A Funeral In Macon

I remember the first time I went to Macon, Georgia.  It was 1997-ish and I was in Warner Robins on Air Force business [some things never change].  There was a long break in the meeting I was attending.  Knowing that Macon was close by, it was finally time for me to make an Allman Brothers pilgrimage.  I had to see two places if nothing else – the Big House on Vineville Avenue, and Rose Hill Cemetery, where original Allman Brothers members Duane Allman and Berry Oakley are buried side by side.  At that time. the Big House was a private residence.  ABB “Tour Mystic” and photographer Kirk West and his wife Kirsten lived there.  If one wanted to see the inside of the house, you had to make an appointment.  The Wests have since moved out and the Big House has become quite a museum for all sorts of ABB artifacts.  I had to settle for just seeing the outside of the place.  I didn’t feel comfortable making an appointment to traipse through someone else’s home, regardless of its social and cultural importance.

Rose Hill Cemetery has been in existence since 1840.  It’s just off downtown Macon, nestled between Riverside Drive and the Ocmulgee River.  A set of railroad tracks runs parallel to the river.  The road that runs around the perimeter of the entire cemetery also runs next to railroad tracks.  On the other side of that narrow road is the final resting place of a lady named Elizabeth Reed Napier.  If that name rings a bell, it’s because that is the place where Dickey Betts wrote his instrumental from the album Idlewild South - In Memory of Elizabeth Reed.  There is a large segment of the cemetery reserved for Confederate Civil War dead.  A lot of them are buried there.  The entire cemetery is situated on a long hill, with long gentle slopes in places and steep climbs in others.  There are one-lane roads that run throughout the place, and one needs to be careful while driving through, lest they slip over the roads’ edges and have their day ruined.

I had no idea where Duane and Berry were buried when I first entered the cemetery.  I parked my rental car on one of those very narrow, single-lane, winding roads and began to explore the place on foot.  About five minutes after I set out on my quest to find Duane and Berry, a gentleman [accompanied by his wife] noticed me and asked in his most pronounced Southern accent “are you looking for the Allman Brothers?”  “Yes. sir, I sure am”.  He pointed over the road I was walking on and down the hill.  “They’re down there.”  The written word doesn’t do justice to his elocution, but suffice to say he sounded more “at home” than me, a transplanted Yankee.  The climb down the hill was a little steep, but there they were – two marble-white graves sitting side by side.  The graves gleamed in the Georgia sunlight as if they were two giant sugar cubes.  I got closer and I noticed things.  Some people left stones, others left flowers, and still others left quarters and guitar picks.  Over the years some miscreant visitors defaced the graves, forcing the Oakley family to take the step of enclosing the graves with brick and iron fencing.  I digress, but just a little.  For Peachheads everywhere, this is Mecca.  We don’t face Macon and pray five times a day, but it is the spiritual home of the band we Peachheads love and cherish.

The Allman Brothers Band has always been about family.  The Big House served as a communal home for the band’s extended family.  Berry & Linda Oakley [and their daughter Brittany (who is on the back cover of Brothers and Sisters)] lived there.  Duane Allman lived there for a time, as did Gregg, who had a brief relationship with Berry’s sister Candace.  Dickey Betts wrote Blue Sky and Ramblin’ Man there.  Like most families, they fought.  The worst fight came in 2000, when Dickey Betts and the band parted ways.  That was a sad parting for us Peachheads [angry and bitter for the participants].  But while Dickey and the band were estranged, it was good to know the children remained friends.  Devon Allman has a picture of him, Duane Betts and one of Roy Orbison’s sons in a Nashville bar from April 2016.  Devon’s comment was “A Betts, an Allman & an Orbison walk into a bar..........”   I mention this because the extended family was at the funeral.  Jaimoe and his family were there, as was percussionist Marc Quinones.  Derek Trucks, his wife Susan Tedeschi and their daughter were there.  Berry Duane Oakley was there.  I remember from way back in 1989 when I saw the reunion tour in Sacramento, and Berry Duane joined the band onstage to play Southbound, but I digress [just a little].  Cher was there with her son with Gregg, Elijah Blue.  Gregg had told Dan Rather in an interview a couple of years ago that he and Cher were much better friends than they were spouses. 

