The Allman Brothers
Ramblin’ Men For 45 Years
by Otis Stokes
Live albums are not usually a recipe for success, but in the
case of the Allman Brothers Band, their 1971 breakthrough
record, “Live At Fillmore East,” not only got their career
cooking, it is considered among the best live albums of
all-time and was later selected for preservation in the
Library of Congress, deemed “culturally, historically, or
aesthetically important” by the National Recording Registry.
I’m pretty sure that’s not how Greg and Duane Allman had it
mapped out when they both picked up the guitar as boys in
Daytona, Florida.
Greg started playing first, then Duane picked it up and
quickly surpassed his brother when he dropped out of high
school to practice constantly. Their first band was called
the “Escorts,” which evolved into the “Allman Joys” in the
mid-60s. When an African-American friend introduced Gregg to
soul music, they began to incorporate it into their sound.
In 1967, the group spent time in St. Louis, where a Los
Angeles based recording executive discovered them; they
consequently moved out West and were renamed the “Hour
Glass,” cutting two unsuccessful albums for Liberty
Records.
A “bummed out” Duane decided to move back and pursue a
career as a session musician in Muscle Shoals, Alabama,
while Gregg stayed behind in Hollywood bound by contractual
obligations with Liberty, who believed he could build a solo
career. At Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals, Duane Allman
became the primary session guitarist, recording with artists
such as Aretha Franklin and King Curtis. Duane suggested to
Wilson Pickett they record a cover of “Hey Jude” by the
Beatles, the single went to number 23 on the national
charts.
Fame signed Duane to a five year recording contract, and he
put together a group, including Johnny Sandlin and Paul
Hornsby. He then recruited Jai Johanny Johanson (Jaimoe)
after hearing his drumming on a songwriting demo of Jackie
Avery, and the drummer moved into his home on the Tennessee
River. Allman invited bassist Berry Oakley to jam with the
new group, the pair had met in a Jacksonville, Florida club
some time earlier and became fast friends. The group had
immediate chemistry, and Duane’s vision for a “different”
band, one with two lead guitarists and two drummers, began
evolving.
Duane and Jaimoe moved to Jacksonville in early March 1969,
as Duane had become frustrated with being a “robot” of those
at Fame. A series of jam sessions lead to the forming of the
lineup that would become the “Allman Brothers Band.” Dickey
Betts joined as the second lead guitarist, Butch Trucks came
on as the second drummer along with keyboardist Reese
Wynans.
Duane felt strongly that his brother should be the vocalist
of the new group and invited Gregg, who made it to
Jacksonville and entered rehearsal on March 26, 1969, when
the group was rehearsing “Trouble No More” by Muddy Waters.
Although initially intimidated by the musicians, Duane
pressured his brother into “into singing his guts out.” With
the addition of Gregg, that eliminated Wynans because Gregg
also played keyboards. After kicking around several
different names, the six-piece band finally decided on the
“Allman Brothers Band.”
The group moved to Macon, Georgia forged a strong
brotherhood, spending countless hours rehearsing, consuming
psychedelic drugs, and hanging out in Rose Hill Cemetery,
where they would write songs. In need of more material, the
group remade old blues numbers like “Trouble No More” and
“One Way Out,” in addition to improvised jams such as
“Mountain Jam.” Gregg, who had struggled to write in the
past, became the band’s sole songwriter, composing such
staple songs as “Whipping Post” and “Black-Hearted
Woman.”
The band set off for New York City in August 1969, where
they had planned to work with Cream and John Coltrane
producer Tom Dowd, but they were unavailable at that time.
Atlantic house engineer Adrian Barber stepped in to record
the sessions for his first producer credit. “The Allman
Brothers Band” was recorded and mixed in two weeks, and
recording was a positive experience for the ensemble. The
eponymous album was released in November 1969 through Atco
and Capricorn Records, but received a poor commercial
response, selling less than 35,000 copies upon initial
release.
After the failed album, the band started to play live
constantly performing over 300 dates and the crowds grew
bigger from word-of-mouth. Traveling in a Winnebago brought
about heavy drug use within the group, and although working
often, the Allmans were the only two not struggling
financially. The lack of money led touring member Twiggs
Lyndon to stab and kill a promoter for not paying the band,
he would claim temporary insanity.
