The Allman Brothers Band
The Allman Brothers Band was an American rock band formed in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1969[3] by brothers Duane Allman (founder, slide guitar and lead guitar) and Gregg Allman (vocals, keyboards, songwriting), as well as Dickey Betts (lead guitar, vocals, songwriting), Berry Oakley (bass), Butch Trucks (drums), and Jai Johanny "Jaimoe" Johanson (drums). 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 Allman Brothers Band
Jacksonville, Florida, U.S.
- 1969–1976
- 1978–1982
- 1989–2014
Duane Allman
Gregg Allman
Dickey Betts
Jaimoe
Berry Oakley
Butch Trucks
Chuck Leavell
Lamar Williams
David Goldflies
Dan Toler
Mike Lawler
David "Frankie" Toler
Warren Haynes
Johnny Neel
Allen Woody
Marc Quiñones
Oteil Burbridge
Jack Pearson
Derek Trucks
Jimmy Herring
Their first two studio releases, The Allman Brothers Band (1969) and Idlewild South (1970) (both released by Capricorn Records), stalled commercially but their 1971 live release At Fillmore East was an artistic and commercial breakthrough. It features extended versions of their songs "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed" and "Whipping Post", showcasing the group's jamming style.
Group leader Duane Allman was killed in a motorcycle accident later that year – on October 29, 1971 – and the band dedicated Eat a Peach (1972) to his memory, a dual studio/live album that cemented the band's popularity and featured Gregg Allman's "Melissa" and Dickey Betts's "Blue Sky". Following the motorcycling death of bassist Berry Oakley one year and 13 days later on November 11, 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", 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, reformed briefly at the end of the decade with additional personnel changes and broke 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 (the nephew of their original drummer) and became renowned for their month-long string of shows at New York City's Beacon Theatre each spring. The band retired for good in October 2014 after their final show at the Beacon Theatre.
Butch Trucks died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound on January 24, 2017, in West Palm Beach, Florida at the age of 69. Gregg Allman died from complications arising from liver cancer on May 27, 2017, at his home in Georgia, also at 69. Dickey Betts died on April 18, 2024, at age 80, from cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The band was awarded seven gold and four platinum albums,[4] and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995. Rolling Stone ranked them 52nd on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time in 2004.[5]
Musical style and influences[edit]
The Allman Brothers Band have generally been considered one of the pioneering bands in Southern rock, although the group distanced itself from the term.[166] Guitarist Dickey Betts was most vocal about this classification, which he considered unfair: "I think it's limiting. I'd rather just be known as a progressive rock band from the South. I'm damned proud of who I am and where I'm from, but I hate the term 'Southern rock.' I think calling us that pigeonholed us and forced people to expect certain types of music from us that I don't think are fair."[166]
Gregg Allman also saw the "Southern rock" tag as redundant, saying it was like saying "rock rock" due to rock and roll being born in the South.[167] The band was certainly at the forefront of the genre's popularity in the early 1970s; the breakthrough of At Fillmore East led their hometown of Macon to become flooded with "Southern rock" groups.[168] Despite this, the group has continued to remove itself from the term. "The problem I have is a lot of people associate it with rednecks and rebel flags and backward mentality. That has never been representative of the Allman Brothers Band," said guitarist Warren Haynes.[168]
The group largely infused hints of the blues, jazz, and country into their music. They all avidly shared their record collections with one another during the early days of the band.[169] For example, Betts was into country music and the guitar work of Chuck Berry, while Trucks was largely into groups such as the Rolling Stones and the Grateful Dead.[169] Duane and Gregg Allman grew infatuated with rhythm and blues in their teens, collecting records by James Brown, B.B. King, Sonny Boy Williamson, and Howlin' Wolf.[170] The brothers were also heavily influenced by guitarist Taj Mahal and his 1968 eponymous debut album. It was this influence that led both to their discovery of their now famous slide guitar style.[171] Drummer Jai Johanny "Jaimoe" Johanson largely introduced the group to jazz. While Betts commented that he was interested in artists such as Howard Roberts prior, Jaimoe "really fired us up on it," introducing his bandmates to Miles Davis and John Coltrane.[169] Duane Allman was also inspired by Howard Roberts, Wes Montgomery, Tal Farlow, and Kenny Burrell.[169] The source of the band's modal jamming in their earliest days was Coltrane's rendition of "My Favorite Things" and Davis' "All Blues",[172] which Jaimoe occasionally stole from: "I did a lot of copying, but only from the best."[173] This type of jazz-infused jamming is expressed in the instrumental "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed", which focuses heavily on improvisation.[174] "Whipping Post" was notable for its inclusion of blues-ballad themes,[175] and became one of the most popular (and longest) compositions.[176] Later, Betts generally led the band in a more "country" direction following Duane's passing; their only hit single "Ramblin' Man" was considered so unusually "country" for the group they were initially reluctant to record it.[177]
