Book Review
Greg Allman
My Cross to Bear
Greg Allman is a tried and true southern-bred hell-raising
redneck hippie who scaled the heights of stardom only to fall precipitously
from his ill-fitting pedestal. Allman is a throwback to the old rhythm and
blues masters he emulated from Patti Labelle and Jackie Wilson to Otis Redding
as well as blues legend Muddy Waters. Allman wasn’t built for superstardom. He
often seemed more at home doing the Chitlin Circuit or letting others lead.
Initially his brother was the leader and he wore the mantle without vanity or
threat. He lead by example – and his instincts were always on the mark. After
Duane’s death in 1972, Greg became the de-facto front man. It was an uneasy
truce as the surviving Allman Brothers agreed to soldier on without naming the
next leader. Greg’s incredibly soulful voice and down home compositions seemed
to position him for a leadership role in the Allman Brothers yet time and again Greg deferred to others –
either management types such as Phil
Walden from Capricorn Records or musical partner Dickie Betts. Despite
considerable obstacles such as death, drugs use, alcoholism, and infighting and
even though the Allman Brothers disbanded (twice), their legacy continued. The
brotherhood that was forged at the Rose Hill Cemetery in Macon Georgia in 1969
continues to this day, 43 years later.
September 2011 Greg Allman was code blue, bleeding inside,
drowning in his own blood. He went to sleep and he dreamed an incredible dream.
He heard beautiful music as he stood near a bridge. It was twilight and someone
was on the other side of the bridge. He wasn’t motioning, he was just looking
at Greg. The message was clear don’t come across the bridge. All Greg could see
was a silhouette; it appeared to be his brother Duane. He was telling Greg not
to cross the bridge.
It wasn’t his time yet.
Prologue; January 1995. The Allman Brothers are inducted
into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame. Allman writes “It should have been the
greatest week of my life but instead I hit an all-time low.” Allman admits that
he was drunk during the entire Hall Of Fame week. He decided to enter a
treatment center when the week concluded. On the way to the facility Allman
loaded up with bottles of vodka, valium, and mini-bottles from the mini-bar in
his hotel room. He entered rehab stoned out his gourd.
Allman owns up to his
lifetime addictions to almost any substance that could get him high – heroin,
barbiturates, sedative/hypnotics, psychedelics such as psilocybin, LSD, and peyote and perhaps the
worst addiction of all – alcoholism. It was the bottle that rendered him almost
recognizable on Lettermen during the week-long Rock & Roll Hall of Fame
celebration.
So strap-in and get ready for one helluva ride. The story of
Gregg Allman
Allman’s father Willie Turner Allman was murdered in 1949
when Greg was only two years old. His mother never remarried. Despite this
early primal loss, Greg was scaffolded by a loving no nonsense mother and an
extended family of grandparents, and uncles. Life in Nashville was fine but
mother moved the family to Daytona Beach in 1959. Worth noting is the role of
maternal grandfather. Alf was a bit of a lout – a drunk, a saloon rat. Grandma divorced him and whenever she heard
his name she would mutter shi…never quite saying shit. His grandfather made
whiskey all his life, even sold it to the state police. He was a man of
homespun wisdom. One time he took Greg aside and said, “there’s two things that
get you in trouble and one of ‘ems your mouth.” Another time Alf let another
one fly, “let me tell you about love. If I squeeze tighter and tighter on this
ball, it might pop out of my hand. But if I keep a nice, easy grip, it’ll stay
with me forever.” Greg was 5 years old.
The early part of the story is fascinating when Greg and
older brother (by one year) Duane begin their career in music. They met Hank
Moore, a cat with the hottest band in town. Hank Ballard and the Midnighters
were his backup singers! The young Allman upstarts pooled their money and Moore
came over to their house to teach them some “good music”. Moore told them of
the importance of the bottom end as nobody wanted to play bass guitar in the
Allman’s garage band. He took the young band through “Done Somebody Wrong.” It
was life a life-altering epiphany. Greg could now see the structure of music.
He got the baptism.
Allman’s first successful band was the Allman Joys. They
were gaining ground despite the dismal recordings they were forced to make.
They hadn’t found their sound yet. It was 1966 and they were only a few years
from mega-stardom. But for now the country was embroiled in the Vietnam debacle
and young men across the country were being drafted by the military. When Greg
was called up, he decided to have a “foot-shooting party.” All of his friends were
there. Everyone was drinking and Greg was ready to do it …except they didn’t
have a gun… oops. They headed over to the other side of town, bought a Saturday
night special and Greg completed the dirty deed. He was deferred.
