I have lived in Atlanta for the last 35 years and I have several friends with that same accent. Very few people in Atlanta have a Southern accents because they are mostly transplants. One friend is from N.C. and sounds exactly like her.
Georgia is full of different regional southern accents, and this one, although not too common, can definitely be heard here in the south. Some people here find it charming and others hate it.
I have encountered this in Pine Bluff Arkansas, too.