The Allman Brothers Band
is a Southern rock band based in Macon, Georgia, United States. The band was formed in Jacksonville, Florida in 1969 by brothers Duane Allman (slide guitar and lead guitar) and Gregg Allman (vocals, organ). While the band has been called the "principal architects of Southern rock" [1], they also incorporate elements of blues-rock and hard rock, and their live shows have jam band-style improvisation and instrumental songs.
In 1971, George Kimball of the Rolling Stone Magazine
hailed them as "the best damn rock and roll band" of "the past five years." [2] The band has been awarded eleven Gold and five Platinum albums between 1971 and 2005. [3] Rolling Stone
ranked them 52nd on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time in 2004. [4] The band continues to record and tour to the present day.
|
THE ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND TICKETS
|
Band history
Beginnings
thumb and
Duane Allman performing with
The Allman Brothers Band live at the
Fillmore East,
September 23,
1970
The band was formed in
Jacksonville, Florida on
March 26,
1969, and consisted of
Duane Allman (
slide guitar and
lead guitar),
Gregg Allman (vocals,
organ),
Dickey Betts (
lead guitar,
rhythm guitar, vocals),
Berry Oakley (
bass),
Butch Trucks (
drums) and
Jai Johanny "Jaimoe" Johanson (
Drums).
The actual Allman brothers, Duane and Gregg, grew up in
Daytona Beach, Florida, and had been playing music publicly since the early 1960s. They formed a
garage band called the Escorts in 1963, which then evolved into the
Allman Joys in 1965.
[5] From there the brothers formed
The Hour Glass and moved to
Los Angeles. The Hour Glass released two failed albums from
Liberty Records in 1967 and 1968.
[6] They were all released from the contract except Gregg, who Liberty thought might have some commercial potential.
Gregg and Duane had previously met Butch Trucks and his band the
The 31st of February while touring as the Allman Joys, and decided to record an album with them in September 1968, shortly after the breakup of The Hour Glass. This album was eventually released as
Duane & Greg Allman
on the Bold Records label in 1972. Duane Allman played on
Wilson Pickett's hit version of "
Hey Jude" and became the primary session guitarist for
FAME Studios in
Muscle Shoals, Alabama, recording with
Aretha Franklin,
King Curtis,
Percy Sledge, and others.
Allman started jamming with Dickey Betts, Butch Trucks and Berry Oakley in Jacksonville.
Eddie Hinton, with whom Duane Allman had played in Muscle Shoals, was considered to play guitar, but Hinton refused in order to join the Muscle Shoals studio band. Duane brought in Jaimoe, a drummer he had played with in the past. Gregg was in
Los Angeles, fulfilling the Hour Glass contract with Liberty Records. He was summoned back to Jacksonville.
The Allman Brothers Band played numerous shows in the South before releasing their debut album,
The Allman Brothers Band
to great critical acclaim, though the blues-rock album found few listeners, attracting only a cult following. Most of the record had a blues-rock sound, but "Dreams", a spacy number in 12/8 time, would provide the framework for some of their live jams.
Idlewild South
(1970), the followup, produced by
Tom Dowd, was a massive critical success, and managed to be quite lucrative, as well. The upbeat "Revival" and the moody-but-resolute "
Midnight Rider" showed the band getting more adept at shorter, radio-friendly song forms. (It was after the release of
Idlewild South
that Duane Allman joined in the recording of the classic
Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs
with
Eric Clapton's
Derek and the Dominos group.)
1971 saw the release of a live album,
At Fillmore East
, recorded on Friday and Saturday
March 12 and
March 13 of that year at the legendary rock venue the
Fillmore East. The album was another huge hit.
Rolling Stone
listed as one of Rolling Stone’s
[7]. It showcased the band's unique mixture of
jazz,
classical music,
hard rock, and
blues, with arrangements propelled by Duane's and Betts' dual lead guitars, Oakley's long, melodic "third guitar" bass runs, the rhythm section's pervasively percussive yet dynamically flexible foundation, and Gregg Allman's gritty
Ray Charles-like vocals and piano/organ play which all completed the band's wall of sound. The rendition of
Blind Willie McTell's "
Statesboro Blues" was a straight-ahead opener, the powerful "
Whipping Post" (with its famous 11/8 bass opening) became the standard for an epic jam that never lost interest, while the ethereal-to-furious "
In Memory of Elizabeth Reed" invited comparisons to
John Coltrane and
Miles Davis [8] [9] and the complex and surpassingly subtle rhythms in the driving "
One Way Out" kept beat-counters, as well as all others, at once puzzled and mesmerized.