Mama Louise [Photo by Marcus Ingram/Getty Images]

Jaimoe [Photo by Marcus Ingram/Getty Images]

Derek Trucks [Photo by Marcus Ingram/Getty Images]

Chank Middleton [Photo by Marcus Ingram/Getty Images]

Cher [Photo by Marcus Ingram/Getty Images]

The rest of Gregg’s clan was there [his widow Shannon, sons Michael & Devon, and daughters Delilah & Layla in addition to son Elijah Blue], including Duane’s daughter, Galadrielle.  Dickey Betts was there with his son Duane and his manager David Spero.  Mr. Spero graciously allowed me to use some of the photos in this blog.  Mama Louise from the H&H Restaurant was there.  She used to feed the band during the lean early days in Macon [I met her once – she’s a very sweet lady].  She even got a credit on the Fillmore East album [“Mama Louise:  Vittles”].  Otis Redding’s family was reported to be there as well.  Warren Haynes is in Spain on tour with Gov’t Mule, but his wife Stefani was there, as was Rose Lane Leavell, whose husband Chuck was in England fulfilling a prior obligation.  Gregg’s lifelong friend Chank Middleton and his manager Michael Lehmen delivered eulogies at the service.

Former President Jimmy Carter was there.  I’m sure this was the first time that Secret Service agents were ever present for a rock star’s funeral.  The first time Mr. Carter ran for president in the 1970s, the Allman Brothers Band played fundraisers to raise money for his then-fledgling campaign.   The Carter-Allman connection continued as Mr. Carter was on-hand to present Gregg an honorary doctorate in humanities from Macon’s Mercer College.  Mr. Carter had this to say when he learned of Gregg’s passing:

“Rosalynn and I were deeply saddened when we learned that Gregg Allman had passed. Gregg and the Allman Brothers Band were very helpful to me in my 1976 presidential campaign. Gregg Allman was better known than I was at that time.  Gregg Allman was there when I needed him and Rosalynn and I have always been grateful to him.”

The funeral service itself was held at Snow’s Memorial Chapel, the same place where Duane Allman’s funeral took place 46 years ago.  It was a private affair.  At Gregg Allman’s request, there was a “no suit” rule.  Suit jackets were allowed.  The only ties that I saw were worn by personnel from Snow’s, as that is part of the professionalism that comes with their jobs.

Snow's Memorial Chapel [Photo by Marcus Ingram/Getty Images]

The procession ran from the front of Snow’s on Cherry Street.  It ran from Cherry Street to First Street, then on to Riverside Drive.  Fans by the hundreds lined both sides of the street all the way to Rose Hill Cemetery.  Gregg’s final resting place is near those of his brother Duane and Berry Oakley.  According to Michael Lehman, that was in keeping with Gregg’s wishes.  He said that a “Good Samaritan” in Macon had owned 10 plots adjacent to Duane and Berry, and would sell them at to Gregg at the cost she paid.  Gregg and his manager bought all 10 plots.

