Blending rock, blues, country, and jazz, the godfathers of Southern rock in all its wild, woolly glory.
Formed 1969 in Macon, GA, active 1960s - 2010s.
Group Members: Berry Oakley, Butch Trucks, Dickey Betts, Duane Allman, Gregg Allman, Jaimoe, Chuck Leavell, Derek Trucks, Marc Quiñones, Warren Haynes, Allen Woody, Oteil Burbridge, Dan Toler, Jimmy Herring, Mike Lawler, David Brown, David "Frankie" Toler, David Goldflies, Jack Pearson, Johnny Neel, Lamar Williams, Thom Doucette
Formed in Macon, Georgia, USA, in 1969 by guitarist Duane Allman (Howard Duane Allman, November 20, 1946 in Nashville, TN, d. October 29, 1971 in Macon, GA), the band included brother Gregg Allman (b. Gregory Lenoir Allman, December 8, 1947 in Nashville, TN; keyboards, vocals), Forrest Richard 'Dickey' Betts (b. December 12, 1943 in West Palm Beach, FL; guitar), Raymond Berry Oakley (b. April 4, 1948 in Chicago, IL, d. November 11, 1972 in Macon, GA; bass), Butch Trucks (b. Claude Hudson Trucks Jnr., May 11, 1947 in Jacksonville, FL; drums) and Jai 'Jaimoe' Johanny Johanson (b. John Lee Johnson, July 8, 1944 in Ocean Springs, MS; drums). The above line-up was an amalgamation of the members of several southern-based aspirants, of which the Hour Glass was the most prolific. The latter pop/soul ensemble featured Duane and Gregg Allman, and broke up when demo tapes for a projected third album were rejected by their record company. Duane then found employment at the Fame studio where he participated in several sessions, including those for Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett and King Curtis, prior to instigating this new sextet.
The Allman Brothers established themselves as a popular live attraction and their first two albums, The Allman Brothers Band and Idlewild South, were marked by strong blues-based roots and an exciting rhythmic drive. Nevertheless, it was a sensational two-album set, Live At The Fillmore East, that showcased the band's emotional fire. 'Whipping Post', a 22-minute tour de force, remains one of rock music's definitive improvisational performances. The set brought the band to the brink of stardom, while Duane's reputation as an outstanding slide guitarist was further enhanced by his contribution to Layla And Other Assorted Love Songs, the seminal Derek And The Dominos album. Unfortunately, tragedy struck on October 29, 1971 when this gifted musician was killed in a motorcycle accident.
The remaining members completed Eat A Peach, which comprised live and studio material, before embarking on a more mellow direction with the US chart-topper Brothers And Sisters, a style best exemplified by the album's number 2 hit single, 'Ramblin' Man'. A second pianist, Chuck Leavell (b. 1950 in Tuscaloosa, AL), was added to the line-up, but just as the band recovered its momentum, Berry Oakley was killed in an accident chillingly similar to that of his former colleague on November 11, 1972. Not surprisingly, the Allman Brothers seemed deflated, and subsequent releases failed to match the fire of those first recordings. Their power was further diminished by several offshoot projects. Gregg Allman (who later married Cher twice) and Dickey Betts embarked on solo careers while Leavell, Johanson and new bass player Lamar Williams (b. January 14, 1947 in Hansboro, MS, d. January 21, 1983, a victim of cancer) formed Sea Level.
The Allmans broke up acrimoniously in 1976 following a notorious drugs trial in which Gregg testified against a former road manager. Although the other members vowed never to work with the vocalist again, a reconstituted 1978 line-up included Allman, Betts and Trucks. Enlightened Rogues was a US Top 10 success, but subsequent albums fared less well and in 1982 the Allman Brothers Band split for a second time. A new incarnation appeared in 1989 with a line-up of Gregg Allman (vocals, organ), Betts (vocals, lead guitar), Warren Haynes (b. April 6, 1960 in Asheville, NC; vocals, slide and lead guitar), Douglas Allen Woody (b. October 3, 1955, d. August 26, 2000 in Queens, New York City, NY; bass), Johnny Neel (keyboards), Trucks (drums) and Mark Quinones (percussion). This much-heralded reunion spawned a credible release: Seven Turns. Neel left the band and the remaining sextet made Shades Of Two Worlds. Quinones (congas and percussion) joined forAn Evening With The Allman Brothers Band in 1992. The 1994 album, Where It All Begins, was recorded effectively live in the studio, with production once more by Allman Brothers veteran Tom Dowd. Further studio work followed, but it is as a touring unit that the band retains its remarkable popularity. Woody and Haynes left in April 1997 to join Gov't Mule. New members Derek Trucks (b. June 8, 1979 in Jacksonville, FL; guitar) and Oteil Burbridge (bass) were subsequently added to the line-up. Betts was sacked in early 2000 and released a solo album Let's Get Together the following year.
The work displayed on the Allman Brothers Band first five albums remains among the finest guitar music recorded during the late 60s and early 70s, noted, in particular, for the skilful interplay between two gifted, imaginative guitarists.