The Allman Brothers were the last act to play the Fillmore East before it closed in June 1971. The final shows achieved legendary status, partly due to bands literally playing all night; in 2005 Gregg Allman would relate how the jamming musicians lost track of time, not realizing it was dawn until the side doors of the Fillmore were opened and the morning light poured in.
The band continued to tour; decades later, a special-order recording of one of their final concerts in this lineup,
S.U.N.Y. at Stonybrook: Stonybrook, NY 9/19/71
, would be released.
It reveals that Duane Allman's slide guitar playing on "Dreams" and other songs was touching the farthest reaches of both that instrument and his imagination.
[10]
Loss and triumph
Duane Allman died not long after the
Fillmore East
album was certified gold, killed in a motorcycle accident on
October 29,
1971 in Macon, Georgia (at the intersection of Hillcrest and Bartlett) when he collided with the rear of a flatbed truck carrying heavy pipe that had turned in front of him. The group decided to carry on. The album continued to gain
FM radio airplay, with stations even playing 13-minute and 23-minute selections.
Dickey Betts filled Duane's former role in completing the last album Duane participated in,
Eat a Peach
, released in February 1972. The album was often softer ("
Blue Sky", "
Little Martha") and wistful in tone ("
Melissa", "
Ain't Wastin' Time No More"), capped by the 34-minute "
Mountain Jam" reverie taken from the Fillmore East concerts. Writer
Greil Marcus described parts of
Eat a Peach
as an "after-the-rain celebration... ageless, seamless... front-porch music stolen from the utopia of shared southern memory."
The group played some concerts as a five-man band, then decided to add
Chuck Leavell, a pianist, to gain another lead instrument but without, however, directly replacing Duane. This new configuration debuted on
November 2,
1972, on
ABC's
In Concert
late-night television program.
Days later, on
November 11,
1972, Berry Oakley died from head injuries he received in another motorcycle accident near Napier Avenue and Inverness Street, only three blocks from the site of Duane's accident the previous year. The common retelling that it was at the exact same site as Duane's death is incorrect, as is the legend that the
Eat a Peach
album is named for what was being carried by the truck involved in Allman's accident.
[11]
Oakley was replaced by
Lamar Williams at the end of 1972, in time to finish the next album,
Brothers and Sisters
, released in August 1973.
Dickey Betts was becoming the group's unofficial leader.
Brothers and Sisters
included the group's best known hits, "
Ramblin' Man" and "
Jessica", both written by Betts; the former reached #2 on the
Billboard Hot 100 as a single, while the latter was a seven-minute instrumental hit.
The Allman Brothers Band had become one of the top concert draws in the country. Probably their most celebrated performance of the era took place on July 28, 1973 at the
Summer Jam at Watkins Glen outside
Watkins Glen, New York, in a joint appearance with
The Grateful Dead and
The Band. An estimated 600,000 people made it to the
racetrack where this massive outdoor festival took place.
In the wake of the Allman Brothers Band's success, many other
Southern rock groups rose to prominence, including the
Marshall Tucker Band (who played as the Allman Brothers Band's opening act for many shows on their 1973 tour) and
Lynyrd Skynyrd.
Another peak of the Allmans' success came on New Year's Eve, 1973, when promoter
Bill Graham arranged for a nationwide radio broadcast of their concert from
San Francisco's
Cow Palace. New arrangements of familiar tunes such as "You Don't Love Me" went out over the airwaves, as the show stretched out over three sets, with
Boz Scaggs sitting in, along with
Grateful Dead members
Jerry Garcia and
Bill Kreutzmann (Allmans and Grateful Dead members guested at each other's shows multiple times in the early 1970s).
Turmoil and dissolution
Personality conflicts started to tear the band apart, however. Gregg Allman and Dickey Betts both began solo careers, while Allman married
Cher, separated quickly, reconciled, and eventually separated again, all in a storm of publicity;
drug abuse took its toll on the entire band. Musically, Betts and Leavell were pulling in opposite directions, with Allman trying to mediate.
The tension resulted in the uneven
Win, Lose or Draw
(1975), with some members not participating on all tracks or doing so only from afar. The few stand-out tracks included a stop-start take on
Muddy Waters' "Can't Lose What You Never Had", Betts' instrumental "High Falls", and Allman's
Jackson Browne-influenced title song.