[Courtesy of Woody Marshall/Macon.com]

Macon TV station WMAZ ran a live video feed, as did radio station Q106.  Oldest son Michael Allman also ran his own live Facebook feed from inside his limo on the way to Rose Hill.  He captured the crowds as they lined the funeral procession from Snow’s Memorial Chapel until he reached Rose Hill.  There was a twenty-minute film clip of the graveside service posted on-line.  It was from this clip that I could identify those who attended.  The clip starts with Gregg’s casket sitting in the shade of a tent.  The cemetery was filled with fans who payed their respects while keeping a respectful distance from the mourners.  The only sound you can hear is the sound of bagpipes.  Then the photographer panned to the left, and you can see the mourner’s getting out of their cars [after having passed by Elizabeth Reed Napier] to make the long, slow trek up the hill to Gregg’s final resting place.  And there he was, wearing an orange t-shirt, blue jeans and a straw cowboy hat – Dickey Betts.  For this Peachhead [and I’m sure all the others] this was a most-welcome sight.  Duane Betts and David Spero were walking beside him.  It was a beautiful, sunny day in Macon.  It looks like it was quite hot.  Dickey, Duane Betts, and David Spero seated themselves in the shade of a nearby tree, but they still felt the need to fan themselves to fight the heat.  The mourners inside the tent fanned themselves as well.

Delilah Allman

Shannon Allman

The Allman Clan & Cher

Duane Betts, Dickey Betts, David Spero [With permission of David Spero]

[R-L] David Spero, Berry Duane Oakley, Dickey Betts, Duane Betts, Susan Tedeschi

[Courtesy of Rj Howson, with permission from David Spero]

[Courtesy of Associated Press]

I was struck by one final sight. After the brief gravesite service the mourner’s filed out of the tent.  There was Gregg’s casket – alone.  But he wasn’t alone – there were scores of quiet, respectful fans to watch over him until he was lowered into the ground.

After the funeral, there was a private party at the Big House.  Berry Duane Oakley and Duane Betts played.  According to someone who posted on the Allman Brothers Band website, Dickey played In Memory of Elizabeth Reed, but I can’t confirm that.  The front gates to the Big House parking lot, which bears the band’s mushroom logo and a phrase from Midnight Rider [“the road goes on forever…”] were closed.  But fans gathered in front of the gates and around the Big House to hear the music.

The Big House [Courtesy of Woody Marshall/Macon.com]

Some final thoughts – As tense as things were between Dickey and Gregg over the last several years, there was a look of sadness on Dickey’s face.  Berry Duane Oakley and Duane Betts are almost carbon copies of their respective fathers’ younger selves.  Devon Allman looks a lot like his uncle Duane.  Within the last year Devon Allman has lost both his mother and father.  I’ve been there – I know it’s tough.  What was Berry Duane thinking about when he saw the grave of the father he never knew?  Derek Trucks lost both his uncle Butch Trucks and Gregg within four months.  It's been a tough year, and it's not even halfway over.

Duane & Dickey Betts, David Spero, Berry Duane Oakley [top]

[Courtesy of Rj Howson, with permission from David Spero]

Duane and Dickey Betts [Courtesy of Rj Howson, with permission from David Spero]

I’ll give Gregg the last word.  From Gregg's memoir, My Cross to Bear:

"When it's all said and done, I'll go to my grave and my brother will greet me saying, 'Nice work, little brother – you did all right.  I must have said this a million times, but if I died today, I've had me a blast. I wouldn't trade [my life] for nobody's, but I don't know if I'd do it again. If somebody offered me a second round, I think I'd have to pass on it."

Tedeschi Trucks Band - Revelator

Since the listening public became aware of the talent that is Derek Trucks, he has been on a quest.  With each successive record he’s put out, he’s proving himself to be a fairly good songwriter, a fine arranger and bandleader.  The sounds he has pursued include rock, blues, jazz, funk, gospel and Eastern modal music.  His band’s performances are incendiary, full of improvisation and inspiration.   To my ears, he is the reincarnation of the late Duane Allman.  It’s fitting this slide guitar wizard occupies Duane’s chair as one of the two guitarists [with Warren Haynes] in the Allman Brothers Band.  One of his albums [Soul Serenade] is almost completely instrumental, save a guest vocal turn from Gregg Allman.  One album [Joyful Noise] features several vocalists, including Rubén Blades, Solomon Burke, Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, Javier Colón, and Susan Tedeschi [Mrs. Derek Trucks].  Songlines and Already Free find the Derek Trucks Band hitting its stride with a permanent vocalist [Mike Mattison].  Both albums have carefully crafted and executed songs that don’t lend themselves to jamming.  Through all the Derek Trucks Band albums he has proven hard to pigeonhole into any specific style.  This guy is always searching for the lost chord.

