A few words, about Gregg Allman's "Southern Blood" record, and what he, and the Allman Brothers Band, mean to me, just as I posted them, on social media.
***
Just received my copy of "Southern Blood" in the mail today, and spent
some time listening to it all the way through. An absolute masterpiece.
Gregg's music, both with the Allman
Brothers, and in his solo career, has put a profound stamp on who I am,
and I had the chance to see him perform, several times, within a span of
about a dozen years including four times with the Allman Brothers and
once with his solo band. Hard to put into words the emotions that come
from listening to this record. I think the most vivid images are of
those times I saw him perform. Memories of each of the five occasions
come back, crystal clear, in my mind's eye, whether it was a couple of
Allman Brothers shows at the Minnesota State Fair, two more at the 2014
Peach Music Festival in Scranton, Pennsylvania, or seeing Gregg with his
phenomenal solo band that is on the album, in 2015 at the Pantages
Theater in St. Paul. The music, and the memories will live on forever,
and the Allman Brothers Band, and their music, will live forever in my
heart.
***
The track listing for "Southern Blood", just as it was in the album preview posted a few weeks ago.
1. My Only True Friend
2. Once I Was
3. Going Going Gone
4. Black Muddy River
5. I Love The Life I Live
6. Willin'
7. Blind Bats And Swamp Rats
8. Out of Left Field
9. Love Like Kerosene
10. Song For Adam (feat. Jackson Browne: harmony vocals)
As a final note, many of these songs were significant to Gregg knowing that his time on earth would be growing shorter every day as this record was being made. The two original songs are "My Only True Friend", which in many ways, is Gregg's epitaph, and "Love Like Kerosene", written by his guitarist and Musical Director, Scott Sharrard. Artists who wrote these other pieces chosen for the record include Tim Buckley, Bob Dylan, Jerry Garcia & Robert Hunter (the Grateful Dead), Willie Dixon, Lowell George (Little Feat), Jack Avery, Spooner Oldham & Dan Penn, as well as Jackson Browne.
There is a bonus DVD on some of the versions of this record, which is a half hour profile into the making of the recording, with producer Don Was, and Scott Sharrard, that gives an in depth and glorious look into the recording process of what would turn out to be the final masterpiece, the cornerstone, of a career and a life, of a great musician, who for 50 years, thrilled fans, whether with the Allman Brothers Band, or, his solo group in it's various incarnations. I have written a lot about the fact that the Allman Brothers Band, have been one of my biggest inspirations, and though it's true that now Gregg and Duane are no longer with us, their music will live on forever.
Rest In Peace, Duane and Gregg Allman. Two brothers, reunited, in rock & roll heaven.
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