The band managed to limp along until 1976, when Gregg Allman was arrested on federal drug charges and agreed to testify against a friend and tour manager and bodyguard for the band, John "Scooter" Herring. Leavell, Johanson, and Williams formed
Sea Level, while Betts worked on his solo career. All four swore that they would never work with Allman again.
Meanwhile, Capricorn Records released a compilation album,
The Road Goes On Forever
, and a poorly received live album,
Wipe the Windows, Check the Oil, Dollar Gas
. Neither sold very well.
The group reformed in 1978 and released the strong
Enlightened Rogues
(1979). It featured new members
Dan Toler (guitar) and
David "Rook" Goldflies (bass), who replaced Leavell and Williams, both of whom concentrated on Sea Level instead. "Crazy Love" was a minor hit single, and the instrumental "
Pegasus" got some airplay, but overall The Allman Brothers Band was no longer as popular as before, and financial woes plagued both the group and Capricorn Records, which collapsed in 1979.
PolyGram took over the catalogue, and the Allman Brothers Band signed to
Arista Records. The group released a pair of critically-slammed albums, firing Jaimoe in the process, and then disbanded once again in early 1982.
Allman quickly formed the
Gregg Allman Band with the Toler brothers in 1982 and began touring small venues and clubs. Betts, Leavell, Trucks and Goldflies formed the band Betts Hall Leavell Trucks (
BHLT). Neither garnered attention from any record labels. BHLT would dissolve two years later.
The Allman Brothers Band reunited in 1986 for a pair of benefit concerts for promoter Bill Graham in New York and Macon. Allman, Betts, Trucks, Jaimoe, Leavell, and Dan Toler performed together but no subsequent reunion plans for the band were made. The following year, the Gregg Allman Band and the Dickey Betts Band co-headlined a theatre and club tour. After each band played a set of music, Betts, Allman and the Tolers performed a closing set of Allman Brothers music together.
In 1987,
Epic Records signed both Allman and Betts to separate solo contracts. The Gregg Allman Band had a surprise FM hit single with
the title track to the 1987 album
I'm No Angel
.
Just Before the Bullets Fly
quickly followed from Allman in 1988. The Dickey Betts Band was also formed during this time and released the album
Pattern Disruptive
in 1988. This series of collaboration among bandmembers and interest from a major label during the late 1980s laid the groundwork for next era of Allman Brothers Band activity and success.
Revival
In 1989 The Allman Brothers reunited and returned to popular consciousness of the American public, spurred by Gregg's recent FM radio success, the release of archival material by PolyGram, and the start of regular appearances on the American summer outdoor amphitheatre circuit.
Warren Haynes (guitar, vocals),
Johnny Neel (keyboards and harmonica), and
Allen Woody (bass guitar) joined originals Allman, Betts, Jaimoe and Trucks. Leavell opted to go on tour again with
the Rolling Stones, with whom he has been a touring member since 1982.
thumb,
bass guitarist, 2005
After the 20th Anniversary tour, the band signed to Epic Records and released
Seven Turns
(1990), which got excellent reviews. This was followed by Neel's departure and a series of moderately-selling, but critically well-received albums including
Shades Of Two Worlds
(1991) and
Where It All Begins
(
1994, certified Gold by the RIAA
1998), both featuring new percussionist
Marc Quiñones. Warren Haynes and Allen Woody formed their own side project
Gov't Mule in 1994. In 1995, the band was inducted into the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and in 1996 they won the
Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance for "
Jessica". When Haynes and Woody decided to concentrate full-time on Gov't Mule in 1997, Haynes was replaced on guitar by
Jack Pearson, while Woody was replaced on bass by
Oteil Burbridge.
Derek Trucks, nephew of original Brother Butch Trucks, replaced Pearson in 1999.
In 2000, the band forced Dickey Betts out for "personal and professional reasons." For this tour, he was replaced by
Jimmy Herring. Betts then filed a lawsuit against the other three original members and the summer separation turned into a permanent divorce. Also in 2000, former bassist Allen Woody was found dead on August 26th. The band did release the live CD
Peakin' at the Beacon
that year which chronicled the now-annual March tradition of a many-night stand at the
Beacon Theater in New York City. The band has sold out the 2900-seat Upper West Side Manhattan theatre 188 times since 1989. The tradition is known as the "Beacon Run" among fans, who travel from across the United States, Canada and Western Europe to see these annual March and April shows.
