Guest Post: Allmans In The Stream

A while back, I wrote a piece about the Allman Brothers’ debut album and the nude photograph on the inside cover. That article has been shared a few places and it’s brought me some traffic from people who don’t normally visit the site. One of those visitors didn’t particularly care for my interpretation of the photo and the surroundings, so he’s contributed a guest post to set me (and some other folks) straight about what happened. “If this stuff brings one more person into the fold of the brilliance these six men displayed and created,” he wrote to me, “I’d be more than satisfied.” Please give a warm welcome to Craig! — jb

Brothers Duane and Gregg, musically speaking, started out in Daytona Beach in the sixties with what would have been a ‘teen band of the day’ playing a mix of pop, R&B and blue-eyed soul as the Escorts. Then came the Allman Joys period, which was when they came to the attention of John and Bill McEuen. John was a member of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and Bill managed that outfit. At the time they were ‘discovered’ by Bill, the Allman Joys were in St. Louis, where the band maintained a good following. McEuen told them he could get them signed if they’d be willing to move out to Los Angeles. They left as the Allman Joys and headed for the West Coast. By the time they’d signed and recorded their first LP for Liberty Records, they had become the Hour Glass. In 1967, when they landed in California, there was another band based in San Francisco called Allmen Joy. It’s my assumption (although not verified) that this is what brought about the name change from the Allman Joys to the Hour Glass. Duane and Gregg’s roots were blues, soul and R&B, which they heard as kids growing up in Nashville. Liberty’s idea for them was centered on having Gregg as the star and focal point of the band. That in itself was a great idea since Gregg was blessed with an incredible voice as a singer. However, Liberty also dictated what they’d play. The first album was mostly material that Liberty held the copyrights to (more money for the label if the band was a hit).


During 1968, the Hour Glass (which by this point included Johnny Sandlin, Pete Carr and Paul Hornsby – all who would become prominent figures themselves) headed back to the Southeast for a bit, and during that time, they recorded the “B.B. King Medley” at FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. It was straight blues and the kind of material they wanted to play as the Hour Glass. When they returned to Los Angeles with the tape they’d paid for and produced, Liberty wasn’t keen on the idea of them sounding that way. They wanted them to be more of a popular group that could compete with Paul Revere & the Raiders or Gary Puckett & the Union Gap. The second album resulted in a little more of a roots approach, but the band felt stifled. Duane was fed up and quit the band after the second album, heading back to the South. With Liberty having invested in the band, there was a contract and debts owed. The label agreed to let the band split as long as Gregg stayed back to fulfill contractual obligations.

By this time, Duane had become an in-demand session player. He’d signed on with Rick Hall at FAME and wound up doing sessions with Clarence Carter, Aretha Franklin, King Curtis, Ronnie Hawkins and many others. While at FAME, Duane talked Wilson Pickett into covering “Hey Jude” by the Beatles. Initially, Pickettt and Rick Hall were keen on the idea, but Duane persisted. “Hey Jude” (the Beatles’ version) was on the charts at the time and Duane thought Pickett covering the song would bring him a wider audience and become a million seller. When the song hit the R&B and soul stations, it wound up being a smash. That’s basically when Duane really came to the attention of Atlantic Records in New York. So, Duane continued doing session work in Alabama and New York, but was growing tired of it and was itching to put a band together. Duane started recording some solo material for Rick Hall, but after some studio work for the project, he’d decided to head to Jacksonville and hang out playing with friends. He’d met Jaimoe and then hooked up with Berry Oakley. Berry was in a band called the Second Coming, which included Dickey Betts. Duane also knew Butch Trucks from earlier years (they’d actually recorded together in 1968 when Butch was with a band called the 31st of February. So Duane jammed with those guys one day and loved what came out of it. He’d decided at that point that this was what he’d wanted to do. Duane knew his brother could fill out the band and called him in Los Angeles. Gregg had recorded some solo material to fulfill the contract with Liberty, but it didn’t go anywhere, and Liberty let him go.

Gregg headed to Jacksonville and Duane had talked with Rick Hall saying he wanted to abort the solo career. Phil Walden, who was in Macon, signed Duane to his new Capricorn label, which was backed by Atlantic in New York. So in 1969, the band recorded their first album for Walden.

The late-sixties saw the dawning of the hippie movement. Young kids were tired of big government, tired of the war in Viet Nam, tired of their parents’ old morals and tired of trying to conform to a nation that didn’t understand them. The Allman Brothers Band was a part of that. By then, they’d relocated to Macon, Georgia, pretty much a sleepy little Southern town that hadn’t seen much of hippies at this point. Also remember that in 1969, especially in the South, integration was still frowned upon. The Brothers, basically a bunch of hippie musicians with an African-American in the band (the term of the day was “negro”), had all taken up residence in a house on College Street, and they stuck out so much that locals would drive up and down the street hoping to catch a glimpse of them. Part of the hippie culture was expressing freedom and “letting it all hang out,” to use a phrase that had become popular at the time. Phil Walden, a little older than the Brothers were, understood the hippie mindset. Between Phil and his backers at Atlantic, photographer Stephen Paley was hired and went down to Macon to photograph the band. He took multiple shots of them in different locations. Some were done at Rose Hill Cemetery, a quiet place not far from their hippie crash pad (the house on College Street), while others were taken at a large Southern mansion (which was next door to the crash pad).