Later that year, Duane accidentally overdosed on opium after
a show. Their follow-up LP “Idlewild South,” produced by Tom
Dowd, was recorded gradually over a period of five months in
various cities, including New York, Miami, and Macon, and
contained two of the band’s best-known songs, “Midnight
Rider” (later a hit for various artists) and “In Memory of
Elizabeth Reed,” which became one of the group’s most
popular concert numbers. The album was slightly more
successful than the previous album, but not enough to
establish them. The band’s fortunes would finally change
over the course of 1971, where their average earnings
doubled. “We realized that the audience was a big part of
what we did, which couldn’t be duplicated in a studio. A
light bulb finally went off, we needed to make a live
album,” said Gregg Allman.
“At Fillmore East” was recorded over three nights (March 11,
12, and 13, 1971) at the Fillmore East in New York, for
which the band was paid $1,250 per night. “At Fillmore East”
was released in July 1971 by Capricorn Records as a double
album, for the cost of a single LP. While previous albums by
the band had taken months to hit the charts (often near the
bottom of the top 200), the record started to climb the
charts after a matter of days. “At Fillmore East” peaked at
#13 on Billboard’s Top Pop Albums chart, and was certified
gold by the Recording Industry Association of America that
October, becoming their commercial and artistic
breakthrough.
Now suddenly very wealthy and successful, much of the band
and its entourage now struggled with heroin addiction. Four
individuals, group leader Duane Allman, bassist Berry
Oakley, and roadies Robert Payne and Joseph “Red Dog”
Campbell, checked into the Linwood-Bryant Hospital for
rehabilitation in October 1971.
On October 29, 1971, Duane Allman, then 24, was killed in a
motorcycle accident one day after returning to Macon. After
Duane’s death, the band held a meeting on their future, it
was clear everybody wanted to continue, and after a short
period, the band returned to the road. “We all had this
thing in us and Duane put it there. He was the teacher and
he gave something to us, his disciples, that we had to play
out,” said drummer Butch Trucks. The band returned to Miami
in December to complete work on their third studio album.
Completing the recording of “Eat A Peach” raised each
member’s spirits, “The music brought life back to us all,
and it was simultaneously realized by every one of us. We
found strength, vitality, newness, reason, and belonging as
we worked on finishing the album,” said Allman.
Released in February 1972, “Eat A Peach” was the band’s
second hit album, shipping gold and peaking at #4 on
Billboard’s Top 200 Pop Albums chart. Tragedy would strike
the band again the following year when Berry Oakley, who was
visibly suffering from the death of his friend, began to
drink excessively consuming drugs, and was losing weight
quickly. According to friends and family, he appeared to
have lost “all hope, his heart, his drive, his ambition, and
his direction,” following Duane’s death. On November 11,
1972, slightly inebriated and overjoyed at the prospect of
leading a jam session later that night, Oakley crashed his
motorcycle into the side of a bus, just three blocks from
where Duane had been killed in a bike accident. He declined
hospital treatment and went home, but gradually grew
delirious. He was taken to the hospital shortly thereafter
and died of cerebral swelling caused by a fractured skull.
Oakley was buried directly beside Duane at Rose Hill
Cemetery in Macon, Georgia. Ironically, the same place the
band used to hang out and write songs.
The band unanimously decided to carry on and arrange
auditions for new bassists, with a renewed fervor and
determination. Several bassists auditioned, but the band
picked Lamar Williams, an old friend of drummer Jai Johanny
Johanson’s from Gulfport, Mississippi, two years removed
from an Army stint in Vietnam. At that point, Dickey Betts
had become the group’s primary leader during the recording
process. “It’s not like Dickey came in and said, ‘I’m taking
over. I’m the boss. Do this and that.’ It wasn’t overt; it
was still supposedly a democracy, but Dickey started doing
more and more of the songwriting,” said road manager Willie
Perkins.
“Brothers And Sisters” was an enormous success, peaking at
#1, resulting in the band becoming “the most popular band in
the country.” “Ramblin’ Man,” Betts’ country-infused number,
was added to radio stations immediately, and it rose to #2
on the Billboard Hot 100. With the band now commanding
$100,000 per show, there was less friendship and more
miscommunication and spiraling drug problems.
