Tony's Picks - Lynyrd Skynyrd

I’ve been listening to the original band quite a bit lately. The challenge – create a Lynyrd Skynyrd CD that doesn’t have the songs Freebird or Sweet Home Alabama. Yes – I still do CDs. My car is “old” and doesn’t have an auxiliary jack to plug in my iPod. So if I want to hear music I like without having to wade through and suffer the copious amounts of crap that is on today’s radio, I make my own CDs. While I still like Freebird every now and then, radio killed it. I listen to it every now and then, but then it goes back into the archives to wait a long time before I want to hear it again. Not only did radio kill Sweet Home Alabama, so too did KFC. I can go the rest of my life, never hear that song again and be happy. A good song yes, but it’s dead to me. When Warren Zevon makes fun of it [Sweet Home Alabama, play that dead band’s song, turn those speakers up full blast, play it all night long…], it’s time for it to retire. 

I’m partial to Skynyrd’s songs that came after the Second Helping album, but there are some exceptions. So you won’t find Curtis Leow or Workin’ for MCA on this list, as fine as those songs are.

T for Texas [Blue Yodel No. 1] [One More From the Road, 1976] – Live Skynyrd at its best on this old Jimmie Rodgers song. Listen closely and you’ll hear bassist Leon Wilkeson play the same bass lines note-for-note that Berry Oakley played on the Allman Brothers’ take on One Way Out from Eat a Peach. Guitarists Gary Rossington and Steve Gaines are in fine form. Blistering!

That Smell [Street Survivors, 1977] – classic rock radio has tried its best to kill this song. Allen Collins and Gary Rossington kept drinking too much, doing too many drugs, and getting behind the wheel of a car, so Ronnie Van Zant wrote this song. This was not the first time RVZ wrote about drugs.

Saturday Night Special [Nuthin’ Fancy, 1975] – who knew Ronnie Van Zant was an advocate of gun control?

Gimme Back My Bullets [Gimme Back My Bullets, 1976] – the title song from an unfairly-maligned album. It’s not about guns as the title might suggest.

Roll Gypsy Roll [Gimme Back My Bullets, 1976] – unique in the Lynyrd Skynyrd canon because it is the only time you hear a twelve-string acoustic guitar [courtesy of Allen Collins] on a record from the original band. This is one of many “road” songs from RVZ.

Searching [Gimme Back My Bullets, 1976] – RVZ seeks wisdom from a wise man.

Travelin’ Man [One More From the Road, 1976] – Leon Wilkeson came up with a cool bass riff, and RVZ wrote a song around it.

Whiskey Rock-A Roller [One More From the Road, 1976] – the studio version is originally from Nuthin’ Fancy. RVZ said “Had a old stupid writer on time ask me, said ‘what are you man?’ said ‘what are you really, you know?’ So I decided to write a song, really, this is what I am…” I like this version better.

Double Trouble [Gimme Back My Bullets, 1976] – RVZ spinning about the number of times he’s been to jail. During one such night in jail, he and Gary Rossington compared notes on how many times each had been thrown in jail for whatever reason. RVZ had been to jail twice as many times as Gary, hence the title. RVZ got busted again after the album’s release, and he called producer Tom Dowd in a panic to tell him that Double Trouble was outdated because he’d been busted again.

On the Hunt [Nuthin’ Fancy, 1975] – RVZ looking for women, he’s “on the hunt.”

Cheatin’ Woman [Nuthin’ Fancy, 1975] – BB King once asked the musical question “how blue can you get?” This song, the subject of which is pretty obvious, shows Skynyrd how blue they can get. Check out Ed King on slide guitar.

The Needle and the Spoon [Second Helping, 1974] – this is the song that hooked me on Lynyrd Skynyrd. This cautionary tale about drug abuse predates That Smell by three years.

Simple Man [Pronounced 'Lĕh-'nérd 'Skin-'nérd, 1973] – a mother’s advice to her son. A great song – check out Ed King on bass. The Scorpions made a song years later called Always Somewhere [Lovedrive, 1979] that sounds a lot like Simple Man.

