like lettuce, okra and kale, is tended by Mr. Bell—and is where he often thinks up the some half a dozen songs he writes a year. He practices those songs in the home's front parlor, empty except for a metal and wood resonator guitar from the 1930s, a microphone and a laptop. The living room and dining rooms, decorated with wood furniture and upholstered chairs, seem little used.

For more than two decades, Mr. Bell, 49, has been the lead singer and guitarist for Southern rock jam band Widespread Panic. Jeff Herr for The Wall Street Journal

Mr. Bell grew up in Cleveland. At the University of Georgia he met Michael Houser, and the two officially started the band in 1986, named for Mr. Houser's nickname "Panic" because of his anxiety attacks. Mr. Houser died of pancreatic cancer in 2002, but the band has continued its relentless touring and improvisational concerts. It has sold some three million albums and just released its 11th studio album. Next month, Widespread Panic will headline the music festival Bonnaroo, along with Eminem and Arcade Fire.

The Bells, who have been married for 18 years, bought a house on a golf course in Dahlonega, Ga., about a 45-minute drive away, 10 years ago. They still go back to that house about once a month so Mr. Bell can hit the links. Then in 2006, satisfying Mrs. Bell's long-held desire for a wellness center and clinic for her counseling work, the couple bought this 4,000-square-foot, one-bedroom house on 1½ acres for $275,000.

They took more than two years renovating it, spending a couple of hundred thousand dollars installing plumbing and electrical work, refinishing the floors and painting the walls in dark greens and yellows. A similar-style but larger five-bedroom home down the street is for sale for $599,000.

Come January, when Widespread Panic will take a break for at least a year, Mr. Bell plans to spend most of his time gardening and hanging out in Clarkesville. "Keeping your life balanced is very nurturing to music. The band can't be my total identity. I still enjoy being on the road. It is still fulfilling," he said. "But here it is more working in the garden, hanging out with Laura and working on music at a leisurely pace. I like to let songs come to me at their own pace. I try to stay calm about it."


"It turns the focus on them instead of John. It's disarming to them," she said. The Bells charge $44 for a two-hour session in the room, but said they don't make a profit from the wellness center. Rates at the clinic are sliding scale depending on financial need, and most customers are from the local community.

Most members of Widespread Panic haven't been to the house—and only their tour manager, Steve Lopez, is enthusiastic about the energy room. Recently, when on the road, Mr. Lopez and Mr. Bell spent time in an energy room in Hollywood. "We need it. There are times when our work makes us really stressed out," Mr. Lopez said.

Write to Nancy Keates at