In 1974, the band began renting “The Starship,” a customized
Boeing 720B used by Led Zeppelin and the Rolling Stones.
“When we got that goddamn plane, it was the beginning of the
end,” said Allman. The sessions that produced 1975’s “Win,
Lose Or Draw,” the last album by the original Allman
Brothers Band, were disjointed and inconsistent. Gregg
Allman was largely living in Los Angeles and dating pop star
Cher, while becoming more famous for being famous than for
his music. His vocals were recorded in L.A., as he could not
be bothered to return to Macon much.
Upon its release, it was considered subpar and sold less
than its predecessor; the band later remarked that they were
“embarrassed” about the album. This led to the band’s
eventual break up. Betts formed the band, “Great Southern,”
and Allman founded the “Gregg Allman Band.” With many
“Allman Brothers Band” reunions of various members over the
subsequent years, as well as recordings, the band always
managed to tour.
In 2000, an eight-show spring tour at the Beacon Theater in
New York led to even more strained relations in the group.
“It had ceased to be a band, everything had to be based
around what Dickey was playing,” said Allman. Anger boiled
over within the group towards Betts, which led to all
original members sending him a letter, informing him of
their intentions to tour without him for the summer. Betts
responded by hiring a lawyer and suing the group, which led
to a permanent breakup. “I had no idea that I would be
snapped out of the picture. I thought it was cruel and
impersonal,” said Betts.
Allman was finally sober and felt any more miserable shows
with Betts would be a waste of time. Betts later received a
cash settlement, which is subject to a confidentiality
agreement. The band continued to tour throughout the 2000s,
remaining a top touring act, regularly attracting more than
20,000 fans. The decade closed with another successful run
at the Beacon Theater, in celebration of the band’s 40th
anniversary. The run featured numerous special guests,
including Eric Clapton, which all in the band regarded as
the most “special” guest, due to his association with
Duane.
Allman had a liver transplant in 2010, and suffered health
setbacks for the following two years. He went to rehab in
2012 for addiction following his medical treatments. The
band played another run at the Beacon in 2013 per tradition,
and then continued to tour. In 2014, Haynes and Derek Trucks
announced their decision to depart the group at the end of
the year. The group intended their 2014 run of Beacon shows
to be their last, but the residency was cut short when
Allman developed bronchitis.
Finally, The Allman Brothers Band performed its last show on
October 28, 2014 at the Beacon Theater. During this historic
final performance, in a low, shy voice, Gregg recalled the
date, March 26th, 1969, in Jacksonville, Florida, when he
first sang with the original lineup, started by his older
brother, guitarist Duane Allman. “Never did I have any idea
it would come to this,” Gregg added.
Then the band would one last time strike up Muddy Waters’
“Trouble No More,” the opening number at that ‘69 jam
session. “It felt like church,” guitarist Derek Trucks
recalls, still awe-struck, two days later. “When Gregg
stepped up, it went from this roar to total silence. From
the first rehearsal, I was thinking, ‘How are we going to
end this?’” Derek’s uncle, founding drummer Butch Trucks,
had suggested the Waters song. “But nothing else was
scripted,’ Derek adds. “The idea was one of us would say
something. Then onstage, no one’s jumping. So it was like,
‘OK, Gregg, hit it.’” And hit it they did, by playing into
the early hours of October 29th, the Allmans’ concluded
their life on the road on the anniversary of Duane’s death
in a 1971 motorcycle crash.
The one fence left un-mended, unfortunately, was the
Allmans’ relationship with original guitarist Dickey Betts,
who was fired after years of mounting tensions. Derek
reveals that there was “a lot of communication between his
camp and our camp” about Betts joining the group onstage at
the Beacon, “right up to rehearsal, even during the show
week,” but to no avail. Each side, Derek claims, let the
notion die. Ultimately, Betts was represented on the 28th by
the Allmans’ performance of his compositions “Revival” and
“Blue Sky” and Derek and Haynes’ exquisite, haunting guitar
harmonies in Betts’ signature instrumental, “In Memory Of
Elizabeth Reed.” During the night’s intermissions, a video
screen displayed a message: “The road indeed goes on
forever. So stay calm, eat a peach and carry on…” After 45
years, I guess that just about says it all.