Simple Man [Lynyrd Skynyrd]

Always Somewhere [The Scorpions]

Comin’ Home [Skynyrd’s First…and Last, 1978] – this one is from sessions the band did in the early 1970s with producer Jimmy Johnson in Muscle Shoals. Billy Powell plays it pretty. Guitar overdubs from Ed King came years after the original recording.

One More Time [Street Survivors, 1977] – though this appeared on Street Survivors, this song has the same vintage as Comin’ Home. The only Street Survivors cut to feature Ed King.

I Know a Little [Street Survivors, 1977] – Steve Gaines makes his presence know in a big way on this song.  Billy Powell does, too. :-)

Georgia Peaches [Street Survivors Deluxe Edition, 2008] – this one is an outtake from the original Street Survivors sessions. It’s RVZ’s appreciation of the ladies of Atlanta, Georgia.

Lynyrd Skynyrd - Street Survivors [Deluxe Edition]

Street Survivors is an album that will always be linked with tragedy because it came out three days before “the plane crash.” What a shame because there’s music here that would be memorable in its own right if not for tragedy. So much has been written about the original album that I won’t even bother going there. In 2008 Geffen Records release a Deluxe Edition of Street Survivors. Unlike other deluxe editions of classic albums that have maybe a few B-sides of singles and the odd live cut, the Deluxe Version is different. It contains not only the remastered version of the album released in October 1977 [which sounds great, BTW], but also what came before it. Street Survivors was recorded twice. The original version, produced by Tom Dowd, is presented here in full. Kevin Elson, the band’s live sound engineer, heard the album and told the band what they didn’t want to hear. He told them “If you release this album, you career’s over.” To him, the performances on the original album lacked “punch” and sounded lifeless in comparison to what he knew the band was capable of producing. He and Ronnie Van Zant almost came to blows over what he told the band because the band loved and revered Tom Dowd. They didn’t want to hear that a Tom Dowd production sounded like crap. Luckily for Elson, new guitarist Steve Gaines agreed with him. Such was Ronnie Van Zant’s respect for Steve Gaines that he had the band re-record the album.

When you hear both the original album and the album that eventually got released, you can hear that Kevin Elson was right. Some of the Dowd sessions simply lacked power. The songs from the original were fine, it’s the performances that were lacking, but only on some of the tracks. The most glaring example of the need for a complete re-recording was That Smell. There are two versions that didn’t make the cut. The original first take had an extended guitar jam that lasted for about two minutes. The same take, which became the first original master, faded out before the guitar jam. Both are presented here. Compared to what you now hear on classic rock radio, these versions sound like rough demos, even though they were recorded at Criteria Studios in Miami. Some of the songs needed just a little tinkering. The original Ain’t No Good Life had the Honkettes singing backup – they didn’t make the cut for the final release [it sounds better without them]. The original What’s Your Name lacked the horns that the released version had [adding the horns = good move], while the original I Never Dreamed didn’t have drums [this one's kind of cool without the drums]. Georgia Peaches and Sweet Little Missy, which were supposed to be on the original release, didn’t make the cut, but they are revived for the Deluxe Edition. They were replaced by the older song One More Time [from 1971 Muscle Shoals sessions with producer Jimmy Johnson] and I Know a Little. The band cut a demo of Sweet Little Missy in Jacksonville, and it sounded better than what they recorded with Tom Dowd. Tom Dowd was a fine producer, but he just couldn’t get good performances out of the band for all the songs on Street Survivors. The band recorded Merle Haggard’s Honky Tonk Night Time Man. As an afterthought, Ronnie Van Zant wrote one final song called Jacksonville Kid. He recorded the vocal over the Honky Tonk Night Time Man backing track, but decided not to use it. It is reported to be the last song Ronnie Van Zant wrote. It’s not bad, but Haggard’s song was better and the band was right to keep it for the Street Survivors release.

Finally, to close the Deluxe Edition there are five live tracks taken from a concert in Fresno, California. The band previewed You Got That Right, That Smell, What’s Your Name and Ain’t No Good Life [Gimme Three Steps is the fifth live cut]. The band is in fine form. The audio isn’t so good, but that’s what one can expect of a mid-1970s bootleg recording. I for one could do without the live tracks presented here. But the amateur musicologist in me appreciates the alternate studio versions and the outtakes. If you are a Skynyrd completist, this version of Street Survivors is for you.