Susan Tedeschi – what can I say about her that hasn’t already been said by others?  Pick your favorite superlative to describe her as a vocalist and it will fit.  She’s been around since she graduated from the Berklee College of Music.  I first heard her sing John Prine’s Angel From Montgomery on Warren Haynes’ first Christmas Jam CD.  Since that discovery, I’ve since acquired Wait For Me, Back to the River, and Hope and Desire.  The first two are electrifying guitar blues with her band and contain both originals and select covers.  The last is all covers, where Susan shows off her ability to interpret others work, much in the same way as Emmylou Harris.  It’s a step away from her usual blues guitar albums – she concentrates only on her singing.  Susan met Derek Trucks in 1999 when her band opened some dates for the Allman Brothers Band.  They got married in 2001, had a baby, appeared as guests on each other’s albums, had another baby, built their own home studio [Swamp Raga Studios], then they decided they wanted to spend more time together as a family.  The couple began touring as the Soul Stew Revival.  Now the Tedeschi Trucks Band, this unit features players from both bands [Mike Mattison and Kofi Burbridge from DTB, Tyler Greenwell from Susan Tedeschi’s band], bassist Oteil Burbridge of the Allman Brothers, another drummer [JJ Johnson], another backup vocalist [Mark Rivers], and a horn section [11 players in all]. 

Now that Derek and Susan have put their respective bands on ice for the time being, they’ve produced an album of original songs, Revelator.  One might expect a band with so many instruments to sound like a mess, but Derek and Susan make it work.  The template for the album can be found on Susan’s Revolutionize Your Soul from Back to the River.  It’s got Derek, horns, and background singers.  They also continue the song craft that Derek began with Songlines and Already Free.  All songs on Revelator are Tedeschi Trucks Band originals.  I’ve seen it written that this band is a lot like Delaney & Bonnie and Friends, and that description is pretty accurate.  This band is all over the stylistic map - love songs [Midnight in Harlem], more Eastern modal stuff mixed with soul [Simple Things], bluesy gospel [Don’t Let Me Slide], a touch of New Orleans [Until You Remember], funk [Love Has Something To Say].  And did I say Susan is a pretty good guitar player in her own right?  Check out her guitar work on Love Has Something To Say.

Revelator is a fairly well-executed fusion of the best musical abilities of Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks.  It’s good, but not great.  If I have a complaint it’s that there are too many slow, laid back tunes.  I think they played it a little too safe.  I’ve heard Derek play “lights out” with the Allman Brothers – check out any version they’ve done of I Walk on Gilded Splinters and you’ll know what I mean.  I don’t expect Derek to solo his brains out, but I do expect to hear more of what made him noticed than what I hear on Revelator.  The rhythm section just doesn’t pick up the pace.  I know bassist Oteil Burbridge is capable of much, much more - I’ve heard it. That fire just isn’t on Revelator.  I count three songs that sound like they have some pace to them – the opener Come See About Me, Learn How to Love, and Love Has Something Else to Say.  Maybe there will be more up-tempo numbers next time.  I certainly hope so.  If you want a record to relax to, then Revelator is for you.  If you want to get your adrenaline going, look elsewhere.

