"Jesus Christ, What a Band!"
Gregg's arrival in Jacksonville 3/26/69
Didn’t want today to go by without acknowledging the 55th anniversary of the Allman Brothers Band, March 26, 1969.
Dickey recalled Gregg’s reaction when he heard the band playing: “Jesus Christ, what a band!”1
Gregg arrived to a pretty pressure-packed situation.
With Jaimoe, Berry, Dickey, and Butch, Duane had assembled a smoking band. It lacked a singer. Everyone knew Gregg was the answer to that question. I covered it pretty in-depth in Play All Night2
Here’s me riffing on how it went down.3
Dickey's quote comes from this documentary, which I highly recommend
And it all happened here…the Gray House.
Derek Trucks and parents Debbie and dad Chris (Butch’s brother) at the historical marker dedication at the Gray House, March 23, 1969.
Playlist of all songs I reference in the video above
ABB Demo April 1969, Macon
ABB Debut album August 1969, NYC
ABB Eat a Peach, Fillmore East NYC March 1971
ABB Beacon Theatre, NYC October 29, 2014
Muddy Waters 1955 Chess single (#7 R&B)
Sleepy John Estes 1935 Someday Baby
Thanks for reading Long Live the ABB: Conversation from the Crossroads of Southern Music, History, and Culture
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Appreciate y’all for being here, and for all of the encouragement. It means a lot. Truly.
I have the link queued up for ya right here:
A reminder to tickle the algorithm please Play All Night! Duane Allman and the Journey to Fillmore East: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0813069505.
NB: Muddy's is a 14 bar blues with a 3.5 bar intro. At 15 bars, the ABB's is still a slightly different arrangement. Thanks @dougpeaches my dude Troy for confirming.