Still playing
thumb playing
slide guitar, 2006
Warren Haynes began appearing with the Allmans again in 2000 and rejoined full-time in 2001, while also maintaining his active schedule with Gov't Mule. (Haynes also toured extensively in 2004 and 2009 with former members of the
Grateful Dead in their band
the Dead.) Haynes' return marked a new period of stability and productivity for the band after nearly four years of lineup shifts. The Haynes-produced
Hittin' the Note
was released in 2003 to popular and critical acclaim, as was the
Live At the Beacon Theatre
DVD film (2003, certified Platinum 2004). The live CD
One Way Out
(2004) also chronicled the Beacon concerts.
The Allman Brothers garnered back to back
Grammy Award nominations in 2003 and 2004 in the category of
Best Rock Instrumental for performances of "Instrumental Illness" from
Hittin' The Note
and
One Way Out
. In 2003,
Rolling Stone
magazine named Duane Allman, Warren Haynes, Dickey Betts, and Derek Trucks to their list of
[12], with Allman coming in at #2 and Trucks being the youngest guitarist on their list.
The Warren Haynes and Derek Trucks lineup continued the band's connection with younger music fans via concert pairings with popular
jam bands
The String Cheese Incident,
moe, and
Dave Matthews Band among others. The Allman Brothers were a major attraction at the
Bonnaroo Music Festival in 2003 and 2005. Since 2005, the Allmans have staged their own two day
Wanee Music Festival at the
Spirit of Suwanee Music Park in
Live Oak, Florida. The Allmans, Gov't Mule and The Derek Trucks Band perform on different stages along with younger roots artists including the
North Mississippi Allstars,
Robert Randolph and The Family Band,
Medeski, Martin and Wood,
Devon Allman's Honeytribe,
Nickel Creek,
Mofro and others.
Allman Brothers songs have been used in various advertising campaigns and television programs, with the most well-known use being that of "Jessica" used in both the
1977 and
2002 formats of the
BBC television series
Top Gear
.
The band cancelled their Beacon run for 2008 due to Gregg Allman recovering from
hepatitis C treatments,
but they were back on the road that summer for the amphitheater circuit. On November 20, 2008, The Allman Brothers Band received the Legend Of Live Award at
Billboard's 2008 Touring Awards ceremony in New York.
[13] The award recognized "a touring professional who has had a significant and lasting impact on the concert industry."
[14] At the ceremony, Gregg Allman talked about his brother Duane, saying: "It happens to be today would have been his 62nd birthday and I'm sure he's looking down on this and is really proud of us. We'll keep coming back until we can't come back no more."
The Allman Brothers Band celebrated their 40th anniversary in 2009.
That year's Beacon run also marked the 20th anniversary of their appearances in that venue; and the band focused on paying tribute to Duane, inviting guest appearances from those who had played with him.
[15] The 15-night stand was considered to be the best Beacon run of all,
highlighted by two nights of the first-ever stage appearance of
Eric Clapton with the band and performances of numbers from
Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs
.
[16] Guests on other nights included everyone from members of the
Grateful Dead to members of
Phish and represented genres from bluesman
Buddy Guy to jazz great
Lenny White to rap-rock-country eccentric
Kid Rock.
On March 26, three days after the actual anniversary of the band's 1969 forming, what's been known as the "Legendary Jacksonville Jam", the band featured no guests but performed their first two albums in their entirety.
Awards and recognition
- Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance, 1996, "Jessica"
- Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, 1995
- Rolling Stone
Magazine's "Greatest...of All Time" lists:
- * 100 Greatest Artists of All Time (2004): #52 [17]
- * 500 Greatest Albums of All Time (2003): #49 for At Fillmore East
[18]
- * 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time (2003):
- ** #2 Duane Allman [19]
- ** #23 Warren Haynes [20]
- ** #58 Dickey Betts [21]
- ** #81 Derek Trucks [22]