Allman Brothers Band - Hittin' the Note

After Warren Haynes and Allen Woody left the Allman Brothers to concentrate full-time on Gov’t Mule, things got confused for the Allman Brothers.  They got Jack Pearson to replace Warren and Otiel Burbridge to replace Allen Woody.  This line-up lasted for a couple of years, and then Jack Pearson had to bow out.  He was replaced by Derek Trucks, Butch’s nephew who is a slide guitar savant who channels Duane Allman.  Then things got vey confused.  After a tour in the spring of 2000, Gregg, Butch and Jaimoe informed Dickey that his services would not be required for touring that summer.  Dickey drank a lot, his playing got sloppy, and he was not easy to get along with.  They told Dickey to take some time off to get help for his addictions and he could rejoin them when he got better.  Dickey didn’t see it that way, and the temporary separation became a divorce when Dickey sued the other three.  With Dickey gone, the Brothers got Jimmy Herring to take his place.  Jimmy toured with the Brothers that summer, but when the Brothers offered him a permanent slot in the band, Jimmy declined.

During all this time, Gov’t Mule was doing fairly well.  They made three studio records [Gov’t Mule, Dose, Life Before Insanity], two live albums [Live at the Roseland Ballroom, Live…With a Little Help From Out Friends], and toured a lot.  Warren Haynes teamed up with Jimmy Herring and toured a lot with Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh in the group Phil Lesh & Friends.  Then tragedy struck – Allen Woody died in a New York hotel in August 2000.  The cause of death was never released.  Gov’t Mule were without a bass player.  The Allman Brothers were down a guitar player.  Guess who Butch called?  Yup – Warren Haynes.  Warren rejoined the band to play the Beacon run as a guest to see how things were since he left in 1997.  He liked what he saw and rejoined permanently.  Warren and Gregg wrote a bunch of new songs and hit the road.  These new songs, with a few older songs, became the album we now know as Hittin’ the Note.  The title comes from Berry Oakley.  It was his description of how the band played in the old days when they were all “on.”  This is the first album to feature both Warren Haynes and Derek Trucks, and also the first without Dickey Betts.

Worried Down With the Blues – A dry-run for Hittin’ the Note written by Allen Woody and Warren Haynes, this song was in Allman Brothers setlists as far back as 1996.  On The Deep End Volume 1 [2001], Warren gives us a preview of what the Allman Brothers sounds like with Derek Trucks.  Derek, Otiel Burbridge (bass) and Gregg Allman (Hammond B-3, vocals) all guest on this cut, with Gregg taking the vocals on the second verse.  Gregg steals the show.  The Allman Brothers later added this song to their canon by recording it for the live One Way Out album.   

And now for Hittin’ the Note…

Firing Line –The opening salvo on Hittin’ the Note, the band bursts out of the gate with all guns blazing.  Warren and Derek both play slide.   Gregg is in fine vocal form.  Gregg Allman, of all people, advises a younger person to clean up his act.  Gregg’s been clean and sober since 1996.  Change your life’s direction, get off the firing line… 

High Cost of Low Living – this one continues the theme from Firing Line.  You been chasing each dream with whiskey, from here to Tokyo, using up all your real friends with places left to go…  Given the band’s nasty divorce from Dickey Betts, is Gregg singing to his former partner in crime here?  The high cost of low living is bound to put you six feet in the ground… Great interplay between Derek Trucks and Warren Haynes.

Desdemona – a nine-minute minor chord blues that has shades of Gregg’s Queen of Hearts with the ¾ time signature.  This is blues with a jazz twist.  Warren and Derek make a great guitar tandem.  Tempo changes in mid-song just like in the old days.  Gregg shows why he’s one of the finest blues singers of this or any other time.  I make my livin’ pouring out my pain, tryin’ to make it through another day…My soul’s is empty as the sky…

Woman Across the River – a cover of a Freddie King song sung by Warren.  I can take it or leave it, but it’s ok.

Old Before My Time – this is the most emotionally intense song, both lyrically and musically, on Hittin’ the Note.  This is the Gregg Allman story told in five minutes, and told very well.  Warren’s slide solo almost sounds like his guitar is crying. Given that Gregg didn’t like Dickey Betts’ country leanings, its ironic this song sounds almost country-ish.  This is the best song on the album, and with all the high quality songs on Hittin’ the Note, that’s an accomplishment!  On par with Melissa from Eat a Peach – that’s how good Old Before My Time is.

