Gregg Allman Band & Cowboy – The Gregg Allman Tour (1974)

Gregg Allman, the singer, musician and songwriter who played an essential role in the invention of Southern rock, has died at the age of 69 of complications from liver cancer. Allman’s rep confirmed to Rolling Stone that the artist died Saturday afternoon.

Allman “passed away peacefully at his home in Savannah, Georgia,” a statement on the singer’s website read Saturday. “Gregg struggled with many health issues over the past several years. During that time, Gregg considered being on the road playing music with his brothers and solo band for his beloved fans, essential medicine for his soul. Playing music lifted him up and kept him going during the toughest of times.”

“It’s too soon to properly process this,” Allman Brothers Band guitarist Dickey Betts said in a statement. “I’m so glad I was able to have a couple good talks with him before he passed. In fact I was about to call him to check and see how he was when I got the call. It’s a very sad day.”

Allman’s longtime manager and close friend Michael Lehman added, “I have lost a dear friend and the world has lost a brilliant pioneer in music. He was a kind and gentle soul with the best laugh I ever heard. His love for his family and bandmates was passionate as was the love he had for his extraordinary fans. Gregg was an incredible partner and an even better friend. We will all miss him.”

Although Allman claimed the term was redundant, the singer-keyboardist helped create the first great “Southern-rock” group as co-founder of the legendary Allman Brothers Band alongside his older brother, famed guitarist Duane Allman. The Allmans fused country blues with San Francisco-style extended improvisation, with their sound creating a template for countless subsequent jam bands. Gregg Allman was blessed with one of blues-rock’s great growling voices and, along with his Hammond B-3 organ playing (beholden to Booker T. Jones), had a deep emotional power.

Writing in Rolling Stone, ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons said that Allman’s singing and keyboard playing displayed “a dark richness, a soulfulness that added one more color to the Allmans’ rainbow.”

“I’ve tried … Words are impossible. Gui Gui forever. Chooch,” Cher wrote on Twitter. “Rest in peace Greg [sic] Allman peace and love to all the family,” Ringo Starr wrote. The Grateful Dead’s Bob Weir added, “Bon Voyage, Brother Gregg, enjoy your next stop…” (by Rolling Stone)

The Gregg Allman Tour is the second album and first live album by Gregg Allman, released in 1974. It was recorded at Carnegie Hall and Capitol Theatre. It peaked at number 50 on the Billboard Pop Albums charts in 1974. It was originally released as a double LP.

For this concert, Allman was backed by the band Cowboy, who played two of their own songs. Cowboy was a Capricorn Records label-mate and was Duane Allman’s favorite band. Several of its members had already backed Gregg Allman on his debut album the previous year.

At the beginning of the album, Gregg Allman is introduced by Martin Mull. (by wikipedia)

Gregg Allman’s tour in support of his debut solo LP, Laid Back, led to the recording of this album (originally two LPs) at Carnegie Hall in New York and the Capitol Theatre in Passaic, NJ. It’s a match for Laid Back in musical value and then some, with a good, wide range of repertory and great performances throughout by all concerned, plunging head-first and deep into blues, R&B, honky tonk, and gospel. Strangely enough, the album contains only three of Laid Back’s songs — “Don’t Mess Up a Good Thing” opens the show in a properly spirited, earthy manner, but it’s the second song, “Queen of Hearts,” in a soaring rendition, with gorgeous backing by Annie Sutton, Erin Dickins, and Lynn Rubin, and superb sax work by Randall Bramblett and David Brown, that shows Allman in his glory as a singer and bandleader.