Allman Brothers Band - The Revival Part II

July 1991 saw the release of more new Allman Brothers music. The album was called Shades of Two Worlds. After the band finished touring for Seven Turns, they let Johnny Neel go and they returned to being a six-piece for awhile. But then they added a percussionist, Marc Quiñones. Butch Trucks “stole” him from Spyro Gyra. Again with Tom Dowd producing, Shades of Two Worlds again run the gamut through rock, electric and acoustic blues, and jazz. End of the Line is a song Gregg Allman finished that Warren Haynes and Allen Woody started. It’s the familiar tale of what Gregg Allman has put himself through [mountains I have climbed could have killed a thousand men..]. It’s a very tough hard-rocking song they still play today. To me it’s the song that put the “Allman” back in the Allman Brothers band. Gregg contributes a slow electric blues number, Get On With Your Life. The one song that Dickey Betts sings is Desert Blues. He wrote that song for all the people who served in Operation Desert Shield/Storm. I thought “wow! A song that could be about me!” Dickey’s instrumental contribution [co-written with Warren] is Kind of Bird. As you might suspect, it’s inspired by Charlie Parker. They still play that one from time to time, even if it is a “Dickey” tune. The Allman Brothers showed a sign of things to come when they played MTV’s Unplugged show. I recorded that show and I replayed it so many times I wore out the tape. It being a half-hour show [22 minutes when you cut the commercials], they played four songs – Midnight Rider / Melissa / Seven Turns / Come On In My Kitchen. That last song is from the late, great Robert Johnson. The band liked how the Unplugged session went they recorded the song, acoustic arrangement and all, for Shades of Two Worlds. It was a good change of pace for a band that has been known for long electric jams. Speaking of which there is one of those jams on Shades. It’s called Nobody Knows, another song written by Dickey Betts but sung by Gregg. It’s about eleven minutes long, and only High Falls [from Win, Lose or Draw] is a longer studio cut. As good as this version was, when they put out a live version on An Evening With the Allman Brothers Band – First Set [1992], it absolutely smoked. It was sixteen and a half minutes of jamming bliss. It would not be out of place on At Fillmore East.

End of the Line

Come On In My Kitchen

Nobody Knows [Live]

At this time, Carol and I picked up from Northern California and moved to the Washington DC area. Shades had come out just before we left California, so we knew the Allman Brothers would be touring soon. Sure enough, we found where they were going to be playing and when, bough two tickets and went to see them for the third time. Here’s the setlist from that show:

August 27, 1991 – Merriweather Post Pavilion, Columbia, MD

Hot ‘Lanta / Statesboro Blues / Blue Sky / End of the Line / Nobody Knows / Kind of Bird / Low Down Dirty Mean / Melissa* / Come On In My Kitchen* / Midnight Rider* / Goin’ Down the Road Feelin’ Bad* / Hoochie Coochie Man / Get On With Your Life / In Memory of Elizabeth Reed / Revival / Jessica / Whipping Post

*Acoustic

Such was the popularity of the Unplugged format, they played a four song acoustic set. It was something different for them – they hadn’t played any acoustic sets when Duane and Berry were alive, and by the time they were big successes, they were playing stadium shows where nobody could hear an acoustic set. It was hot, it was muggy and sweaty, but we suffered happily as we got to hear some more Allman Brothers music live. Soon, the rest of the world would get to hear more live Allman Brothers performances because they recorded several shows from the Shades tour.