The Allman Brothers Band Biography & History by Bruce Eder
The story of the Allman Brothers Band is one of triumph, tragedy, redemption, dissolution, and more redemption. Since their beginning in the late '60s, 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.
For the first half of the '70s, the Allman Brothers Band was the most influential rock group in America, redefining rock music and its boundaries. The band's mix of blues, country, jazz, and even classical influences, and their powerful, extended on-stage jamming altered the standards of concert performance -- other groups were known for their on-stage jamming, but when the Allman Brothers stretched a song out for 30 or 40 minutes, at their best they were exciting, never self-indulgent. They gave it all a distinctly Southern voice and, in the process, opened the way for a wave of '70s rock acts from south of the Mason-Dixon Line, including the Marshall Tucker Band, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and Blackfoot, whose music, at least initially, celebrated their roots. And for a time, almost single-handedly, they also made Capricorn Records into a major independent label.
The group was founded in March 1969 by (Howard) Duane Allman (b. Nov. 20, 1946-d. Oct. 29, 1971) on guitar; (Gregory L.) Gregg Allman (b. Dec. 8, 1947) on vocals and organ; Forrest Richard ("Dickey") Betts (b. Dec. 12, 1943) on guitar; (Raymond) Berry Oakley (b. Apr. 4, 1948-d. Nov. 12, 1972) on bass; and Claude Hudson ("Butch") Trucks (b. May 11, 1947) and Jaimoe (aka Jai Johanny Johanson, b. July 8, 1944) on drums. Duane and Gregg Allman loved soul and R&B, although they listened to their share of rock & roll, especially as it sounded coming out of England in the mid-'60s. Their first group was a local Daytona Beach garage band called the Escorts, who sounded a lot like the early Beatles and Rolling Stones; they later became the Allman Joys and plunged into Cream-style British blues, and then the Hour Glass, which drew from and extended their soul influences. The group landed a contract with Liberty Records with help from the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, but the company wasted the opportunity on a pair of over-produced albums that failed to capture the Hour Glass' sound. The group split up after Liberty rejected a proposed third LP steeped in blues and R&B.
Duane Allman began working as a session guitarist at Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, and it was there, appearing on records by Wilson Pickett, Aretha Franklin, John Hammond, and King Curtis, among others, that he made his reputation. In 1969, at the coaxing of ex-Otis Redding manager Phil Walden, Allman gave up session work and began putting together a new band -- Jaimoe came aboard, and then Allman's longtime friend Butch Trucks and another Allman friend, Berry Oakley, joined, along with Dickey Betts, with whom Oakley was playing in a group called Second Coming. A marathon jam session ensued, at the end of which Allman had his band, except for a singer -- that came later, when his brother Gregg agreed to join. They were duly signed to Walden's new Capricorn label.
The band didn't record their first album until after they'd worked their sound out on the road, playing heavily around Florida and Georgia. The self-titled debut album was a solid blues-rock album and one of the better showcases for guitar pyrotechnics in a year with more than its share, amid albums by Cream, Blind Faith, the Jeff Beck Group, and Led Zeppelin. It didn't sell 50,000 copies on its initial release, but The Allman Brothers Band impressed everyone who heard it and nearly everyone who reviewed it. Coming out at the end of the 1960s, it could have passed for a follow-up to the kind of blues-rock coming out of England from acts like Cream, except that it had a sharper edge -- the Allmans were American and Southern, and their understanding of blues (not to mention elements of jazz, mostly courtesy of Jaimoe) was as natural as breathing. The album also introduced one of the band's most popular concert numbers, "Whipping Post."
Their debut album attracted good reviews and a cult following with its mix of assured dual lead guitars by Duane Allman and Dickey Betts, soulful singing by Gregg Allman, and a rhythm section that was nearly as busy as the lead instruments, between Oakley's rock-hard bass and the dual drumming of Trucks and Johanson. Their second album, 1970's Idlewild South, recorded predominately at Criteria Studios in North Miami, Florida, was produced by Tom Dowd, who had previously recorded Cream. This was a magical combination -- Dowd was completely attuned to the group's sound and goals, and Idlewild South broadened that sound, adding a softer acoustic texture to their music and introducing Betts as a composer (including the original studio version of "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed," an instrumental tribute to Miles Davis that would become a highlight of their shows, in many different forms, for the next 30 years). It also had a Gregg Allman number, "Midnight Rider," which became one of the band's more widely covered originals and the composer's signature tune.
By this time, the band's concerts were becoming legendary for the extraordinarily complex yet coherent interplay between the two guitarists and Gregg Allman's keyboards, sometimes in jams of 40 minutes or more to a single song without wasting a note. And unlike the art rock bands of the era, they weren't interested in impressing anyone with how they played scales, how many different tunings they knew, or which classical riffs they could quote. Rather, the Allmans incorporated the techniques and structures of jazz and classical into their playing. In March of 1971, the band played a series of shows at the Fillmore East that were recorded for posterity and subsequently transformed into their third album, At Fillmore East. This double LP, issued in July of 1971, became an instant classic, rivaling the previous blues-rock touchstone cut at the Fillmore, Cream's Wheels of Fire. Duane Allman and his band were suddenly the new heroes to millions of mostly older teenage fans. Although it never cracked the Top Ten, At Fillmore East was certified as a gold record on October 15, 1971.
