Allman Brothers

True rulers of 1970s rock music and standard-bearers of “Southern” rock, the Allman Brothers are the emblem of the decade’s ensemble-based rock, grounded in skill and cohesion, which relegates composition to a secondary role compared to the collective performance.
The long improvised pieces resemble medleys of famous motifs more than psy­chic deliria. After all, this blues-rock is fueled more by alcohol than by acid, and its function is to professionally entertain a paying audience rather than expand their consciousness.

The Allman Brothers broadly followed the parabola of the Grateful Dead, albeit with a few years’ delay, from acid-rock to country-rock, adapting it to the more traditional and less innovative cultural humus of the South. The intricate solos of Duane and the twin guitar harmonies with Betts are the only real innovations contributed by the group.

Both natives of Tennessee, brothers Duane and Greg Allman were in 1968 (respectively on guitar and organ) leading one of the many Californian blues-rock bands: the Hourglass, authors of The Hourglass (1967) and Power of Love (1968). In 1969 they settled in Jacksonville, Florida, and, after merging with a local rhythm-and-blues group, gave life to the Allman Brothers, debuting with a plaintive, Native-American–tempo funk that would become their signature (Midnight Rider, 1970).

On their first two albums, The Allman Brothers Band (Capricorn, 1969) and Idlewild South (1970), reissued as Beginnings (1974), the Allman Brothers earned a dual reputation: Duane individually—participating in dozens of sessions with soul legends (Aretha Franklin and Wilson Pickett among others)—became one of the most esteemed guitarists of the new decade, equally familiar with boogie-style lead playing and Elmore James–style slide, with country picking as with jazz phrasing; and the Allmans as a whole for enchanting both audiences with their powerful Southern blues-rock and the critics with a repertoire that included classics of the stature of Whipping Post, Dreams (on the first album), and In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed, along with many selections from the blues songbook (from Willie McTell to Sonny Boy Williamson).

The Allman Brothers use the song as a framework around which the solid twin-guitar sound (typically Duane and Dickey Betts in sensational “creative” duets) and dual-drummer setup gradually unfold, with a lineup (rounded out by Gregg’s keyboards and Barry Oakley’s bass) that guarantees a style both fierce and inventive. Their undeniable performance talents allow the troupe to vary the chosen theme endlessly, according to a practice more jazz than rock, yet charged with a virile, full-bodied Southern mood.

Not by chance, the group’s consecration came with two double live albums, Live At Fillmore East (Capricorn, 1971) and Eat A Peach (Capricorn, 1972), definitive collections of their warhorses. On the first, towering long versions of Whipping Post and Elizabeth Reed; on the second, a monumental series of variations on Donovan’s There Is A Mountain lasting over half an hour, a one-way journey into the heart of music and the ultimate consecration of the blues-psychedelic genre (free-form improvisation à la Cream and dark suite à la Grateful Dead). The second also shines with fiery versions of their classics such as Ain't Waisting Time No More, a romantic country ballad by Greg, Melissa, the psychedelic instrumental Les Brers In A Minor by Betts, and a breathtaking version of One Way Out. Blue Sky features two solos, the first by Duane Allman and the second by Dickey Betts.

Duane Allman, however, killed himself in October 1971 in a motorcycle accident, consecrating himself to legend and record-company speculation, followed shortly by Oakley (also in a motorcycle accident, in November 1972, almost at the same spot). The event nonetheless brought publicity to the band, which recorded back-to-back sellouts up to the 600,000 people of Watkins Glen (1973); but it significantly impoverished the group’s talent, which in Brothers And Sisters (1973), a million-selling album, muddled along with the tepid compositions of second guitarist Dickey Betts: ballads like Southbound, funky and enlivened by the velvety, swinging piano of new keyboardist Chuck Leavell, and Ramblin' Man, their most catchy country-rock tune (written by Betts), or the syncopated dobro blues Pony Boy, or again Jessica, a frenetic soul instrumental boasting a dizzying piano solo by Leavell and an electrifying guitar refrain by Betts. These are sophisticated songs that blend country and blues with a modern spirit, always ennobled by flowing mini-jams. So too Don't Want You No More (on the new double live album Wipe The Windows, 1976), whereas Win Lose Or Draw (1975) had little new to offer.

The situation favored centrifugal tendencies, fueled by ideological disputes between the more blues-oriented Dicky Betts (the main composer) and the more rustic Greg Allman (legitimate heir to the throne and Cher’s husband). A more commercial approach and a lifeless routine dealt the final blow, and the band broke up.

Betts formed the Great Southern and then his own band, with which he continued to offer the soporific sound of the late Allman Brothers. Same goes for Gregg Allman. Keyboardist Leavell formed Sea Level, who played a more interesting jazz-rock.

The Allman Brothers reunited (without Leavell) for Enlightened Rogues (1979), Reach For The Sky (1980) and Brothers Of The Road (Arista, 1981), which are parodies of the old sound (Straight From The Heart). Dreams (1989) is an anthology. This is Betts’s band, not Allman’s, but in the end it is worth as much as the original one.

Allman and Betts reformed the Allman Brothers Band one more time with Warren Haynes on slide guitar and Johnny Neel on keyboards. Seven Turns (Epic, 1990) marked an unlikely return to form, with Good Clean Fun and Gambler's Roll sounding like a rejuvinated rock'n'roll band, the instrumental True Gravity stradding the border with jazz-rock, and Seven Turns sounding like the fare of an intellectual singer-songwriter.

