The Allman Brothers Band
The Allman Brothers Band was an American rock band formed in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1969. The eponymous brothers Duane and Gregg Allman founded it with Dickey Betts, Berry Oakley, Butch Trucks, and Jai Johanny "Jaimoe" Johanson. Subsequently based in Macon, Georgia, they incorporated elements of blues, jazz and country music and their live shows featured jam band-style improvisation and instrumentals.
The band's first two studio albums, The Allman Brothers Band and Idlewild South, both released by Capricorn Records, stalled commercially but their 1971 live album At Fillmore East was a critical and commercial breakthrough. It included extended versions of "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed" and "Whipping Post", showcasing the group's jamming style. Group leader Duane was killed in a motorcycle accident in 1971; however the band continued, releasing Eat a Peach in 1972, a dual studio/live album that cemented the band's popularity and featured Gregg's "Melissa" and Betts's "Blue Sky". Following the motorcycling death of Oakley in 1972, the group recruited keyboardist Chuck Leavell and bassist Lamar Williams for 1973's Brothers and Sisters. The album included Betts's hit single "Ramblin' Man" and instrumental "Jessica", both of which went on to become classic rock radio staples and placed the group at the forefront of 1970s rock music. Internal turmoil overtook them soon after as the group dissolved in 1976, reforming briefly in 1978 with additional personnel changes and breaking up again in 1982. The band re-formed once more in 1989, releasing a string of new albums and touring heavily. A series of personnel changes in the late 1990s was capped by the departure of Betts. The group found stability during the 2000s with bassist Oteil Burbridge and guitarists Warren Haynes and Derek Trucks and became renowned for their month-long concert residencies at New York City's Beacon Theatre each spring. The band retired in October 2014 after their final show at the Beacon Theatre. Butch Trucks and Gregg both died in 2017, and Betts died in 2024, leaving Jaimoe as the only surviving original member.
The band was awarded seven Gold and four Platinum albums by the Recording Industry Association of America, and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995. In 2010, Rolling Stone magazine ranked the band 52nd on its list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time".
History
Roots and formation (1965–1969)
Guitarist Duane Allman and his younger brother Gregg grew up in Daytona Beach, Florida, after they moved from their native Nashville, Tennessee, in 1959. Duane and Gregg became friends with a black youth named Floyd Miles and the three began to spend their time at local rhythm & blues clubs, where they participated in jam sessions with some of the bands. Miles later remembered, "Gregg was a longhaired musician, so back then he was a freak. And I'm black. So we both knew what it was like to be discriminated against, which is probably why we got along so well. We had each other and we had the music." The brothers formed and performed in several local rock bands such as the Escorts and the Allman Joys. By 1967, the group was performing in St. Louis, where a Los Angeles-based recording executive discovered them; they consequently moved out West and were renamed the Hour Glass, releasing two unsuccessful albums for Liberty Records. Duane moved back to pursue a career as a session musician in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, while Gregg stayed in Los Angeles bound by contractual obligations with Liberty, who believed he could hold a solo career. The two were apart for the first time for a year, but reconvened in Miami, producing an album-length demo with the 31st of February, a group that included drummer Butch Trucks.At FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Duane 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 drummer Johnny Sandlin and keyboardist Paul Hornsby. Duane recruited Jai Johanny Johanson after hearing his drumming on a songwriting demo of Jackie Avery, and the two 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 Macon, Georgia club some time earlier, and became quick friends. The group had immediate chemistry, and Duane's vision for a "different" band, one with two lead guitarists and two drummers, began to come to fruition. Meanwhile, Phil Walden, who managed Otis Redding and several other R&B acts, was looking to expand into rock acts. FAME owner Rick Hall became frustrated with the group's recording methods, and offered the tracks recorded and their contract to Walden and Jerry Wexler of Atlantic Records, who purchased them for $10,000. Walden intended the upcoming group to be the centerpiece of his new Atlantic-distributed label, Capricorn.
