I listened to late Allman Brothers Band so you don’t have to.
45 years of making music, breaking up, getting back together with new brothers, and doing it all over again.
The Allman Brothers Band had a 45 year long career, and to stop listening after the 15 year mark felt like throwing in the towel. I started to lose interest after the album Brothers and Sisters because the sound became more country / honkytonk to me, which was the vision of guitarist Dickey Betts. I can acknowledge that Dickey Betts was the real deal without loving his music. I feel that way about Taylor Swift’s folklore album tbh.
The original design of this blog was to give an artist two weeks and report back, but I gave ABB an extra week to find out once and for all…
Is there any ABB worth listening to past 1973?
The short answer is: yes, for the die-hard fans.
It all started to fall apart after Win, Lose or Draw, and although the 1976 live album Wipe the Windows, Check the Oil, Dollar Gas had some decent moments, somewhere around here they broke up (the first time). Too many drugs, and too much togetherness. Too much tension between Gregg and Dickey in the absence of their leader Duane.
The spin-off series.
They all responded to the breakup in the same way: they formed new bands.
Dickey Betts formed Great Southern.
Gregg formed the Gregg Allman Band.
Jaimoe + Chuck Leavell + Lamar Williams formed a band called Sea Level.
And they all put out albums in 1977.
I listened to Sea Level by the way, and I enjoyed it more than late ABB.
The comeback album.
Then they got back together. Well, most of them.
Die hard fans will recognize Enlightened Rogues as somewhat of a comeback album, and there are 3 good indicators that ABB were back in business.
Catchy Betts tune: “Can’t Take It With You”
Instrumental: “Pegasus”
Gregg singing the blues: “Need Your Love So Bad”
But things got hairy not too far after this comeback album when the band fired Jaimoe. If ever a time for an angry emoji, this was it. The grounds? His wife, Candace, was the sister of deceased Berry Oakley and they said wives and business didn’t mix. TWO angry emojis.
Any illusion that the brotherhood had not been strained to the point of breaking by this time was shattered by the band’s decision to fire Jaimoe and replace him with Toler’s brother Frankie, who had been a member of Betts’s Great Southern. The key issue, Jaimoe says today, was his insistence on having his then-wife and manager Candace Oakley, Berry’s sister, handle all of his business affairs. Paul, Alan. One Way Out (p. 256). St. Martin's Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
The side characters with main character energy.
Here’s one cool thing about listening to late ABB. You get exposed to lots of cool musicians. Notably Chuck Leavell (keyboards, active 1972 - 1976) and Derek Trucks (slide guitar, lead guitar, active 1999 - 2004).
Chuck Leavell entered the scene on the album Brothers and Sisters and shreds like nobody’s business. He had a connection with Jaimoe which is heard on the Sea Level album as well. Although Chuck chose not to rejoin ABB when they got back together for Enlightened Rogues, he stayed on good terms and made guest appearances for years thereafter.
Derek Trucks was the nephew of drummer and founding member, Butch Trucks. Derek learned slide at a young age listening to Duane, and started gigging as early as age 11. He would play ball outside the clubs until it was time for him to go on stage because he wasn’t old enough to be admitted inside. He brought echoes of Duane when he became a brother in 1999. He toured and performed for 5 years, and played for the final studio album Hittin’ the Note (2004). He broke off and formed the Tedeschi Trucks Band, with his wife, Susan Tedeschi. This group is active today.
Oh, and Gov’t Mule— the 1994 side project formed by two Allman Brothers, guitarist Warren Haynes and bassist Allen Woody. I haven’t listened to them yet but fans of ABB have told me to pass it on.
The memories.
The perfect way to close out my journey was with Hittin’ the Note, the only studio album without any Dickey Betts involvement. Gregg has some wonderful songwriting credits on this album, and my favorite example of this is “Old Before My Time”.
There is a long hard road
That follows far behind me
It's so cold I'm about to die
Chasing a dream around the world
That's got me feeling down
Though it used to make me high
Lookin' for answers
Searchin' for the truth
In an ocean of lies
Tryin' to find a reason
To make the whole thing rhyme
Can make you old before your time
Here we have the only biological Allman brother looking back on the long career he enjoyed, and still feeling like he has music left to make.
When I come to the end of my life, whenever that may be, will I feel reward and remorse in equal parts, for what I have done and what I have left to do?
I digress.
There will be lots of time for existential dread as I venture on to the next.
85. Black Sabbath
See you in two weeks!