Duane Allman created the idea of having two lead guitarists, which was inspired by Curtis Mayfield; "[he] wanted the bass, keyboards, and second guitar to form patterns behind the solo rather than just comping," said Allman.[172] Their style and incorporation of guitar harmonies was very influential on later musicians.[178] "The pair also had a wide range of complementary techniques, often forming intricate, interlocking patterns with each other and with the bassist, Berry Oakley, setting the stage for dramatic flights of improvised melodies."[178] Dickey Betts' playing was very melody-based; "My style is just a little too smooth and round to play the blues stuff straight, because I'm such a melody guy that even when I'm playing the blues, I go for melody first," he said.[179] His listening of country and string bluegrass growing up influenced this considerably: "I played mandolin, ukulele, and fiddle before I ever touched a guitar, which may be where a lot of the major keys I play come from."[178] He later characterized their style as "question and answer, anticipation and conclusion," which involved allowing each musician's downbeat to arrive in a different spot, while also keeping consideration of the bass guitar lines. [180]
The group also held an improvisational approach to live performances, which connected the band with jam band culture. "Jazz and blues musicians have been doing this for decades, but I think they really brought that sense that anyone onstage can inspire anyone else at any given time to rock music," said Haynes.[180] "We sure didn't set out to be a "jam band" but those long jams just emanated from within the band, because we didn't want to just play three minutes and be over," said Allman.[181] Rolling Stone referred to the group as "without question the first great jam band, and they took the jam to heights that it had not previously reached."[182]
Legacy[edit]
The Allman Brothers Band were considerably influential within the Southern United States. Their arrival on the musical scene paved the way for several other notable Southern rock bands—among those Lynyrd Skynyrd, the Marshall Tucker Band and Wet Willie—to achieve commercial success, and also "almost single-handedly" made Capricorn Records into "a major independent label".[7] Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top, writing for Rolling Stone, wrote that the group "defined the best of every music from the American South in that time. They were the best of all of us."[182] He went on to call the band "a true brotherhood of players—one that went beyond race and ego. It was a thing of beauty."[182] The band's extended popularity through heavy touring in the early 1990s created a new generation of fans, one that viewed the Allmans as pioneers of "latter-day collegiate jam rock".[84]
AllMusic praised the band's history: "they went from being America's single most influential band to a shell of their former self trading on past glories, to reach the 21st century resurrected as one of the most respected rock acts of their era."[7]
In 2012, an official historic marker was erected on the site of the July 1970 Second Atlanta International Pop Festival near Byron, Georgia. The Allman Brothers Band had played two sets at the festival, which was a significant event in their career. The marker text reads, in part: "Over thirty musical acts performed, including... Macon's Allman Brothers Band on their launching pad to national fame."[183] Official sponsors of the marker included the Georgia Allman Brothers Band Association, The Allman Brothers Band Museum at the Big House, and Hittin' the Note. In 2003, the band released a recording of their festival opening and closing performances, Live at the Atlanta International Pop Festival: July 3 & 5, 1970.[184]
In 2018, Devon Allman (son of Gregg Allman), Duane Betts (son of Dickey Betts), and Berry Duane Oakley (son of Berry Oakley) formed a band called the Allman Betts Band.[185]
Written by author Alan Paul, Brothers and Sisters: The Allman Brothers Band and the Album That Defined the 70s was published by St. Martin's Press on July 25, 2023, celebrating the album of the same name's fiftieth anniversary. The book examines the making of the album while also presenting a broad cultural history of the era, covering stories of how the band rescued Jimmy Carter's flailing presidential campaign, Gregg Allman's marriage to Cher, and how the band's success led to an eventual breakup.[186][187]
The Allman Brothers Band placed more emphasis on their live performances rather than albums. "We get kind of frustrated doing the [studio] records," said Duane Allman in 1970.[196] Consequently, this listing includes all studio albums and major live releases (several other live releases have been issued retrospectively).[197]