Allman gives a lively, raucous, honky tonk-style rendition of the Elvis Presley hit “I Feel So Bad,” complete with a killer guitar solo by Tommy Talton, and “Turn on Your Lovelight” gets an extended treatment worthy of the Allman Brothers Band. One would expect that, with Chuck Leavell and Jaimoe present in the band, there were be more similarity to the Allmans’ sound, and that they’d be prominently featured, but Tommy Talton and bassist Kenny Tibbetts get more of a spotlight. Several Allman Brothers songs are present here, in more laid-back and lyrical versions, and the Capricorn Records band Cowboy — essentially serving as the core of Allman’s touring band — gets a featured spot with two songs, “Time Will Take Us” and “Where Can You Go,” that leave one wanting to hear a lot more concert material from them, and from Talton as a singer. (by Bruce Eder)

Personnel:

 

The Gregg Allman Band:
Gregg Allman (organ, vocals)
Scott Boyer (guitar)
Randall Bramblett (saxophone)
David Brown (saxophone)
Peter Eklund (trumpet)
Jai Johanny “Jaimoe” Johanson (drums, percussion)
Chuck Leavell (piano)
Todd Logan (trumpet)
Bill Stewart (drums)
Ken Tibbets (bass)
Tommy Talton (guitar, slide guitar)
Harold “Bullets” Williams (saxophone)
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background vocals:
Annie Sutton – Erin Dickins – Lynn RubinCowboy:
Scott Boyer (guitar, Background vocals)
Randall Bramblett (organ, saxophone)
David Brown (bass)
Peter Eklund (trumpet)
Johnny Lee Johnson (drums, percussion)
Chuck Leavell (piano)
Todd Logan (trumpet)
Bill Stewart (drums)
Tommy Talton (vocals, guitar, slide guitar)
Harold “Bullet” Williams (saxophone)
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Gregg Allman (organ on 06.)

Tracklist:

The Gregg Allman Band:
01. Don’t Mess Up A Good Thing (Sain) 4.33
02. Queen of Hearts (G.Allman) 7.40
03. I Feel So Bad (Willis) 4.44
04. Stand Back (G.Allman/Oakley) 3.30

Cowboy:
05. Time Will Take Us (Talton) 5.30
06. Where Can You Go? (Talton) 8.11

The Gregg Allman Band:
07. Double Cross (G.Allman/Leavell) 4.39
08. Dreams (Gregg Allman) 7.19
09. Are You Lonely For Me Baby (Cousin/Livesey/Price/Regan) 4.21
10. Turn On Your Love Light (Malone/Scott) 10.32
11. Oncoming Traffic (G.Allman, J.B.Allman) 5.44
12. Will The Circle Be Unbroken (Traditional) 6.13

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Goodbye Gregg and thanks a lot !
(December 8, 1947 – May 27, 2017)
Rest In Peace !

Gregg Allman – One Way Out (1989) (VHS rip)

And here´s another VHS rip from my collection:

“I had this originally many years ago on VHS video. I have been a fan for a long time, and this was a little productive spurt by Gregg Allman, Two albums and a Video in 3 or four years.
The show covers the I’m No Angel album and the line up includes the Toler brothers on Dums and Guitar, Chaz Trippy on percussion Bruce Waibel ion Bass and Tim Heading on Keyboards, as well as Gregg on Hammond Organ and Vocals.
The set is short at just under an hour and is pretty good covering a mix of Allman Brothers songs ‘It’s Not My Cross To Bear’ , ‘Statesboro’ Blues’ and ‘One way out ‘and Gregg Allman solo song from the period ‘I’m No Angel’, ‘Demons’ and ‘Just Before the Bullets Fly’. The show is short at just under 1 hour.
The picture quality is not ‘hi-def’ by any means and may be a very good dub from the original Video. Sound is slightly better though only Dolby and not LPCM.
Overall an ‘honest presentation’ of a Gregg Allman Band show of the time. Recommended for fans and those nostalgic for eighties production.” (by Fletch-a-sketch)

Enjoy this rare concert … And without any doubts … Gregg Allmann was one of the most impotant musicians of Southern Rock !