An Evening With the Allman Brothers Band – First Set:

End of the Line / Blue Sky / Get On With Your Life / Southbound / Midnight Blues / Nobody Knows / Dreams / Revival

The song selection was kind of curious – there’s new stuff from the previous studio album, there’s a new acoustic blues number [Midnight Blues], there’s old stuff [Blue Sky, Southbound], and there’s stuff from their Jurassic period [Dreams, Revival]. Get On With Your Life was ok, but I thought if they would add a new slow blues number it would be Gambler’s Roll. Warren’s slide solos on Dreams and Blue Sky are a bit repetitive and after one or two listens you don’t want to here them anymore. But Southbound is another matter. Gregg sang the original on Brothers and Sisters, but for this version the band played the arrangement Dickey had been playing with his band before the Allman Brothers’ “revival.” It’s the same arrangement Carol and I heard him play in 1986 at Denver’s Rainbow Music Hall with Lonnie Mack. The playing on Southbound and Nobody Knows make this CD worth buying in and of themselves. When I saw the title of the album had the words “first set” in it, I assumed there would be a second set sometime. Then several months later the Allman Brothers put out an all-acoustic charity CD to help support the International Rhett Syndrome Association [IRSA]. There were only 15,000 copies made [I have one of them]. Was this the “second set”? As it turned out later, the answer to that question was “no.” But it would suffice for awhile until a proper “second set” would be released.

Southbound [Live]

Midnight Blues [Live]

The IRSA Acoustic Set:

Come On In My Kitchen / Seven Turns / Midnight Rider / Southbound / In Memory of Elizabeth Reed / Goin’ Down the Road Feelin’ Bad / Melissa / Midnight Blues

Goin’ Down the Road Feelin’ Bad [Live]

After 1992, there was silence. Being the prolific writer he is, Warren Haynes recorded an album with Chuck Leavell producing called Tales of Ordinary Madness. I found a copy while I was stationed in Korea. It’s a fairly good album, full of songs that would not fit on an Allman Brothers album. The Allman Brothers did tour in 1993, but they ran into a problem: Dickey Betts. When the band reformed in 1989, Dickey had a bit of a drinking problem. He said for the first couple of years it was ok, but the third year was a nightmare. It all came to a head before a gig in Saratoga Springs, NY in 1993. He and his wife had a domestic disturbance and somebody called the cops. When they arrived, he pushed one of them. He was arrested for assault and for resisting arrest. While he cooled his heels in jail, the band went to the next tour stop without him. Dickey was the musical director of the group, and with him gone off the rails the band was in disarray. For one night, Ozzy Osbourne’s guitarist Zakk Wylde [?!?} filled in for Dickey. He didn’t quite fill in, so the band later got David Grissom from John Mellencamp’s band, and when he had to go back to his day job, guitarist Jack Pearson got the temporary gig. Dickey went to rehab to dry out and sort out the demons that were bothering him. After Dickey got his act back together, it was time to do another album. The title: Where It All Begins.

The Allman Brothers don’t like recording studios. Playing in live is their thing. After a long search for a good place to record their next album, they found a place. It was at Burt Reynold’s place. It had a soundstage and they thought it the perfect place to record this album. As it turned out, Where It All Begins was a very good album. It has another very long Dickey Betts song called Back Where It All Begins that is much in the same vein as Nobody Knows from Shades, but not so intense. Curiously, Dickey had a medium-tempo blues called Change My Way of Living that was written before the Saratoga Springs incident. But clearly Dickey could see what was coming. But for me, the best sign of all that all was better in the world of the Allman Brothers was seeing that Gregg Allman had a hand in writing four songs – All Night Train, Sailin’ ‘Cross the Devil’s Sea, What’s Done Is Done, and Temptation is a Gun. The first is another tale of Gregg’s struggle with drug addiction with an explanation of why he had the problem in the first place – took a little trip to keep from going insane, spent the rest of my life on the all night train. The other three songs are cautionary tales about the dangers of women and rowdy behavior [as HE sees them]. Dickey threw in Mean Woman Blues [sung by Warren] and No One To Run With, a Bo Diddley-style lamentation that friends from long ago are disappearing. All in all it’s a very good album. What is interesting are two songs that didn’t make the album – Rocking Horse and The Same Thing. Rocking Horse is a Warren Haynes original [written with Gregg, Allen and Jack Pearson] that the band had trouble getting down, and The Same Thing is an old Willie Dixon/Muddy Waters tune the band had similar problems with. By the time they went out on tour to support the album, they had worked out the kinks in The Same Thing and played it for us to hear.