Who to Believe – this is sort of an update to Whipping Post, only Gregg doesn’t feel like dying.  The usual themes of “are you cheating or not?”

Maydell – the shortest song on Hittin’ the Note at 4:35, this one is a Warren Haynes/Johnny Neel leftover from Seven Turns. Not bad, but not essential either.

Heart of Stone – the Allman Brothers cover the Rolling Stones.  This was in their setlists during the spring tour in 1995.  Very bluesy.  Mick and Keith would be proud.

Rockin’ Horse – this is the same song that didn’t make it onto Where It All Begins and done by Gov’t Mule on their eponymous debut.  Here it’s given the Allman Brothers treatment with one organ, two guitarists, and three drummers.   It’s about twice as long as the Gov’t Mule original.

Instrumental Illness – this is the first instrumental to appear on an Allman Brothers album not written by Dickey Betts.  Co-written by Warren and bassist Otiel Burbridge, this twelve-minute excursion is very jazzy in the same vein as Kind of Bird from Shades of Two Worlds.

Old Friend – I first heard this song when Chris Anderson opened for the Allman Brothers at the Classic Amphitheatre in Richmond, VA.  Matt Abts [Gov’t Mule] was his drummer, and Warren joined him on-stage to play this song.  Co-written with Warren, this appeared on Anderson’s Old Friend album, on which Warren also played.  On Hittin’ the Note, Warren and Derek play it as an old-time acoustic blues.  This is the only Allman Brothers song to not feature an original member.

To date, Hittin’ the Note has been the last studio album from the Allman Brothers.  Will they make another one?  They are not signed to any record label.  Warren has Gov’t Mule and is touring this year behind a soul album recorded under his own name [Man in Motion].  Derek Trucks has a new band with his wife, Susan Tedeschi.  They have a new album out titled Revelator.  Gregg Allman is touring behind his first solo album in 14 years [Low Country Blues].  Right now the Allman Brothers Band is the side project for these guys.  As of now they are content to play shows every summer, all of which they record and release to the public.  I hope they record something new, but I don’t see it happening.

What do I think of Hittin’ the Note?  It’s their best album since Brothers and Sisters [1973].  Given that the three albums they recorded for Epic [Seven Turns, Shades of Two Worlds, Where It All Begins] were all of high quality, that’s a bold statement, but the music backs up that statement.  If this is to be their last album, it’s the best way to call it a career.

Allman Brothers Band – The Fox Box, 2004

Since 2003, two years after Warren Haynes rejoined the Allman Brothers Band, the band has participated in the Instant Music program. Here’s the deal – shortly after each Allman Brothers show is over, you have the opportunity to purchase a copy of the concert you just heard. So if you ever want to be on your own Allman Brothers live album, just go to a show. If they run out of copies of that day’s show, don’t worry. The Allman Brothers will sell you a copy on the Hittin’ the Note website. The prices vary depending on how many CDs are needed to capture the show in its entirety. I like to get them because I don’t go to shows anymore, but I still want to hear the Allman Brothers in their environment – the stage. The last time the Allman Brothers recorded a studio album was in 2002 [Hittin’ the Note], so if you are interested in hearing songs you’ve never heard the Allman Brothers play, getting their shows from their website is a pretty good deal. They’ve taken to play music made famous by other musicians [the Grateful Dead, the Band, Howlin’ Wolf, Son House, just to name a few], plus they’ve rearranged some of their old music.