Duane Allman died in a motorcycle accident 14 days later. The band had been midway through work on its next album, Eat a Peach, which they completed as a five-piece, with Dickey Betts playing all of the remaining lead and slide guitar parts. Their second double album in a row became another instant classic, and their first album to reach the Top Ten, peaking at number five.
Despite having completed Eat a Peach, the group was intact in name only. Rather than try to replace Duane Allman as a guitarist, they decided to add a second soloist in the form of a piano player Chuck Leavell. The group had already begun work on a long-delayed follow-up to Eat a Peach, when Oakley was killed in November 1972 in a motorcycle accident only a few blocks from Allman's accident site.
Lamar Williams (b. Jan. 15, 1949-d. Jan. 25, 1983) was recruited on bass, and the new lineup continued the group's concert activities, as well as eventually finishing the band's next album, Brothers and Sisters. which was released on August 1, 1973. During the extended gap in releases following Eat a Peach, Atco reissued The Allman Brothers Band and Idlewild South together as the double LP Beginnings, which charted higher than either individual release.
Brothers and Sisters marked the beginning of a new era. The album had a more easygoing and freewheeling sound, less bluesy and more country-ish. This was partly a result of Capricorn losing the services of Tom Dowd, who had produced their three previous albums. Additionally, Dickey Betts' full emergence as a songwriter and singer as well as the group's only guitarist, playing all of the lead and slide parts, altered the balance of the group's sound, pushing forth his distinct interest in country-rock. Betts also became the reluctant de facto leader of the band during this period, not from a desire for control as much as because he was the only one with the comparative stability and creative input to take on the responsibility.
The record occupied the number one spot for six weeks, spurred by the number two single "Ramblin' Man," and became their most well-known album. It was an odd reversal of the usual order of success for a rock band -- usually, it was the release of an album that drew the crowds to concerts, but in this case, the months of touring the band had done paved the way for the album. The fact that it kept getting pushed back only heightened the fans' interest.
Ironically, Brothers and Sisters was a less challenging record than the group's earlier releases, with a relatively laid-back sound, relaxed compared to the groundbreaking work on the group's previous four albums. But all of this hardly mattered; based on the reputation they'd established with their first four albums, and the crowd-pleasing nature of "Ramblin' Man" and the Dickey Betts-composed instrumental "Jessica," the group was playing larger halls and bigger crowds than ever.
An entire range of Southern rock acts had started to make serious inroads into the charts in the wake of the Allman Brothers. Labels such as MCA and even Island Records began looking for this same audience, signing acts like Lynyrd Skynyrd, .38 Special and the Outlaws, respectively, among others. For the first time since the mid-'50s, the heyday of the rockabilly era, a major part of the country was listening to rock & roll with a distinctly Southern twang.
The band began showing cracks in 1974, as Gregg Allman and Dickey Betts both began solo careers, recording albums separately from the group. Allman married Cher (twice), an event that set him up in a Hollywood-based lifestyle that created a schism with the rest of the band. They might have survived all of this, but for the increasing strain of the members' other personal habits -- drugs and alcohol had always been a significant part of the lives of many of the members, but as the strain and exhaustion of touring continued, coupled with the need to produce new music, these indulgences began to get out of control. In addition, Betts' leadership of the group created a further strain for him.
The band's difficulties were showcased by their next album, the highly uneven Win, Lose or Draw, which lacked the intensity and sharpness of their prior work. The whole band wasn't present for some of the album, and Gregg Allman's involvement with Cher, coupled with his serious drug problems, prevented him from participating with the rest of the group -- his vocals were added separately, on the other side of the country.
The band finally came apart in 1976 when Allman found himself in the midst of a federal drug case against a supplier and agreed to testify against a friend and band employee. Leavell, Johanson, and Williams split to form Sea Level, which became a moderately successful band, cutting four albums for Capricorn over the next four years, while Betts pursued a solo career. All of them vowed never to work with Gregg Allman again.
Amid this split, Capricorn Records, reaching ever deeper into its vaults for anything that could generate income, issued two collections, a double-LP live collection called Wipe the Windows, Check the Oil, Dollar Gas, showcasing the Brothers and Sisters-era band at various concerts, and a double-LP best-of package, And the Road Goes On Forever. Wipe the Windows was a modest seller, appearing as it did when the group's sales had already fallen off, and it was compared unfavorably with the legendary work on At Fillmore East. The studio compilation passed with barely a ripple, however, because most fans already had the stuff on the original albums.