Discography
Lineups
(1969-1971)
|
- Gregg Allman
- organ, piano, guitar, vocals
- Duane Allman
- guitar, slide guitar
- Dickey Betts
- guitar, slide guitar, vocals
- Berry Oakley
- bass, vocals
- Butch Trucks
- drums, tympani
- Jai Johanny "Jaimoe" Johanson
- drums, percussion
|
(1971-1972)
|
- Gregg Allman
- organ, piano, guitar, vocals
- Dickey Betts
- guitar, slide guitar, vocals
- Berry Oakley
- bass, vocals
- Butch Trucks
- drums, tympani
- Jai Johanny "Jaimoe" Johanson
- drums, percussion
|
(1972)
|
- Gregg Allman
- organ, piano, guitar, vocals
- Dickey Betts
- guitar, slide guitar, vocals
- Berry Oakley
- bass, vocals
- Butch Trucks
- drums, tympani
- Jai Johanny "Jaimoe" Johanson
- drums, percussion
- Chuck Leavell - piano, synthesizer, background vocals
|
(1972-1976)
|
- Gregg Allman
- organ, piano, guitar, vocals
- Dickey Betts
- guitar, slide guitar, vocals
- Butch Trucks
- drums, tympani
- Jai Johanny "Jaimoe" Johanson
- drums, percussion
- Chuck Leavell - piano, synthesizer, background vocals
- Lamar Williams - bass, vocals
|
(1978-1980)
|
- Gregg Allman
- organ, piano, guitar, vocals
- Dickey Betts
- guitar, slide guitar, vocals
- Butch Trucks
- drums, tympani
- Jai Johanny "Jaimoe" Johanson
- drums, percussion
- Dan Toler - Guitar
- David Goldflies - bass
|
(1980-1982)
|
- Gregg Allman
- organ, piano, guitar, vocals
- Dickey Betts
- guitar, slide guitar, vocals
- Butch Trucks
- drums, tympani
- Dan Toler - Guitar
- David Goldflies - bass
- David "Frankie" Toler - Drums
- Mike Lawler - Keyboards
|
(1989-1990)
|
- Gregg Allman
- organ, piano, guitar, vocals
- Dickey Betts
- guitar, slide guitar, vocals
- Butch Trucks
- drums, tympani
- Jai Johanny "Jaimoe" Johanson
- drums, percussion
- Warren Haynes - guitar, slide guitar, vocals
- Allen Woody - bass, background vocals
- Johnny Neel - keyboards, harmonica
|
(1991-1997)
|
- Gregg Allman
- organ, piano, guitar, vocals
- Dickey Betts
- guitar, slide guitar, vocals
- Butch Trucks
- drums, tympani
- Jai Johanny "Jaimoe" Johanson
- drums, percussion
- Warren Haynes - guitar, slide guitar, vocals
- Allen Woody - bass, background vocals
- Marc Quiñones - drums, percussion, background vocals
|
(1997-1999)
|
- Gregg Allman
- organ, piano, guitar, vocals
- Dickey Betts
- guitar, slide guitar, vocals
- Butch Trucks
- drums, tympani
- Jai Johanny "Jaimoe" Johanson
- drums, percussion
- Marc Quiñones - drums, percussion, background vocals
- Oteil Burbridge - bass, vocals
- Jack Pearson - guitar, vocals
|
(1999-2000)
|
- Gregg Allman
- organ, piano, guitar, vocals
- Dickey Betts
- guitar, slide guitar, vocals
- Butch Trucks
- drums, tympani
- Jai Johanny "Jaimoe" Johanson
- drums, percussion
- Marc Quiñones - drums, percussion, background vocals
- Oteil Burbridge - bass, vocals
- Derek Trucks - guitar, slide guitar
|
(2000)
|
- Gregg Allman
- organ, piano, guitar, vocals
- Butch Trucks
- drums, tympani
- Jai Johanny "Jaimoe" Johanson
- drums, percussion
- Marc Quiñones - drums, percussion, background vocals
- Oteil Burbridge - bass, vocals
- Derek Trucks - guitar, slide guitar
- Jimmy Herring - guitar
|
(2001-present)
|
- Gregg Allman
- organ, piano, guitar, vocals
- Butch Trucks
- drums, tympani
- Jai Johanny "Jaimoe" Johanson
- drums, percussion
- Warren Haynes - guitar, slide guitar, vocals
- Marc Quiñones - drums, percussion, background vocals
- Oteil Burbridge - bass, vocals
- Derek Trucks - guitar, slide guitar
|
Live/Studio Musicians:
|
- Thom Doucette - Harmonica and Percussion(for the At Fillmore East concert and various albums)
- Rudolph "Juici" Carter - Saxophone (for the At Fillmore East concert)
- Bobby Caldwell - Percussion(for the At Fillmore East concert)
- Elvin Bishop - Vocals(for the At Fillmore East concert)
- Steve Miller - Piano(for the At Fillmore East concert)
- Les Dudek - Lead and Acoustic Guitar on Brothers and Sisters
- Johnny Sandlin - Acoustic Guitar, Percussion on Win, Lose or Draw
- Bill Stewart - Percussion on Win, Lose or Draw
- Joe Lala - Percussion on Enlightened Rogues
- Jim Essery - Harmonica on Enlightened Rogues
- Bonnie Bramlett - Backing Vocals on Enlightened Rogues
|
Samples
below =
Problems listening to this file? See media help.