Personnel:
Gregg Allman (keyboards, vocals)
Tim Heading (keyboards)
Dan Toler (guitar)
David Toler (drums)
Chaz Trippy (percussion)
Bruce Waibel (bass)

Tracklist:
01. Don’t Want You No More (Davis/Hardin)
02. It’s My Cross To Bear (
03. Sweet Feeling
04. Just Before The Bullets Fly
05. Fear Of Falling
06. Demons
07. I’m No Angel
08. Statesboro’ Blues
09. Slip Away
10. One Way Out

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Various Artists – Hotels, Motels and Road Show (1978)

Southern rock is a subgenre of rock music and a genre of Americana. It developed in the Southern United States from rock and roll, country music, and blues, and is focused generally on electric guitar and vocals. Although the origin of the term Southern rock is unknown, “many people feel that these important contributors to the development of rock and roll have been minimized in rock’s history.”

The Allman Brothers Band played blues rock with long jams. Loosely associated with the first wave of Southern rock were acts like Barefoot Jerry and Charlie Daniels from North Carolina. In the early 1970s, another wave of hard rock Southern groups emerged. Their music emphasized boogie rhythms and fast guitar leads with lyrics extolling the values, aspirations – and excesses – of Southern working-class young adults, not unlike the outlaw country movement. Examples include The Marshall Tucker Band, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Molly Hatchet, and Blackfoot. Bands such as Drivin N Cryin, Dash Rip Rock, and Kentucky Headhunters emerged as popular Southern bands across the Southeastern United States during the 1980s and 1990s. The Georgia Satellites also had some widespread popularity in the mid to late 1980s.[citation needed] Some rock groups from the South, such as Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and The Fabulous Thunderbirds incorporated Southern musical and lyrical themes.

The 1990s also saw the influence of Southern rock touching metal. In 2001, Kid Rock went from a rock/rapper to a southern rocker/country singer. Southern rock currently plays on the radio in the United States, but mostly on oldies stations and classic rock stations. Post-grunge bands such as Nickelback have included a Southern rock feel to their songs.[clarification needed] Additionally, alternative rock groups like Kings of Leon combine Southern rock with garage rock, alt-country, and blues rock. Several of the original early 1970s hard rock Southern rock groups are still performing today, such as Lynyrd Skynyrd, ZZ Top, and Canned Heat.

Bonnie Bramlett

Rock music’s origins lie mostly in the music of the American South, and many stars from the first wave of 1950s rock and roll such as Bo Diddley, Elvis Presley, Little Richard, Buddy Holly, Fats Domino, and Jerry Lee Lewis hailed from the Deep South. However, the British Invasion and the rise of folk rock and psychedelic rock in the middle 1960s shifted the focus of new rock music away from the rural south and to large cities like Liverpool, London, Los Angeles, New York City, and San Francisco. But Sir Douglas Quintet, Tony Joe White and Dale Hawkins issued nice albums. In the late 1960s, Blues rock band such as Canned Heat (from Los Angeles), Creedence Clearwater Revival (from El Cerrito, California), and The Band (Canadian, though drummer Levon Helm was a native Arkansan) were under the influence of Southern blues, boogie and country music.

The Allman Brothers Band, based in Macon, Georgia, made their national debut in 1969 and soon gained a loyal following. Their blues rock sound on one hand incorporated long jams informed by jazz and classical music, and on the other hand drew from native elements of country and folk. Because a certain type of blues music, and essentially, rock and roll, was invented in the South, Gregg Allman commented that “Southern rock” was a redundant term, like “rock rock.”

The Allman Brothers were signed to Capricorn Records, a small Macon label formed and headed by Phil Walden (former manager of Otis Redding) and partner Frank Fenter, former European Managing Director of Atlantic Records. Similar acts recorded on Capricorn included The Marshall Tucker Band from Spartanburg, South Carolina, Wet Willie from Alabama, Grinderswitch from Georgia (and composed of Allman Brothers’ roadies) and the Elvin Bishop Band from Oklahoma.