According to Stephen Paley, Phil Walden came up with the idea of the band posing naked in the stream. The property where the naked photos were taken was between (by then) the late Otis Redding’s farm and Alan Walden’s place. Alan was Phil’s brother and a partner in the Capricorn venture. Phil, earlier in his career, had managed Redding. In part, the idea of the naked pictures expressed the freedom of the hippie culture. They weren’t ashamed of themselves being seen naked. They’d broken away from their parents’ antiquated moral outlook and were getting back to Mother Nature. Being naked was a major part of that. There are actually numerous photos of the band in and around the stream, although not frequently seen. One particular image of Duane (holding a leaf over his privates) was also used inside the gatefold of the 1969 Boz Scaggs album. One aside to those photos is that drummer Butch Trucks was photographed standing up, while the other members (figuratively and literally) were sitting down in the water. Butch was attempting to put another notch in his belt the day before, and accidentally stabbed himself in the leg with the awl. Some of the photos clearly show the bandage near his knee.

The music of the Allman Brothers Band in those first two-and-a-half years was something very special and unique. Their location and base of operation was also very unique. Sure, many bands in the late-sixties were openly incorporating blues into their repertoire, but none of them experimented by fusing elements of blues, jazz, country, R&B and rock into a free-form stew the way the Brothers did. And prior to them, no rock band of any stature had come out of the South. The preconceived notion was that in order to make it big, you had to be in New York or California. In those early days, no one thought the Allman Brothers Band would attain any notoriety or success just standing on stage and letting their music speak for them. There was no stage show, there were no antics, there was no hyperbole… there was nothing but those six guys on stage together, all doing what they did best. They stuck to their guns, did what they knew they were destined to do and did it better than any band before or since. They literally ushered in what later became known as Southern Rock, and in addition to that, they also ushered in the jam band mentality. Listen to Lynyrd Skynyrd, the Charlie Daniels Band, Black Oak Arkansas, Widespread Panic or Phish, and see where and how those outfits got their wings. The Brothers toured relentlessly, worked tirelessly, and listening to them, they seemed to play effortlessly. They did it by listening to each other, and in doing that, one musical idea became another, then another. Go back to those first four albums. Listen to them in the studio (the first two) and then listen to them on stage (‘At Fillmore East’ and ‘Eat A Peach’). Songs like “In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed” and “Whipping Post” morphed from 5-and-6 minute songs into 14-and-20 minute excursions that clearly incorporated jazz, classical, blues and so much more.

Duane Allman and Berry Oakley were sadly gone from this world far too early. Duane died as the result of a motorcycle accident on October 29th, 1971. One year and thirteen days later, Raymond Berry Oakley III died on November 11th, 1972, also following a motorcycle accident. The locations where those accidents occurred are three blocks apart in Macon, Georgia.

7 Replies to “Guest Post: Allmans In The Stream”

  1. Ronnie Schreiber

    I don’t think one can mention the development of the “jam band” concept without bringing up the Butterfield Blues Band’s East West. Apparently there are a small number of recordings wherein Duane Allman and Mike Bloomfield played together.

    Also, if you listen to shows of both bands from the late 1960s and early 1970s, there was a fair amount of borrowing back and forth between the ABB and the Grateful Dead.

    My favorite southern band these days are the Drive By Truckers. Much as I think Duane’s in the pantheon, I don’t think anyone’s done the multiple guitars thing better than the Outlaws though.

    Reply
  2. Disinterested-Observer

    So to sum up, hippies gonna hippy? Other than the line about the photographer saying that the producer suggested it (why does that make me think of Lou Pearlman and Edgardo Diaz?), this entry seems to be about as speculative as the original article.

    Reply
  3. Craig Ruskey

    Ronnie… the Butterfield Blues Band was definitely into the jam thing, but probably more (in my opinion) from the West Coast school (Quicksilver Messenger Service/Grateful Dead/etc.) than where the Allmans were coming from. And while the Dead and Allmans were borrowing, my contention has always been that the Brothers played with a ferocity and intensity the Dead never matched. Also, while I can definitely appreciate the Outlaws, I doubt any Southern band from that era (Marshall Tucker/Skynyrd/Wet Willie) would have gotten off the ground if not for the Allman Brothers Band.

    To the disinterested observer, the only speculation in what I wrote, and stated in the piece, was why the Allman Joys became the Hour Glass. However, I’m glad you were disinterested enough to read it and drop a message.

    Reply
    • Ronnie Schreiber

      You have a point about the ferocity of the ABB’s jams, but no doubt about it, the Dead could be fierce. Some versions of The Other One come to mind. Also, I think the ABB could swing more than the Dead could, I’m guessing that Mickey Hart’s background as a trap/military style drummer may have something to do with that. The Dead and ABB were both influenced by jazz.

      Reply
  4. AoLetsGo

    I grew up a hard core heavy metal and punk rocker and it was all I ever knew. One night in college some friends and I did a road trip to see friends at another college in sweet B210. One guy brought an Almond Brothers greatest hit cassette and we jammed all the way, I could not believe what I had been missing and have been a big fan ever since.

    Reply
    • Craig Ruskey

      Jack… I’d also like to thank you for the space to allow me the above guest post. As someone much wiser than me once said, “Even bad press is good press.” While your interpretation of the events that led to the naked photo in the stream wasn’t correct, it got you some additional traffic, and it allowed me an opportunity to make a few corrections. Thanks for being a stand-up guy. It’s recognized.

      Reply
  5. Snavehtrebor

    Nice post. I learned a few bits of lore that I hadn’t run across. The Allmans will always hold a special place in my heart, as my now-wife accepted an invitation to see them with me at Merriweather Post many years ago, when she was dating somebody else. Poor fellow couldn’t compete with a 15 minute version of “Dreams”, apparently.

    Reply

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