All Night Train

Sailin’ ‘Cross the Devil’s Sea

No One To Run With

So there we were - another album, another tour. We saw them again at Merriweather Post Pavilion in 1994. Here's the setlist:

August 26, 1994 - Merriweather Post Pavilion, Columbia, MD

Sailin’ ‘Cross the Devil’s Sea / Statesboro Blues / Blue Sky / The Same Thing* / Change My Way of Living / Soulshine / Seven Turns / Midnight Rider / Jessica / No One To Run With / Back Where It All begins / In Memory of Elizabeth Reed / One Way Out / Whipping Post

*Duane Betts, guitar

So with another tour came another album – the Second Set I had been awaiting for years. The madness to their method became clear to me – they’d have two sets of new, old and really old songs that flowed together as a single work. If you put the first two sets together, the concept works [save for an acoustic Elizabeth Reed]. The standout track [IMHO] is Warren Haynes’ Soulshine, which is sung by Gregg. It is better than its studio counterpart from Where It All Begins.

An Evening With the Allman Brothers Band – Second Set:

Sailin’ ‘Cross the Devil’s Sea / You Don’t Love Me / Soulshine / Back Where It All Begins / In Memory of Elizabeth Reed* / The Same Thing / No One Left To Run With / Jessica

*Acoustic – same version as was on the limited edition IRSA set

The Same Thing

Soulshine

Once again Carol and I got to see the Allman Brothers on tour that summer, but this time it was with a twist. Back then I heard through this “new” thing called the Internet that the Allman Brothers were beginning to mix up their sets. They wouldn’t be playing the same songs in the same order night after night, so we decided to get tickets for shows on back-to-back nights. That’s the only time we’ve ever done that. As you can see for yourself below, we weren’t disappointed.

July 30, 1995 – Nissan Pavilion, Bristow, VA

Don’t Want You No More -> It’s Not My Cross to bear / Ain’t Wastin’ Time No More / Ramblin’ Man / Good Clean Fun / Sailin’ ‘Cross the Devil’s Sea / The Same Thing* / Southbound* / Soulshine / End of the Line / Stormy Monday / Back Where It All Begins / Jessica / Hoochie Coochie Man / One Way Out / Whipping Post

*Chris Anderson on third guitar

August 1, 1995 – Classic Amphitheatre, Richmond, VA

Statesboro Blues / Midnight Rider / You Don’t Love Me / Blue Sky / What’s Done Is Done / Soulshine / The Same Thing / Dreams / Change My Way of Living / End of the Line / Back Where It All Begins / No One To Run With / In Memory of Elizabeth Reed / One Way Out / Whipping Post

At the Nissan Pavilion, we heard the best version of Southbound we would ever hear [and we’d heard some damn good ones up to this point]. Chris Anderson [now of The Outlaws] joined the Brothers for The Same Thing and Southbound. When it was time for the three guitarists to trade solos on Southbound, we were all transported to another plane of consciousness. I’m not a big fan of God, but during that performance there was definitely something otherworldly happening. After seventeen minutes, both the band and the crowd were exhilarated. The only word I can find to describe what I heard is “amazing.”

Following this burst of activity from the Allman Brothers [three studio albums, three live albums, seven tours], there was only silence from the band. Then I found out that Warren and bassist Allen Woody, along with Dickey Betts drummer Matt Abts, formed there own power trio called Gov’t Mule. While touring with the Allman Brothers, Warren and Allen talked about how there weren’t any power trio bands like there were in the late 60s/early 70s [Cream, Mountain, the Jimi Hendrix Experience], so they and Matt Abts formed their own group to keep them busy when the Allman Brothers were inactive. As the Allman Brothers’ inactivity went on, Gov’t Mule decided to record their debut CD, imaginatively titled Gov’t Mule. As promised, Gov’t Mule was full of power-trio greatness. Allen Woody’s bass was much more prominent in the mix than it had been on the Allman Brothers albums. Gov’t Mule included Rocking Horse, the song that didn’t make it on to Where It All Begins. It began with the a capella Grinnin’ in Your Face [Son House] that segued into Mother Earth. It has the bass-driven Mule which is still a Mule concert favorite [it’s played with Van Morrison’s I’ve Been Working shoehorned in the middle], and a pretty good cover of Free’s Mr. Big, complete with bass solo. Left Coast Groovies is a tribute to Frank Zappa. Gov’t Mule is a good listen with only a hint of things to come.