Loosely associated with the first wave of Southern rock were acts like Barefoot Jerry and Charlie Daniels from North Carolina. Charlie Daniels, a big-bearded fiddler with a knack for novelty songs, gave Southern rock its self-identifying anthem with his 1975 hit “The South’s Gonna Do It”, the lyrics of which mentioned all of the above bands, proclaiming: “Be proud you’re a rebel/’Cause the South’s gonna do it again.” A year earlier, Daniels had started the Volunteer Jam, an annual Southern rock-themed concert held in Tennessee. The Winters Brothers Band from Franklin, Tennessee was a band Charlie Daniels helped to get started with “Sang Her Love Songs”, “Smokey Mountain Log Cabin Jones”, and more. They still perform and hold an annual festival in Nolensville, Tennessee every year.

In the early 1970s, another wave of hard rock Southern groups emerged. Their music emphasized boogie rhythms and fast guitar leads with lyrics extolling the values, aspirations – and excesses – of Southern working-class young adults, not unlike the outlaw country movement. Lynyrd Skynyrd of Jacksonville, Florida dominated this genre until the deaths of lead singer Ronnie Van Zant and two other members of the group in a 1977 airplane crash. After this tragic plane crash, members Allen Collins and Gary Rossington started The Rossington-Collins Band. Groups such as Ozark Mountain Daredevils, .38 Special, Confederate Railroad, Outlaws, Molly Hatchet, Blackfoot, The John Lee Walker Band, Point Blank, Black Oak Arkansas, and the Edgar Winter Group also thrived in this genre.

Not all Southern rock artists fit into the above molds. The Atlanta Rhythm Section and the Amazing Rhythm Aces were more focused on vocal harmonies, and Louisiana’s Le Roux ranged from Cajun-flavored Southern boogie early on to a more arena rock sound later on, while the Dixie Dregs and Allman Brothers’ offshoot Sea Level explored jazz fusion. At Southern rock’s peak The Allman Brothers and other Capricorn artists played a part in Jimmy Carter’s 1980 campaign for the presidency (by wikipedia)

Capricorn Recording Studios in Macon

And this is the the ultimate live compilation from Capricorn. Two LPs featured live tracks from Stillwater, The Dixie Dregs, The Marshall Tucker Band, Bonnie Bramlett, Grinderswitch, Elvin Bishop, Wet Willie, Richard Betts, Gregg Allman, and The Allman Brothers Band. Enjoy the power of Southern Rock !

(This entry is dedicated to Phil Walden: Hereá picture of Walden with The Allman Brothers Band in the studio)

Tracklist:
01. Stillwater: Out On A Limb (Walker/Hall/Causey/Spearman) 5.05
02. Stillwater: Mind Bender (Walker/Buie) 5.07
03. Sea Level: Grand Larceny (Larsen) 8.00
04. Dixie Dregs: Refried Funky Chicken (Morse) 2.55
(Recorded At The Fox Theatre, Atlanta, Georgia, May 1978)
05. The Marshall Tucker Band: Fire On A Mountain (McCorkle) 4.35
(Recorded At The Palace Theatre, Manchester, England, December 1976)
06. Bonnie Bramlett: Superstar (Russell/Bramlett) 6.16
(Recorded At The Apollo Centre, Glasgow, Scotland, December 1976)
07. Grinderswitch: You’re So Fine (Schofield/Finnie) 3.28
(Recorded At The Hammersmith Odeon, London, England, November 1976)
08. Elvin Bishop: Travelin’ Shoes (Bishop) 7.22
(Recorded At The Roxy, Los Angeles, California, October 1976)
09. The Marshall Tucker Band: Take The Highway (Caldwell) 7.55
(Recorded At Uhlein Hall, Performing Arts Center, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 1973)
10. Wet Willie:  Teaser (Duke) 4.05
(Recorded At The Roxy, Los Angeles, California, March 1976)
11. Richard Betts: No Hard Times (Rodgers) 4.28
(Recorded At Winterland, San Francisco, California, December 1974)
12. Gregg Allman: Are You Lonely For Me, Baby? (Berns) 4.22
(Recorded At Carnegie Hall, New York, NY, November 1973 )
13. The Allman Brothers Band: Statesboro Blues (McTell) 4.26
(Recorded At Fillmore East, New York, NY, March 1971)