They were all back together by 1978, however, and over the next four years the group issued a somewhat uneven series of albums. Enlightened Rogues (1979) somewhat redeemed their reputations -- produced by Tom Dowd, who had always managed to get the very best work out of the group, it had more energy than any record they'd issued in at least six years. It also restored the two-guitar lineup, courtesy of Dan Toler (from Great Southern, Dickey Betts' solo band), who was brought in when Chuck Leavell (along with Lamar Williams) chose to remain in Sea Level. By that time, however, the Allmans were fighting against time and musical trends. Disco, punk, and power pop had pretty much stolen the thunder from the arena acts epitomized by the Allmans; whatever interest they attracted was a matter of nostalgia for their earlier releases. The group was in danger of becoming arena rock's third big oldies act (after the Moody Blues and Paul McCartney's Wings).
The group did take a shot at its past glories with Enlightened Rogues, which garnered the most favorable fan and critical response since Brothers and Sisters, but the band's business affairs were in a shambles, owing to the bankruptcy of Capricorn Records in late 1979. When the fallout from the Capricorn collapse settled, PolyGram Records, the company's biggest creditor, took over the label's library, and the Allman Brothers were cut loose from their contract.
Their signing to Arista enabled the group to resume recording. What they released, however, was safe, unambitious, routinely commercial pop/rock, closer in spirit to the Doobie Brothers than their own classic work, and a shadow of that work, without any of the invention and daring upon which they'd built their reputations. The group's fortunes hit a further downturn when Jaimoe was fired, breaking up one of the best rhythm sections in rock. For most of the 1980s, the group was on hiatus, while the individual members sorted out their personal and professional situations. During those years, Gregg released two solo albums and achieved some chart success with "I'm No Angel," while Dickey released the critically acclaimed but somewhat overlooked Pattern Disruptive.
In 1989, the band was reactivated again, partly owing to PolyGram's decision to issue the four-CD box set retrospective Dreams. That set, coupled with the reissue of their entire Capricorn catalog on compact disc in the years leading up to the box's release, reminded millions of older listeners of the band's greatness, and introduced the group to millions of people too young to have been around for Watkins Glen, much less the Fillmore shows.
They reunited and also added Warren Haynes from Dickey Betts' solo band on lead guitar as a replacement for Toler, with Allen Woody playing bass; Chuck Leavell was gone, however, having agreed to join the Rolling Stones on tour as their resident keyboard player, and Lamar Williams had succumbed to cancer in 1983.
The new lineup reinvigorated the band, which signed with Epic Records and surprised everyone with their first release, Seven Turns. Issued in 1990, it got some of the best reviews and healthiest sales they'd had in more than a decade. The next year they filled out their rhythm section with the addition of percussionist Marc Quinones. Their subsequent studio albums didn't fare quite as well, and their two live albums, An Evening with the Allman Brothers Band and 2nd Set (which won a Grammy for its performance of "Jessica") were steady but not massive sellers. The decline in sales wasn't the fault of the material so much as a natural result of the passage of time, which left the Allmans competing with two decades' worth of successors and rivals.
In 1997, Warren Haynes and Allen Woody left the Allman Brothers Band to form the power trio Gov't Mule; stepping in were bassist Oteil Burbridge and, for a time, Nashville guitarist Jack Pearson. In 1999, Pearson was replaced by young guitar phenom Derek Trucks, Butch's nephew.
In 2000 -- the year that bassist Allen Woody died -- the band took what many older fans might view as an unthinkable step, parting ways with original guitarist Dickey Betts and thereby setting up a new round of recriminations among the group's original founders. However, far from signaling the demise of the Allman Brothers Band, the group ultimately re-emerged reinvigorated in the opinion of many listeners, with the establishment of one of its strongest lineups in years, featuring the dual guitars of Warren Haynes (who returned in 2001) and Derek Trucks, the powerful yet fluid and jazzy bass of Oteil Burbridge, some of Gregg Allman's most committed vocal and organ work in years, and the ever-reliable drum tandem of Butch Trucks and Jaimoe, supplemented by new percussionist Quinones.
They remained a top concert attraction decades after their last historically important album, easily drawing more than 20,000 fans at a time to outdoor venues, or booking 3,000-seat theaters for three weeks at a time. Their back catalog, especially the first five albums, remained consistent sellers on compact disc and downloads. Apart from their Arista releases, the Allman Brothers Band have remained remarkably consistent, altering their music only gradually over 40 years. They continued soaring at their concerts and on most of their records since 2001. Released in 2003, Hittin' the Note was hailed as their best album in decades, while the Live at the Beacon Theater DVD showed why they'd sold out 220 consecutive shows at that New York venue (the standing record). They played at Eric Clapton's Crossroads festival twice and, starting in 2005, presented their own WaneeFest in Live Oak, Florida. In 2012, the group was presented with the Lifetime Achievement award at the Grammys, a fitting addition to their Rock and Roll Hall of Fame status (which was conferred in 1995, the group's first year of eligibility).
In the early days of 2014, Haynes and Trucks released a joint press announcement stating that they were both leaving the Allman Brothers Band at the end of the year.