Even better, Shades Of Two Worlds (Epic, 1991) includes the lengthy Nobody Knows and the jazzy instrumental Kind Of Bird (the title is a tribute to Charlie Parker and Miles Davis) and is perhaps their best studio album after the debut. But Where It All Begins (1994) is pure nostalgia. Guitarist Derek Trucks joined the Allman Brothers Band in 1998. Hittin' The Note (Sanctuary, 2003), without Betts, was the Allman Brothers' first studio album of new songs in nine years.

Warren Haynes was also the lead guitarist of Gov't Mule, a band that expanded the sounther-rock vocabulary to incoporate jazz and folk. They debuted with Gov't Mule (Relativity, 1995), containing three seven-minute songs (Trane, Painted Silver Light, Left Coast Groovies), an eight-minute version of Memphis Slim's Mother Earth and the ten-minute World of Difference next to the classic hard-rock of Monkey Hill. Dose (Capricorn, 1998) opens with two of their signature songs, Blind Man in the Dark and Thorazine Shuffle. But the real dimension of their music was the live one. Live at Roseland Ballroom (Foundation, 1996) contains the 16-minute John Coltrane tribute Trane and the ten-minute Kind of Bird. The double live With a Little Help From Our Friends (Capricorn, 1998) contains a 30-minute version of Mongo Santamaria's Afro-Blue, lengthy tributes to bluesmen (Albert King's The Hunter, Memphis Jimmy's Look on Yonder Wall, Robert Johnson's 32-20 Blues), covers of classic rock songs from the 1970s (a 20-minute version of Little Feat's Spanish Moon, a 14-minute version of the Traffic's Sad and Deep as You, a 17-minute version of Jimi Hendrix's Third Stone from the Sun, Free's Mr Big, Black Sabbath's War Pigs, a 14-minute version of Neil Young's Cortez the Killer) as well as the 14-minute Gambler's Roll, the 17-minute Mule, the ten-minute Devil Likes It Slow, I Shall Return, Soulshine Thorazine Shuffle and No Need to Suffer.

Life Before Insanity (Capricorn, 2000) closes with a 13-minute jam interpolating a Robert Johnson blues song (In My Life/ If I Had Possession Over Judgement Day) and contains the definitive version of No Need to Suffer.

When bassist Allen Woody died, they recorded two tribute albums to him with a rotating cast of bassists. The Deep End Vol 1 (2001), which contains the nine-minute Worried Down with the Blues and an eight-minute version of Soulshine (with Chuck Leavell on organ and Little Milton on vocals), casts Gregg Allman, Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers Bootsy Collins, Jack Bruce (in Fool's Moon with Bernie Worrell on organ), John Entwistle of the Who in Same Price (with Page McConnell of Phish on organ), Roger Glover of Deep Purple, and Mike Watt of Minutemen in the longest piece, a nine-minute version of Creedence Clearwater Revival's Effigy (with Jerry Cantrell of Alice In Chains on vocals). The Deep End Vol 2 (2002) employs jazz bassist Alphonso Johnson in the longest jam, Babylon Turnpike, female rapper Me'Shell NdegeOcello in a lengthy cover of the Staple Singers's Hammer and Nails, and Jimi Hendrix's Billy Cox in the notable Catfish Blues, besides Les Claypool of Primus, Jefferson Airplane's Jack Casady, Phil Lesh of the Grateful Dead, Chris Squire of Yes, Chris Wood of Medeski, Martin & Wood and Tony Levin. Then came: Deja Voodoo (2004), which replaced deceased bassist Allen Woody with Andy Hess and opted mostly for mellow material like Silent Scream, High & Mighty (2006), with Endless Parade and the hard-rocking Brand New Angel; Mighty High (2007), a sort of (lame) tribute to reggae music; the live Holy Haunted House (2008); By a Thread (2009), with Inside Outside Woman Blues #3; the live Mulennium (2010); the double album Shout (2013), containing Bring On the Music and an entire disc of the same songs performed by guest vocalists (Ben Harper, Elvis Costello, Dr John, Toots Hibbert, Dave Matthews, Steve Winwood etc); the Pink Floyd tribute Dark Side of the Mule (2014); the live Sco-Mule (2015), recorded with jazz guitarist John Scofield and jazz keyboardist Dan Matrazzo; the triple live Dub Side of the Mule (2015), devoted to reggae music; the double live Stoned Side of the Mule Vol. 1 & 2 (2015); the archival album The Tel-Star Sessions (2016); Revolution Come...Revolution Go (2017), with Thorns of Life, Revolution Come Revolution Go and a cover of the traditional gospel Dark Was the Night; the somnolent blues concept Heavy Load Blues (2021), with a nine-minute version of Howlin' Wolf's I Asked for Water; etc. For two decades, Warren Haynes was one of the hardest working musicians of southern-rock, but the group's songs were often plodding and repetitive.

The Derek Trucks also formed his own Band and released The Derek Trucks Band (1997), Out of The Madness (1998), Joyful Noise (Columbia, 2002).

Gregg Alman died in 2017. Dickey Betts died in 2024.