The Allman Brothers Band

Roots and formation (1965–1969)

Guitarist Duane Allman and his younger brother Gregg grew up in Daytona Beach, Florida, after moving 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....

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 (now known as the Library Ballroom).

Musical style and influences

The Allman Brothers Band have generally been considered one of the pioneering bands in Southern rock, although the group distanced itself from the term. 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."

Legacy

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". 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." 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." The band's extended popularity through heavy touring in the early 1990s...

Ain't Wastin' Time No More

"Ain't Wastin' Time No More" is a song by the American rock band the Allman Brothers Band. It was the lead single from their third studio album, Eat a Peach (1972), released on Capricorn Records.

The song, written by Gregg Allman, largely concerns the death of his brother, Duane Allman, who was killed in a motorcycle crash in 1971.

Background

Following the death of group leader and guitarist Duane Allman, the Allman Brothers Band returned to the studio to complete Eat a Peach, which was midway through production at the time of his death. Much of the song's lyrical content deals with his death; Gregg Allman felt the subject "was the only thing I knew how to do right then." Allman had completed most of the song's music before his brother's death, but felt compelled to record it when bassist Berry Oakley and drummer Jaimoe asked about it. He proceeded to write the song's lyrics—which also concern soldiers returning home from the Vietnam War— on a Steinway piano at Criteria Studios in Miami, Florida, where it was recorded in December 1971. Guitarist Dickey Betts picked up slide...

Blue Sky

"Blue Sky" is a song by the American rock band the Allman Brothers Band from their third studio album, Eat a Peach (1972), released on Capricorn Records. The song was written and sung by guitarist Dickey Betts, who penned it about his girlfriend, Sandy "Bluesky" Wabegijig.

The track is also notable as one of guitarist Duane Allman's final recorded performances with the group. The band's two guitarists, Duane Allman and Dickey Betts, alternate playing the song's lead: Allman's solo beginning 1:07 in, Betts joining in a shared melody line at 2:28, followed by Betts's solo at 2:37.

Background

Dickey Betts composed "Blue Sky" about his Indigenous Canadian girlfriend, Sandy "Bluesky" Wabegijig, whom he would later marry. The lyrics leave out any references to gender to make it nonspecific: "Once I got into the song I realized how nice it would be to keep the vernaculars—he and she—out and make it like you’re thinking of the spirit, like I was giving thanks for a beautiful day. I think that made it broader and more relatable to anyone and everyone," he later said.

Cover versions

"Blue Sky" has been covered by Joan Baez on her 1975 album Diamonds & Rust and released as the follow up single to the title track, reaching #57 on Billboard's Hot 100 Chart.

Little Martha

"Little Martha" is an acoustic guitar song composed by Duane Allman, which appeared as the final studio track on the Allman Brothers Band's fourth album, Eat a Peach, released in 1972. It was the Band's only track written solely by group leader and lead guitarist Allman.

The track was recorded in October 1971, a few weeks before Duane Allman's death in a motorcycle accident.

Legacy

Both Gregg Allman and Dickey Betts have included "Little Martha" on live albums. The original studio version can be heard faintly on the PA system after the closing track, "Will The Circle Be Unbroken" on Allman's 1974 effort, The Gregg Allman Tour. It was also interwoven into bassist Oteil Burbridge's bass solos during certain live shows in the late 1990s by The Allman Brothers Band. Pickin' On The Allman Brothers: A Bluegrass Tribute contains a 3:40 min version of "Little Martha" "Little Martha" appears in a wildly different electric version as the opening track to Dickey Betts' 2004 limited-release live album, Instant Live At The Odeon. Guitarist Mac McAnally, a 10 time Country Music Association musician of the year and a long time...

Mountain Jam

"Mountain Jam" is an improvised instrumental jam by The Allman Brothers Band, based on Donovan's 1967 hit song "There Is a Mountain". Performed throughout the group's career, "Mountain Jam" was originally released in 1972 on the album Eat a Peach, as recorded at the Fillmore East concert hall in March 1971.

It is this rendition, that takes up two sides of that vinyl album, that is best known. As a composition, it is credited to all six band members – Duane Allman, Gregg Allman, Dickey Betts, Jai Johanny Johanson, Berry Oakley, and Butch Trucks – as well as to Donovan Leitch.

One Way Out

"One Way Out" is a blues song that was recorded in the early 1960s by both Sonny Boy Williamson II and Elmore James. A reworking of the song by G.

L. Crockett, titled "It's a Man Down Here", appeared on the Billboard record charts in 1965.

Songwriting credits

Dixon biographer Mitsutoshi Inaba notes that "One Way Out" was a spontaneous composition by Williamson. Marshall Chess described Williamson's approach to songwriting:

Trouble No More

"Trouble No More" is an upbeat blues song first recorded by Muddy Waters in 1955. It is a variation on "Someday Baby Blues", recorded by Sleepy John Estes in 1935.

The Allman Brothers Band recorded both studio and live versions of the song in the late 1960s and 1970s.

Background

Several blues musicians have interpreted and recorded variations on "Someday Baby Blues". "Muddy Waters calls his 'Trouble No More' and Big Maceo titled his 'Worried Life Blues'. Be that as it may ... they all derive from Sleepy John Estes' 1935 classic 'Someday Baby Blues'."

Recording and releases

On November 3, 1955, Waters recorded "Trouble No More" in Chicago with Jimmy Rogers on electric guitar, Little Walter on amplified harmonica, Otis Spann on piano, Willie Dixon on bass, and Francis Clay on drums. Sometimes known as the "Headhunters", a loose group of fellow Chess recording artists, they were instrumental in defining Chicago blues.