Formed 1969 in Macon, GA, active 1960s - 2010s.
Group Members: Berry Oakley, Butch Trucks, Dickey Betts, Duane Allman, Gregg Allman, Jaimoe, Chuck Leavell, Derek Trucks, Marc Quiñones, Warren Haynes, Allen Woody, Oteil Burbridge, Dan Toler, Jimmy Herring, Mike Lawler, David Brown, David "Frankie" Toler, David Goldflies, Jack Pearson, Johnny Neel, Lamar Williams, Thom Doucette
Formed in Macon, Georgia, USA, in 1969 by guitarist Duane Allman (Howard Duane Allman, November 20, 1946 in Nashville, TN, d. October 29, 1971 in Macon, GA), the band included brother Gregg Allman (b. Gregory Lenoir Allman, December 8, 1947 in Nashville, TN; keyboards, vocals), Forrest Richard 'Dickey' Betts (b. December 12, 1943 in West Palm Beach, FL; guitar), Raymond Berry Oakley (b. April 4, 1948 in Chicago, IL, d. November 11, 1972 in Macon, GA; bass), Butch Trucks (b. Claude Hudson Trucks Jnr., May 11, 1947 in Jacksonville, FL; drums) and Jai 'Jaimoe' Johanny Johanson (b. John Lee Johnson, July 8, 1944 in Ocean Springs, MS; drums). The above line-up was an amalgamation of the members of several southern-based aspirants, of which the Hour Glass was the most prolific. The latter pop/soul ensemble featured Duane and Gregg Allman, and broke up when demo tapes for a projected third album were rejected by their record company. Duane then found employment at the Fame studio where he participated in several sessions, including those for Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett and King Curtis, prior to instigating this new sextet.
The Allman Brothers established themselves as a popular live attraction and their first two albums, The Allman Brothers Band and Idlewild South, were marked by strong blues-based roots and an exciting rhythmic drive. Nevertheless, it was a sensational two-album set, Live At The Fillmore East, that showcased the band's emotional fire. 'Whipping Post', a 22-minute tour de force, remains one of rock music's definitive improvisational performances. The set brought the band to the brink of stardom, while Duane's reputation as an outstanding slide guitarist was further enhanced by his contribution to Layla And Other Assorted Love Songs, the seminal Derek And The Dominos album. Unfortunately, tragedy struck on October 29, 1971 when this gifted musician was killed in a motorcycle accident.
The remaining members completed Eat A Peach, which comprised live and studio material, before embarking on a more mellow direction with the US chart-topper Brothers And Sisters, a style best exemplified by the album's number 2 hit single, 'Ramblin' Man'. A second pianist, Chuck Leavell (b. 1950 in Tuscaloosa, AL), was added to the line-up, but just as the band recovered its momentum, Berry Oakley was killed in an accident chillingly similar to that of his former colleague on November 11, 1972. Not surprisingly, the Allman Brothers seemed deflated, and subsequent releases failed to match the fire of those first recordings. Their power was further diminished by several offshoot projects. Gregg Allman (who later married Cher twice) and Dickey Betts embarked on solo careers while Leavell, Johanson and new bass player Lamar Williams (b. January 14, 1947 in Hansboro, MS, d. January 21, 1983, a victim of cancer) formed Sea Level.
The Allmans broke up acrimoniously in 1976 following a notorious drugs trial in which Gregg testified against a former road manager. Although the other members vowed never to work with the vocalist again, a reconstituted 1978 line-up included Allman, Betts and Trucks. Enlightened Rogues was a US Top 10 success, but subsequent albums fared less well and in 1982 the Allman Brothers Band split for a second time. A new incarnation appeared in 1989 with a line-up of Gregg Allman (vocals, organ), Betts (vocals, lead guitar), Warren Haynes (b. April 6, 1960 in Asheville, NC; vocals, slide and lead guitar), Douglas Allen Woody (b. October 3, 1955, d. August 26, 2000 in Queens, New York City, NY; bass), Johnny Neel (keyboards), Trucks (drums) and Mark Quinones (percussion). This much-heralded reunion spawned a credible release: Seven Turns. Neel left the band and the remaining sextet made Shades Of Two Worlds. Quinones (congas and percussion) joined forAn Evening With The Allman Brothers Band in 1992. The 1994 album, Where It All Begins, was recorded effectively live in the studio, with production once more by Allman Brothers veteran Tom Dowd. Further studio work followed, but it is as a touring unit that the band retains its remarkable popularity. Woody and Haynes left in April 1997 to join Gov't Mule. New members Derek Trucks (b. June 8, 1979 in Jacksonville, FL; guitar) and Oteil Burbridge (bass) were subsequently added to the line-up. Betts was sacked in early 2000 and released a solo album Let's Get Together the following year.
The work displayed on the Allman Brothers Band first five albums remains among the finest guitar music recorded during the late 60s and early 70s, noted, in particular, for the skilful interplay between two gifted, imaginative guitarists.