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Gregg Allman – Jazz Fest Live 2011 (2011)

“I’ve got my hand over my heart,” Gregg Allman says of his extraordinary new album called Low Country Blues , “and if it’s a hit there, it’s a hit.”
Simply put, Low Country Blues is Gregg Allman at his very best, a self-assured, spirited collection that will stand as a major milestone in what is undeniably an exceptional career.  “Places you been, things that you done/Somehow you’re still on the run,” Allman sings on “Just Another Rider.”

This album was recorded live at the legendary The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival on 2011.
Here´s a review:In the Blues Tent of the New Orleans Jazz Fest 2011, the most valuable player of Friday’s (May 6) closing set had to be Gregg Allman’s new liver.
After all: No it, no him. And no deeply satisfied Blues Tent.
Looking fit and singing strong for a man of his mileage, Allman fronted a brawny, horn-driven band that sounded more Memphis or Muscle Shoals than Macon, typical of his solo work.  The old liver, a victim of Hepatitis C, was swapped out about a year ago.

Long may the new one run. Friday, multiple ovations met solos and song endings.

A few Allman Brothers Band favorites made the playlist, but only “Melissa” would remind anyone of the version they first heard, on 1972’s “Eat a Peach.” The Allman Brothers favorite “Whipping Post,” best known as a slinky 6/8 jam on disc and endless classic-rock-radio plays, was unleashed as a 4/4 stomp.

In addition to his new plumbing, Allman has been revivified by the reception won by his album of blues-chestnut covers released earlier this year, “Low Country Blues” (produced by T Bone Burnett, some keyboards by Dr. John).

Friday, he was additionally bolstered by stellar guitar soloing by Scott Sharrard. Big, big shoes to fill for that guy, but he was up to it. Jay Collins’ work on multiple horns, including flute, also earned earnest audience appreciation. They were the standouts in an excellent, supple, crowd-pleasing band.

The Blues Tent was a crowded as I’ve ever seen it, at least leading up to the set. There was gradual outflow, but everybody who stayed to the end enjoyed an inspiring performance by a slugger making the most of his extra innings.
But …
Taken from the press release:
Upon his doctor’s orders, Gregg Allman is unfortunately being forced to cancel his August 26 through September 15 concert dates. Some of these dates will be rescheduled for later in the year. Allman had to cancel four dates at the end of his four week European tour in June due to an upper respiratory condition. His doctor hoped that with rest, he’d get better, but unfortunately the issue has persisted. Treatment is going to involve several days of hospitalization and 4 – 6 weeks of bed rest at home. Allman continues to recover from his successful liver transplant and expects to return to touring in support of his highly acclaimed “Low Country Blues” album in the late fall.

Personnel:
Gregg Allman (keyboards, guitar, vocals)
Jay Collins (saxophone, flute)
Jerry Jemmott (bass)
Bruce Katz (keyboards)
Floyd Miles (vocals)Steve Potts (drums)
Scott Sharrad (guitar)

Tracklist:
01. Don’t Keep Me Wonderin (Allman) 4.23
02. I’m No Angel (Palmer/Colton) 4.11
03. Tears, Tears, Tears (Milburn) 6.21
04. Just Another Rider (Allman/Haynes) 5.43
05. Going Back To Daytona (Greenlee/Myles) 5.27
06. I Can’t Be Satisfied (Morganfield) 6.00
07. Dreams (Allman/Tristano) 12.35
08. Before Bullets Fly 4.16
09. Melissa (Allman) 6.18
10. Whipping Post (Allman) 6:24
11. Midnight Rider (Allman) 5.00
12. Stage Banter 2.09
13. Sweet Feelin’ (Carter/Daniel) 3.15
14. Statesboro Blues (McTell) 5.31

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