Rocking Horse

Mule

Stormy seas were on the horizon for the Allman Brothers. They toured, but after Where It All Begins they stopped recording. I don’t know why this happened. It could be they had trouble with Epic as they had with Arista. It could be that Gregg and Dickey couldn’t see eye to eye on things. Whatever, the reason, it happened. And when that happened, Warren and Allen got restless, fed up and left the Allman Brothers after the Beacon run in March 1997. Their mission was to concentrate on Gov’t Mule full-time. They left the band and didn’t look back.

Allman Brothers Band - The Revival Part I

After two sub-par albums with Arista, the Allman Brothers broke up for the second time, this time it felt like it was for good. Punk and disco had come and gone, New Wave became the big thing. Acts like the Allman Brothers couldn’t get arrested. Nobody wanted to hear their kind of blues-based rock music. Then something extraordinary happened. A guitar whiz from Dallas by way of Austin named Stevie Ray Vaughan caught fire. Suddenly blues-based music was hip again. Stevie Ray’s big brother Jimmie’s band, the Fabulous Thunderbirds got a record deal with Epic. They had a massive hit with Tuff Enuff. Before we knew it, both Gregg Allman and Dickey Betts had record deals with Epic. In 1987 Gregg put out I’m No Angel. It reeked of 1980s production techniques [as did the follow-up Before the Bullets Fly], but the spirit was there, and at that time that was good enough for me. He did a new recording of Don't Want You No More/It's Not My Cross to Bear, and I never tire of his horn-laden Anything Goes. Another stand-out track is Faces Without Names. Carol and I ended up seeing him open for SRV in Pueblo, Colorado the day after we got married in 1987.

Dickey Betts put out an album in 1988 called Pattern Disruptive. It served as a blueprint for Allman Brothers albums to come. The pretty, countrified sound from his albums with Great Southern was long gone. He got himself some Marshall amps and turned up the volume. I can attribute this to the addition of guitarist Warren Haynes. Finally Dickey had an on-stage foil who could push him every night. Warren is absolutely fearless when going toe-to-toe with other guitar players. Dickey hadn’t had that since the days of Duane. In addition to Warren Haynes, keyboardist Johnny Neel was also in Dickey’s band. There are many good songs on Pattern Disruptive, but there is one great one – the instrumental Duane’s Tune.



Duane's Tune - Dickey Betts

In 1988, Polydor decided to put out what was unusual at the time – the box set. Up until then there was only one – Bob Dylan’s Biograph. The object of their first box was Eric Clapton. His set was called Crossroads, and was a very thorough compilation of music EC had done between the Yardbirds, through the Cream, Blind Faith and Derek & the Dominoes years, and his solo work up until 1988. Crossroads sold by the truckload and began the box set trend that continues today. Polydor decided the success of Crossroads would give them another opportunity to put out another box set from someone equal to Eric Clapton’s stature. Polydor’s choice for the next box set was the Allman Brothers Band. Producer Bill Levenson, who compiled Crossroads, brought together lots of Allman Brothers music for their box set, simply titled Dreams. This four-disc set had music from the Allman Joys, the Hour Glass, the Second Coming [featuring Dickey Betts and Berry Oakley], the Allman Brothers Band, Duane Allman, Gregg Allman, and Dickey Betts [with and without Great Southern]. Included on Dreams were the aforementioned I’m No Angel and Duane’s Tune. To my surprise, the band agreed to re-group and tour to support the release of Dreams. We finally got to see one of my favorite bands in Sacramento. The band included the four original surviving members [Gregg Allman, Dickey Betts, Butch Trucks, and Jaimoe], Warren Haynes and Johnny Neel from Dickey Betts’ band, and newcomer Allen Woody on bass. We finally got to see my favorite band [outside the Beatles, of course]. Here’s what the setlist looked like:


August 11, 1989 – Cal Expo, Sacramento, CA
Don’t Want You No More -> It’s Not My Cross To Bear / Statesboro Blues / Blue Sky / I’m No Angel / Duane’s Tune / Trouble No More / Blues Ain’t Nothin’ / In Memory of Elizabeth Reed / One Way Out / Melissa / Just Before the Bullets Fly / Dreams / Southbound* / Jessica / Les Brers in A Minor / Whipping Post
*Berry Duane Oakley, bass


I figured the Dreams tour was just a one-off thing, but in July 1990, Seven Turns appeared. Produced by Tom Dowd and recorded at the same studio as Eat a Peach and Layla [Criteria Studios in Miami], Seven Turns was by far their best work since Brothers and Sisters [1973]. Seven Turns has that same hard sound as Dickey's Pattern Disruptive, but there are elements in Seven Turns that make it quintessential Allman Brothers. There are elements of country, blues, jazz, and rock mixed all together on this record that set this band apart from its contemporaries. Bassist Allen Woody [RIP] was like Berry Oakley [RIP] in that he played bass like a third lead guitarist. Warren had the unenviable task of playing Duane Allman’s parts live. But the band had such faith in him they didn’t tell him what or what not to play. Warren knew the fans expected to hear some of Duane’s stuff note-for-note [such as the intro to Statesboro Blues], but he had the leeway to play his own interpretations of Duane’s work if the mood struck him. On Seven Turns he was free to play his own music, and there was plenty to play. Jaimoe and Butch Trucks played together so well you wouldn’t know they had been apart for nine years. Of the nine tunes on the album, Warren Haynes had a hand in writing four of them [he even got to sing one of them – Loaded Dice]. Gregg Allman had only one songwriting credit [Good Clean Fun], but he was in fine voice as he sang and played the Hammond organ. Johnny Neel, also from Dickey Betts’ band, provides piano and harmonica.


The guiding light and musical director for this album was Dickey Betts. Of the nine songs, seven of them are his. Highlights include the country-ish title track. Warren Haynes provides a fantastic slide solo that introduced him to Allman Brothers fans in the same way Chuck Leavell did with his piano solo on Jessica. The icing on the cake is the call-and-response vocals of Dickey and Gregg. They had never done a vocal arrangement that way, and here they did it perfectly. No Allman Brothers album would be complete without an instrumental from Dickey Betts. In this case it’s True Gravity. Dickey wrote most of it on one of Berry Oakley’s basses, which is why you’ve got the eight-string Alembic lead bass from Allen Woody [he played the four-string live]. Warren threw in the middle section where he does a solo. And to show how good these guys are, they changed up the time signature in that middle section, with Butch playing half-time while Jaimoe plays double time. The band got to play a truncated version of True Gravity [along with Good Clean Fun] on The Tonight Show when Johnny Carson was still the host. As a bonus, Doc Severinson and the orchestra joined the band on True Gravity, and the results were fantastic. Carson loved it! He didn’t usually let guests play more than one song, but with the Allman Brothers he made an exception. A true fan he was – I still miss Carson.




True Gravity [The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson]


Warren and Johnny Neel contribute a good slow blues tune called Gambler's Roll. The Allman Brothers still play it in their sets on occasion to this day. Johnny Neel also contributed It Ain't Over Yet. Dickey said the band had trouble nailing this one down because half the band thought it should go like Hotel California, the other half though it should go like The Thrill Is Gone.

On August 2, 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait. I knew that sometime shortly after that I would have to deploy to Saudi Arabia to support Operation Desert Shield. Luckily, I got to see the Allman Brothers at Cal Expo again before I deployed. When I did deploy I took a copy of Seven Turns with me. It was my little piece of Americana while I was deployed to that faraway place. Here’s the setlist from the 1990 show at Cal Expo:


August 5, 1990– Cal Expo, Sacramento, CA
Don’t Want You No More -> It’s Not My Cross To Bear / Statesboro Blues / Blue Sky / Low Down Dirty Mean / Seven Turns / Good Clean Fun / Gambler’s Roll / In Memory of Elizabeth Reed / One Way Out / True Gravity / Ramblin’ Man / Southbound / Jessica / Whipping Post


Here ends my first chapter on the revival of the Allman Brothers Band. Coming next: Shades of Two Worlds, Where It All Begins, more live albums and the birth of Gov’t Mule.