In September 2004, the Brothers played a three-night stand at Atlanta’s Fox Theatre. The setlists:

September 24, 2004Disc 1
Mountain Jam/Trouble No More/Midnight Rider/Wasted Words/Worried Down With the Blues/You Don’t Love Me/Ain’t Wastin’ Time No More
Disc 2
Rockin’ Horse/Hot ‘Lanta/Melissa/Come and Go Blues/Can’t Lose What You Never Had/Why Does Love Got to Be So Sad? ->Franklin’s Tower
Disc 3
Black Hearted Woman/Dreams (w/Jack Pearson)/Mountain Jam (w/Jack Pearson)/ Southbound (w/Jack Pearson)
September 25, 2004Disc 1
Les Brers in A Minor>Don't Want You No More/It's Not My Cross To Bear/Statesboro Blues/Stand Back/Who's Been Talking/Soulshine/Good Clean Fun/Old Before My Time/Woman Across the River
Disc 2
Instrumental Illness/The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down/Leave My Blues At Home/Key To The Highway/Don't Think Twice, It's All Right (Susan Tedeschi, vocals and guitar)/ One Way Out (Vaylor Trucks, guitar)
Disc 3
Blue Sky/Dreams/Les Brers in A Minor/Layla
September 26, 2004Disc 1
Revival/Every Hungry Woman/Done Somebody Wrong/Hoochie Coochie Man/Desdemona/High Cost of Low Living/Forty-Four Blues/End of the Line
Disc 2
Dreams/I Walk On Gilded Splinters/Stormy Monday/The Same Thing (Rob Barraco, piano)/ In Memory of Elizabeth Reed (Rob Barraco, piano) >drums>
Disc 3
In Memory of Elizabeth Reed>bass>In Memory of Elizabeth Reed/Don't Keep Me Wonderin'/No One To Run With/Whipping Post

During this run at the Fox, the Brothers played 51 different songs [give or take a couple], and only one of those songs appeared each night – Dreams. They mix up the setlist every night. That’s one thing I love about this band. They don’t play the same songs night after night. They rotate different songs in and out of the setlist to keep them from getting stale. On the second night they played two songs from Derek & the Dominos’ Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs because that was an album Duane Allman played a large part in making. On the third night they played I Walk on Gilded Splinters, another song Duane Allman had a hand in recording [with Johnny Jenkins on his Ton-Ton Macoute album]. As a treat, Gregg Allman sang Dickey Betts’ Blue Sky. The rule of thumb where Dickey’s songs are concerned is this – they’ll play Dickey’s instrumentals, but if Dickey sang a song on the original album, the band won’t play it live. That’s why you’ll never hear them playing Ramblin’ Man. But they got a lot of requests, it was Atlanta, so the Brothers let them have Blue Sky. On two of the three nights Warren Haynes sang songs from Howlin’ Wolf [Who’s Been Talking, Forty-Four]. On the same night they played the Layla songs, bassist Oteil Burbridge treated the crowd with his own rendition of the Grateful Dead classic Franklin’s Tower. These days you never know what to expect at an Allman Brothers show.

Depending on which town they’re playing in on a given night, they might have someone sit in with them. For instance, on the first night, Jack Pearson [who replaced Warren Haynes in the band 1997-99 but never recorded with them] sits in on three songs. Susan Tedeschi [Mrs Derek Trucks] guests with the band on the second night to sing Bob Dylan’s Don't Think Twice, It's All Right.

These guys have been playing together for ten years now. It’s the longest-lived incarnation of the band in its 41-year history. They’re all sober [even Gregg, since 1996], they ‘re all healthy [even after Gregg’s liver transplant in 2009], and they are playing great. Gregg is in fine voice every night. That couldn’t be said “back in the day.” Warren Haynes and Derek Trucks each have their solo gigs [Gov’t Mule and the Derek Trucks Band, respectively], so the Allman Brothers really is a part-time gig for them. That’s what keeps these guys fresh, and what makes these shows special. There are 175 recorded since 2003. So if you’re like me, you love the Allman Brothers Band but can’t afford to go to shows anymore, wander over to Hittin’ the Note to see what they have to offer.