The Allman Brothers Band Biography & History by Bruce Eder
The story of the Allman Brothers Band is one of triumph, tragedy, redemption, dissolution, and more redemption. Since their beginning in the late '60s, 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.
For the first half of the '70s, the Allman Brothers Band was the most influential rock group in America, redefining rock music and its boundaries. The band's mix of blues, country, jazz, and even classical influences, and their powerful, extended on-stage jamming altered the standards of concert performance -- other groups were known for their on-stage jamming, but when the Allman Brothers stretched a song out for 30 or 40 minutes, at their best they were exciting, never self-indulgent. They gave it all a distinctly Southern voice and, in the process, opened the way for a wave of '70s rock acts from south of the Mason-Dixon Line, including the Marshall Tucker Band, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and Blackfoot, whose music, at least initially, celebrated their roots. And for a time, almost single-handedly, they also made Capricorn Records into a major independent label.
The group was founded in March 1969 by (Howard) Duane Allman (b. Nov. 20, 1946-d. Oct. 29, 1971) on guitar; (Gregory L.) Gregg Allman (b. Dec. 8, 1947) on vocals and organ; Forrest Richard ("Dickey") Betts (b. Dec. 12, 1943) on guitar; (Raymond) Berry Oakley (b. Apr. 4, 1948-d. Nov. 12, 1972) on bass; and Claude Hudson ("Butch") Trucks (b. May 11, 1947) and Jaimoe (aka Jai Johanny Johanson, b. July 8, 1944) on drums. Duane and Gregg Allman loved soul and R&B, although they listened to their share of rock & roll, especially as it sounded coming out of England in the mid-'60s. Their first group was a local Daytona Beach garage band called the Escorts, who sounded a lot like the early Beatles and Rolling Stones; they later became the Allman Joys and plunged into Cream-style British blues, and then the Hour Glass, which drew from and extended their soul influences. The group landed a contract with Liberty Records with help from the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, but the company wasted the opportunity on a pair of over-produced albums that failed to capture the Hour Glass' sound. The group split up after Liberty rejected a proposed third LP steeped in blues and R&B.
Duane Allman began working as a session guitarist at Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, and it was there, appearing on records by Wilson Pickett, Aretha Franklin, John Hammond, and King Curtis, among others, that he made his reputation. In 1969, at the coaxing of ex-Otis Redding manager Phil Walden, Allman gave up session work and began putting together a new band -- Jaimoe came aboard, and then Allman's longtime friend Butch Trucks and another Allman friend, Berry Oakley, joined, along with Dickey Betts, with whom Oakley was playing in a group called Second Coming. A marathon jam session ensued, at the end of which Allman had his band, except for a singer -- that came later, when his brother Gregg agreed to join. They were duly signed to Walden's new Capricorn label.
The band didn't record their first album until after they'd worked their sound out on the road, playing heavily around Florida and Georgia. The self-titled debut album was a solid blues-rock album and one of the better showcases for guitar pyrotechnics in a year with more than its share, amid albums by Cream, Blind Faith, the Jeff Beck Group, and Led Zeppelin. It didn't sell 50,000 copies on its initial release, but The Allman Brothers Band impressed everyone who heard it and nearly everyone who reviewed it. Coming out at the end of the 1960s, it could have passed for a follow-up to the kind of blues-rock coming out of England from acts like Cream, except that it had a sharper edge -- the Allmans were American and Southern, and their understanding of blues (not to mention elements of jazz, mostly courtesy of Jaimoe) was as natural as breathing. The album also introduced one of the band's most popular concert numbers, "Whipping Post."
Their debut album attracted good reviews and a cult following with its mix of assured dual lead guitars by Duane Allman and Dickey Betts, soulful singing by Gregg Allman, and a rhythm section that was nearly as busy as the lead instruments, between Oakley's rock-hard bass and the dual drumming of Trucks and Johanson. Their second album, 1970's Idlewild South, recorded predominately at Criteria Studios in North Miami, Florida, was produced by Tom Dowd, who had previously recorded Cream. This was a magical combination -- Dowd was completely attuned to the group's sound and goals, and Idlewild South broadened that sound, adding a softer acoustic texture to their music and introducing Betts as a composer (including the original studio version of "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed," an instrumental tribute to Miles Davis that would become a highlight of their shows, in many different forms, for the next 30 years). It also had a Gregg Allman number, "Midnight Rider," which became one of the band's more widely covered originals and the composer's signature tune.
By this time, the band's concerts were becoming legendary for the extraordinarily complex yet coherent interplay between the two guitarists and Gregg Allman's keyboards, sometimes in jams of 40 minutes or more to a single song without wasting a note. And unlike the art rock bands of the era, they weren't interested in impressing anyone with how they played scales, how many different tunings they knew, or which classical riffs they could quote. Rather, the Allmans incorporated the techniques and structures of jazz and classical into their playing. In March of 1971, the band played a series of shows at the Fillmore East that were recorded for posterity and subsequently transformed into their third album, At Fillmore East. This double LP, issued in July of 1971, became an instant classic, rivaling the previous blues-rock touchstone cut at the Fillmore, Cream's Wheels of Fire. Duane Allman and his band were suddenly the new heroes to millions of mostly older teenage fans. Although it never cracked the Top Ten, At Fillmore East was certified as a gold record on October 15, 1971.
