Feature

GREGG ALLMAN

SOUTHERN ROCK ICON GETS BY

WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM HIS FRIENDS

by Tom Lounges

When Gregg Allman is not touring and recording as the keyboardist/vocalist and namesake of The Allman Brothers, he keeps his musical chops up by jamming with friends.

When the chemistry of those jams are so strong and the playing is so much fun, Allman flies his buddies to select cities, where they share their groovin’ good time with fans. Such is the case with the concert later this month (February 20) by “Gregg Allman & Friends” at Chicago’s House of Blues.

“We’re only doing a handful of shows,” murmured Allman in a Southern drawl considerably softer than one might expect from a singer with such a robust barrel-house blues timbre on stage. “We’re in Niagara Falls today and this weather has got my throat a little bit, so I’ve got to keep a little quiet and not overdue things [with my voice].”

The Chicago date marks the end of the very short run this stellar “Friends” ensemble has done.

Cher’s former husband must leave the road to regroup with the Allman Brothers, for their 16th annual “March Madness” run of dates at New York’s Beacon Theatre on March 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 17, 18 and 19. While in New York, the Allman Brothers will perform March 16 on “Late Night With Conan O’Brien”.

Allman has admittedly “been loving” the “Gregg Allman & Friends” performances, and is more than a little saddened to see them end.

“I built this band with [keyboardist] Neil Larsen and we’ve got some real heavy hitters with us,” he said of the line-up playing one last show at Chicago’s House of Blues this weekend.

“I’m playing acoustic guitar, organ and singing. Neil is on keyboards,” he continued. “We’ve also got Willie Weeks on bass, Robin Ford on guitar, Chris Carlic on baritone sax, Jay Collins on tenor sax, Jim Seeley on trumpet, Steve Potts from Booker T & The MGs on drums, and Floyd Miles playing percussion and singing. These guys are all just incredible. I’ve been having a great time making music with them.”

When asked if this “Friends” tour was a precursor to his making another solo album, Allman paused before responding, almost as though he had been having too much fun playing to even think too much about such things.

“Well, I’d certainly like to keep these guys all together and go on the road once a year,” he said. “If we can do that, I’m sure we’ll get into the studio eventually.” Allman plans to make more solo recordings, but has no timetable for such.

For now, the rock legend will focus on the group he co-founded in 1969 with his elder brother, the late guitar legend, Duane Allman.

The Allman Brothers’ new 18-song, 2-CD live concert collection – One Way Out – hits retail outlets March 23, via Peach/Sanctuary Records. Recorded at Beacon Theatre during the group’s 2004 “March Madness” shows, the CD is the audio companion to last year’s already platinum certified, “Live At The Beacon Theatre” DVD.

The live collection includes their 12-minute tour de force, “Instrumental Illness”, for which the band received a Grammy nod this year in the “Best Rock Instrumental Performance” category. The Grammy nod was just the latest of many accolades the Allman Brothers have gotten over the years.

This makes Allman reflected back on how his nearly four decades in rock ‘n’ roll began.

“Our father was killed when I was two and Duane was three, but we had two uncles who loved country music, so we got exposed to music first through them,” he recalled. “As a kid, I loved Johnny Cash, because he dressed in black and looked real mean.”

The boys moved to Daytona Beach, Florida at ages nine and ten, but would return to spend summers in Nashville with their grandmother. “Man, grandma would drag us down every Saturday night to the old Ryman Theatre for the Grand Ole Opry. The seats were old wooden church pews and they were so uncomfortable. Duane was on one side of grandma and I on the other. I just hated it. It’s a wonder I like music at all,” he laughed.

Though well versed in country music, it was acoustic blues that would ultimately draw the Allman boys into a life of music. “There was this guy named Jimmy Bain who live across the street from my grandma’s house and he was kind of retarded,” remembered Allman.

“One day Jimmy was out there painting this old ‘49 Packard black with a house paint brush. He was even painting’ the tires and the chrome, which I found pretty peculiar, so I walked over to watch him. That is when I spotted an old guitar sitting by the swing on Jimmy’s front porch.”

When Bain had finished painting, he played young Gregg the old folk standard, “She’ll Be Coming Around The Mountain” and the wheels were set into motion. “I thought if someone like Jimmy can learn to play the guitar, than I can too,” recalled Allman, who got himself a paper route the very next day. “I saved every penny from delivering newspapers until I could buy myself a Sears Robuck guitar.”

Duane took to playing his little brother’s guitar and soon became the better player of the two, which is why Gregg made keyboards as his primary instrument. “I couldn’t touch Duane as a guitarist,” he said.

“Me and Duane’s dream when we started the [Allman Brothers] band, was to make a living with our music and to leave our mark on music,” said Allman. “Duane always knew we would one day do it, but I was always the Doubting Thomas. Duane never had any doubts.”

The Allman Brothers ultimately made two very distinguished “marks” on the music world.

The first was giving birth to the Southern Rock movement of the 1970s. The second was almost single-handedly creating the “jam band” genre that lives on today with groups like Phish, Dave Matthews Band and others.

The latter evolved from when the Allman Brothers dared to blend blues-drenched soul and guitar-driven rock, with a free-form performance style that borrowed from the likes of jazz giants like John Coltrane and Miles Davis. “We just took all the music we knew and loved and put it all together,” simplified Allman.

“I’m proud of what we’ve done and the music we’ve made, but I’m not ready to step down,” concluded Allman. “Even after all these years and all the rough times, I still love making music as much today as I did when this whole thing first started. It’s what I do. It’s who I am.”

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