The only other notable band in Daytona was the
Nightcrawlers. There was some fierce competition between the two bands. For a
brief moment the Nightcrawlers ascended to the top of the heap on the strength of
their big national hit The Little Black Egg, a bubblegum masterpiece. The Allman
Joys were finding their voice, playing old ethnic songs and the blues. One of
the songs Trouble No More would eventually be recorded by the Allman Brothers
band. The influences were coalescing. It was at this time that Greg wrote the
rough outline for one of his most cherished songs, Melissa. It was during this
formative period when Greg met John Loudermilk who wrote Tobacco Road, Then You
Can Tell Me Goodbye and hundreds of other songs. Loudermilk taught Greg the
process of songwriting. Greg talks about writing love songs that are more
nuanced and poetic. He cites an article he read about Lauren Bacall and what it
was like for her when Humphrey Bogart died, she said, “Well, one day I noticed
I didn’t go up the stairs so fast.” It was vague, poetic – perfect.
The story picks up speed when Greg gifts Duane with the
first Taj Mahal album with Jesse Ed Davis playing slide guitar. Duane was hooked and became proficient almost
immediately. In March of 1969, Greg was
in Los Angeles fulfilling contractual obligations (from the Hour Glass
sessions) to Liberty Records. Duane called from Jacksonville instructing Greg
to return to Florida. Now it gets hot. Duane hand-picked each of the members
and he had a complete vision of their roles within the band – two drummers, two
guitarists. It was an unusual formation envisioned by this 23 year old musical
genius. At the time nobody realized just how gifted he was – a modern day
Tchaikowsky
The classic lineup of the Allman Brothers is now in place,
Greg is writing the first album and the band chips in to purchase him a brand
spanking new 1969 B3 Hammond organ. It
cost $1,883 and another $1,295 for the 122RV Leslie. According the Greg, the Hammond helped him
finish Black Hearted Woman and Every Hungry Woman, Mountain Jam, Hoochie
Coochie Man and others. There is an
unwritten law amongst musicians, “Don’t ride my Harley, don’t mess with my
wife, and no, you can’t play with my Hammond.” Greg reveals that he learned to
play a Vox organ from a laminated plastic card that read A, B, C, D, E, F, G
and major, minor, augmented, third, ninth, fifth and there was a little picture
in each block with red dot showing where your fingers go.
Naming the band was a big sticking point. Beelzebub (Greg’
idea) and something from Lord of the Rings was offered up but the four other
musicians Dickie Betts, Butch Trucks, Jaimoe,
and Berry Oakley were had another idea. It was unanimous - the Allman
Brothers.
Phil Walden was an experienced music broker that had been
around the block more than a few times. He knew how to make a buck for his
clients as well as for himself. He
managed both Percy Sledge and Otis Redding and they did quite well. The Allman
Brothers were sitting ducks. He wooed them and won their trust. Right away he
took 100% of the publishing - to cover expenses. Greg signed away his lucrative
publishing rights to get his foot in the door. He didn’t like it but
capitulated at the advice of his brother. The first album was released at the
end of 1969 and reached #188 in the charts - an inauspicious debut to be sure.
But the band soldiered on and gained momentum from their incredible performance
at the Fillmore East in December that year. From that point on Bill Graham
became a champion of the band and allowed them to play original compositions
not just the Top 40 hits that most club owners required. In this context Greg
learned to relax in the beauty of Idlewild South, a cabin in the woods (that
also became the title of their second album) and create Midnight Rider, his own
personal masterpiece.
Chapter Nine. Duane Allman died on October 29th,
1971.He was only 24 year old. By all account Berry Oakley had a total collapse
following Duane’s death. Greg said, Berry Oakley’s life ended when my brother’s
life did. He died a bout year after Duane on November 11th, 1972. It
I said that Oakley crashed his bike straight head first into a bus, on purpose.
He was drunk when it happened but he would not get into the ambulance. Instead
he went back to the Big House, the communal house of the Allman Brothers Band
and later died of a brain hemorrhage.
Allman talks frankly of his problems with women. He was
married six times and has fathered six children, one with each of his wives.
Cher was the most famous spouse and they stuck it out for three years. He
credits his last wife, Stacey Fountain, for saving his life by helping him gain
long lasting sobriety and helping him through his battle with Hepatitis C.
Allman recalls the several reunion tours, all of which were
successful and all of which failed to keep the Allman Brothers from imploding.
Alcohol and drugs were always at the bottom of the misdeeds of the band
members. This is what led to Dickie Betts to leave the Allman Brothers
acrimoniously and permanently.
Allman describes a successful solo career based on his great
catalog of music especially the terrific I’m No Angel – a great song and the
title of his solid gold LP.
In 2006, Allman’s health deteriorated and Dr. Ira Jacobson,
a hepatologist determined that a pot on his liver was cancerous. In 2010,
Allman underwent a successful transplant. A few months after the transplant, an
LP Allman had been recording was finally released under the title Low Country
and it ended up at No. 5 on the charts with a bullet. And to top it off the
Grammy organization gave the Allman Brothers a Lifetime Achievement Award.
To this day Allman continues to record and perform solo
shows a well as performances with the Allman Brothers. It is his destiny.