Duane Allman died in a motorcycle accident 14 days later. The band had been midway through work on its next album, Eat a Peach, which they completed as a five-piece, with Dickey Betts playing all of the remaining lead and slide guitar parts. Their second double album in a row became another instant classic, and their first album to reach the Top Ten, peaking at number five.
Despite having completed Eat a Peach, the group was intact in name only. Rather than try to replace Duane Allman as a guitarist, they decided to add a second soloist in the form of a piano player Chuck Leavell. The group had already begun work on a long-delayed follow-up to Eat a Peach, when Oakley was killed in November 1972 in a motorcycle accident only a few blocks from Allman's accident site.
Lamar Williams (b. Jan. 15, 1949-d. Jan. 25, 1983) was recruited on bass, and the new lineup continued the group's concert activities, as well as eventually finishing the band's next album, Brothers and Sisters. which was released on August 1, 1973. During the extended gap in releases following Eat a Peach, Atco reissued The Allman Brothers Band and Idlewild South together as the double LP Beginnings, which charted higher than either individual release.
Brothers and Sisters marked the beginning of a new era. The album had a more easygoing and freewheeling sound, less bluesy and more country-ish. This was partly a result of Capricorn losing the services of Tom Dowd, who had produced their three previous albums. Additionally, Dickey Betts' full emergence as a songwriter and singer as well as the group's only guitarist, playing all of the lead and slide parts, altered the balance of the group's sound, pushing forth his distinct interest in country-rock. Betts also became the reluctant de facto leader of the band during this period, not from a desire for control as much as because he was the only one with the comparative stability and creative input to take on the responsibility.
The record occupied the number one spot for six weeks, spurred by the number two single "Ramblin' Man," and became their most well-known album. It was an odd reversal of the usual order of success for a rock band -- usually, it was the release of an album that drew the crowds to concerts, but in this case, the months of touring the band had done paved the way for the album. The fact that it kept getting pushed back only heightened the fans' interest.
Ironically, Brothers and Sisters was a less challenging record than the group's earlier releases, with a relatively laid-back sound, relaxed compared to the groundbreaking work on the group's previous four albums. But all of this hardly mattered; based on the reputation they'd established with their first four albums, and the crowd-pleasing nature of "Ramblin' Man" and the Dickey Betts-composed instrumental "Jessica," the group was playing larger halls and bigger crowds than ever.
An entire range of Southern rock acts had started to make serious inroads into the charts in the wake of the Allman Brothers. Labels such as MCA and even Island Records began looking for this same audience, signing acts like Lynyrd Skynyrd, .38 Special and the Outlaws, respectively, among others. For the first time since the mid-'50s, the heyday of the rockabilly era, a major part of the country was listening to rock & roll with a distinctly Southern twang.
The band began showing cracks in 1974, as Gregg Allman and Dickey Betts both began solo careers, recording albums separately from the group. Allman married Cher (twice), an event that set him up in a Hollywood-based lifestyle that created a schism with the rest of the band. They might have survived all of this, but for the increasing strain of the members' other personal habits -- drugs and alcohol had always been a significant part of the lives of many of the members, but as the strain and exhaustion of touring continued, coupled with the need to produce new music, these indulgences began to get out of control. In addition, Betts' leadership of the group created a further strain for him.
The band's difficulties were showcased by their next album, the highly uneven Win, Lose or Draw, which lacked the intensity and sharpness of their prior work. The whole band wasn't present for some of the album, and Gregg Allman's involvement with Cher, coupled with his serious drug problems, prevented him from participating with the rest of the group -- his vocals were added separately, on the other side of the country.
The band finally came apart in 1976 when Allman found himself in the midst of a federal drug case against a supplier and agreed to testify against a friend and band employee. Leavell, Johanson, and Williams split to form Sea Level, which became a moderately successful band, cutting four albums for Capricorn over the next four years, while Betts pursued a solo career. All of them vowed never to work with Gregg Allman again.
Amid this split, Capricorn Records, reaching ever deeper into its vaults for anything that could generate income, issued two collections, a double-LP live collection called Wipe the Windows, Check the Oil, Dollar Gas, showcasing the Brothers and Sisters-era band at various concerts, and a double-LP best-of package, And the Road Goes On Forever. Wipe the Windows was a modest seller, appearing as it did when the group's sales had already fallen off, and it was compared unfavorably with the legendary work on At Fillmore East. The studio compilation passed with barely a ripple, however, because most fans already had the stuff on the original albums.