Duane and Jaimoe moved to Jacksonville, Florida, in early March 1969, as Duane had become frustrated with being a "robot" of those at FAME. He invited anyone who wanted to join to the jam sessions that birthed the Allman Brothers Band. Dickey Betts, leader of Oakley's previous band, the Second Coming, became the group's second lead guitarist, while Butch Trucks, with whom Duane and Gregg had cut a demo less than a year prior, became the new group's second drummer. The Second Coming's Reese Wynans played keyboards, and Duane, Oakley, and Betts all shared vocal duties. The unnamed group began to perform free shows in Willow Branch Park in Jacksonville, with an ever-changing, rotating cast of musicians. Duane felt strongly his brother should be the vocalist of the new group. Gregg left Los Angeles and entered rehearsal on March 26, 1969, when the group was rehearsing Muddy Waters' "Trouble No More" Although Gregg was initially intimidated by the musicians, Duane pressured his brother into "singing guts out." Four days later, the group made their debut at the Jacksonville Armory. Although many potential band names were kicked around, including Beelzebub, the six-piece eventually decided on the Allman Brothers Band.
Debut and early years (1969–1970)
The group moved to Macon, Georgia, by May 1, 1969, where Walden was establishing Capricorn Records. Their first paid performance was on May 2, at the College Discotheque in Macon.Kim Payne, Mike Callahan and Joseph "Red Dog" Campbell became the band's early crew members. "Red Dog" was a disabled Vietnam veteran who donated his monthly disability checks to the band's cause. In Macon, the group stayed at friend Twiggs Lyndon's apartment on 309 College Street, which became known as the communal home of the band and crew, nicknamed the Hippie Crash Pad. "There were five or six occupied apartments in the building with the Hippie Crash Pad and you would expect they would call the police on us because we were constantly raising hell at three or four in the morning, but they all just moved out," said Trucks. Living meagerly, they found a friend in "Mama Louise" Hudson, cook and proprietor of the H&H Soul Food Restaurant, who ran a tab when they were short of funds, early on made good with proceeds from Duane's recording sessions on the side. The band's image was radical in the just barely integrated Macon: "A lot of the white folk around here did not approve of them long-haired boys, or of them always having a black guy with them," said Hudson. The band performed locally, as well as 80 miles north in Atlanta's Piedmont Park, and practiced at the newly minted Capricorn nearly each day.
The group forged a strong brotherhood, spending countless hours rehearsing, consuming psychedelic drugs, and hanging out in Rose Hill Cemetery, where they wrote songs. Their first performances outside the South came on May 30 and 31 in Boston, opening for The Velvet Underground. In need of more material, the group remade old blues numbers such as "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 songs such as "Whipping Post" and "Black-Hearted Woman". The band was originally set to record their first album in Miami with producer Tom Dowd, who had worked with Cream and John Coltrane, but Dowd proved to be unavailable. Instead, they headed off for New York City in August 1969 to work with Atlantic house engineer Adrian Barber in his first producer credit. The Allman Brothers Band was recorded and mixed in two weeks, and proved a positive experience for the ensemble. New York came to be regarded within the group as their "second home". The Allman Brothers Band 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.
Executives suggested to Walden that he relocate the band to New York or Los Angeles to "acclimate" them to the industry. "They wanted us to act 'like a rock band' and we just told them to fuck themselves," remembered Trucks. For their part, the members of the band remained optimistic, electing to stay in the South. "Everyone told us we'd fall by the wayside down there," said Gregg Allman, but the collaboration between the band and Capricorn Records "transformed Macon from this sleepy little town into a very hip, wild and crazy place filled with bikers and rockers". The band rented a $165-a-month farmhouse on a lake outside of Macon, the busy comings and goings at which reminded them of New York City's Idlewild Airport. Idlewild South was the home of rehearsals and parties, and was "where the brotherhood came to pass," according to roadie Kim Payne; "There was a pact made out there around a campfire—all for one and one for all... Everybody believed 100 percent." Much of the material presented on the band's second album, Idlewild South, originated at the cabin. Oakley's wife rented a large Tudor Revival home on 2321 Vineville Avenue in Macon and the band moved into what they dubbed "the Big House" in March 1970.