They were all back together by 1978, however, and over the next four years the group issued a somewhat uneven series of albums. Enlightened Rogues (1979) somewhat redeemed their reputations -- produced by Tom Dowd, who had always managed to get the very best work out of the group, it had more energy than any record they'd issued in at least six years. It also restored the two-guitar lineup, courtesy of Dan Toler (from Great Southern, Dickey Betts' solo band), who was brought in when Chuck Leavell (along with Lamar Williams) chose to remain in Sea Level. By that time, however, the Allmans were fighting against time and musical trends. Disco, punk, and power pop had pretty much stolen the thunder from the arena acts epitomized by the Allmans; whatever interest they attracted was a matter of nostalgia for their earlier releases. The group was in danger of becoming arena rock's third big oldies act (after the Moody Blues and Paul McCartney's Wings).
The group did take a shot at its past glories with Enlightened Rogues, which garnered the most favorable fan and critical response since Brothers and Sisters, but the band's business affairs were in a shambles, owing to the bankruptcy of Capricorn Records in late 1979. When the fallout from the Capricorn collapse settled, PolyGram Records, the company's biggest creditor, took over the label's library, and the Allman Brothers were cut loose from their contract.
Their signing to Arista enabled the group to resume recording. What they released, however, was safe, unambitious, routinely commercial pop/rock, closer in spirit to the Doobie Brothers than their own classic work, and a shadow of that work, without any of the invention and daring upon which they'd built their reputations. The group's fortunes hit a further downturn when Jaimoe was fired, breaking up one of the best rhythm sections in rock. For most of the 1980s, the group was on hiatus, while the individual members sorted out their personal and professional situations. During those years, Gregg released two solo albums and achieved some chart success with "I'm No Angel," while Dickey released the critically acclaimed but somewhat overlooked Pattern Disruptive.
In 1989, the band was reactivated again, partly owing to PolyGram's decision to issue the four-CD box set retrospective Dreams. That set, coupled with the reissue of their entire Capricorn catalog on compact disc in the years leading up to the box's release, reminded millions of older listeners of the band's greatness, and introduced the group to millions of people too young to have been around for Watkins Glen, much less the Fillmore shows.
They reunited and also added Warren Haynes from Dickey Betts' solo band on lead guitar as a replacement for Toler, with Allen Woody playing bass; Chuck Leavell was gone, however, having agreed to join the Rolling Stones on tour as their resident keyboard player, and Lamar Williams had succumbed to cancer in 1983.
The new lineup reinvigorated the band, which signed with Epic Records and surprised everyone with their first release, Seven Turns. Issued in 1990, it got some of the best reviews and healthiest sales they'd had in more than a decade. The next year they filled out their rhythm section with the addition of percussionist Marc Quinones. Their subsequent studio albums didn't fare quite as well, and their two live albums, An Evening with the Allman Brothers Band and 2nd Set (which won a Grammy for its performance of "Jessica") were steady but not massive sellers. The decline in sales wasn't the fault of the material so much as a natural result of the passage of time, which left the Allmans competing with two decades' worth of successors and rivals.
In 1997, Warren Haynes and Allen Woody left the Allman Brothers Band to form the power trio Gov't Mule; stepping in were bassist Oteil Burbridge and, for a time, Nashville guitarist Jack Pearson. In 1999, Pearson was replaced by young guitar phenom Derek Trucks, Butch's nephew.
In 2000 -- the year that bassist Allen Woody died -- the band took what many older fans might view as an unthinkable step, parting ways with original guitarist Dickey Betts and thereby setting up a new round of recriminations among the group's original founders. However, far from signaling the demise of the Allman Brothers Band, the group ultimately re-emerged reinvigorated in the opinion of many listeners, with the establishment of one of its strongest lineups in years, featuring the dual guitars of Warren Haynes (who returned in 2001) and Derek Trucks, the powerful yet fluid and jazzy bass of Oteil Burbridge, some of Gregg Allman's most committed vocal and organ work in years, and the ever-reliable drum tandem of Butch Trucks and Jaimoe, supplemented by new percussionist Quinones.
They remained a top concert attraction decades after their last historically important album, easily drawing more than 20,000 fans at a time to outdoor venues, or booking 3,000-seat theaters for three weeks at a time. Their back catalog, especially the first five albums, remained consistent sellers on compact disc and downloads. Apart from their Arista releases, the Allman Brothers Band have remained remarkably consistent, altering their music only gradually over 40 years. They continued soaring at their concerts and on most of their records since 2001. Released in 2003, Hittin' the Note was hailed as their best album in decades, while the Live at the Beacon Theater DVD showed why they'd sold out 220 consecutive shows at that New York venue (the standing record). They played at Eric Clapton's Crossroads festival twice and, starting in 2005, presented their own WaneeFest in Live Oak, Florida. In 2012, the group was presented with the Lifetime Achievement award at the Grammys, a fitting addition to their Rock and Roll Hall of Fame status (which was conferred in 1995, the group's first year of eligibility).
In the early days of 2014, Haynes and Trucks released a joint press announcement stating that they were both leaving the Allman Brothers Band at the end of the year.