Southern blues/rhythm & blues onstage, psychedelic pop in the studio: Hour Glass's split identity

Southern blues/rhythm & blues onstage, psychedelic pop in the studio: Hour Glass's split identity

Here’s a video intro to the third playlist that accompanies Chapter 4 of Play All Night! Duane Allman & the Journey to Fillmore East. The Play All Night Playlist Project [https://www.longlivetheabb.com/p/the-play-all-night-playlist-project-master-list]: Hour Glass Repertoire. One thing that became VERY apparent as I researched this time in Duane’s life, was the huge gap between Hour Glass as a live band and how Dallas Smith of Liberty Records produced them in the studio. The band simply refused to play the songs on their studio albums, preferring a repertoire of blues and rhythm & blues covers. I’ve pulled this playlist together from the text in Chapter 4, the various cuts mentioned as part of Hour Glass’s repertoire. This is not a comprehensive list nor am I 100% certain these are the arrangements Hour Glass used, but it’s close enough to give you an idea of how wildly different the band was live versus how Liberty Records wanted them to sound. We know exactly what that sounds like, it’s on the two Hour Glass studio records. [https://www.longlivetheabb.com/p/hourglass-studio] PLAYLISTS 🍄 Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4KZveIYUUBi6E2Qvp3UIDC?si=b37ecd041dea4d69] 🍄 Tidal [https://tidal.com/playlist/ba8931d8-6d39-487d-b4c4-f739c8dcacaf] 🍄Youtube [https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIw4BHYOa3WKCGipgp7IbRuasKzVPa0R5] 🍄 Liner Notes brought to you by paid subscribers of Long Live the ABB Rather than the pop psychedelia of their studio records albums, Hour Glass live sets featured music they knew best: southern blues and R&B. The repertoire remained mostly covers, “Leaving Trunk” (Sleepy John Estes by way of Taj Mahal), “I’m Hanging Up My Heart For You” (Solomon Burke), Little Milton’s “Feel So Bad,” and Bobby Bland’s “Stormy Monday” and “Turn on Your Love Light.” They opened shows with an instrumental take on “Norwegian Wood” and closed with a current hit by country star Buck Owens. “They knew they were good,” John McEuen said. “Anyone who heard them understood how good they were. Duane had total command and authority of the guitar and Gregg was just a great singer who could make anything his own.” The Yardbirds “Over Under Sideways Down” Duane’s bands were always lauded for their ability with the Yardbirds’ catalog. This features Jeff Beck in all his early guitar wizard glory. Johnny Jenkins “Dimples” Sharing this because it is the same Eddie Hinton arrangement as the Allman Brothers Band, which Paul Hornsby taught Duane in this era. Though Duane played on much of Jenkins’s album Ton Ton Macoute, he isn’t on this track that I know of. He is, however, on this track. Yes, this is Duane on “Dimples” from Muscle Shoals in early 1969. The Nashville Teens “Tobacco Road” Written by Duane and Gregg’s songwriting mentor J.D. Loudermilk, the Hour Glass take on it was apparently pretty psychedelic. Taj Mahal “Statesboro Blues” and “Leaving Trunk” Taj Mahal’s arrangement of Blind Willie McTell’s acoustic “Statesboro Blues” featuring Jesse Ed Davis is what inspired Duane to pick up slide. “Statesboro” entered Duane’s repertoire in this era and became the first track on At Fillmore East. Sleepy John Estes’s “Leaving Trunk” is another acoustic blues Mahal adapted for his first album. Bobby “Blue” Bland “Stormy Monday” and “Turn on Your Lovelight” The Allman Brothers Band included a brilliant take on T-Bone Walker’s “Stormy Monday” on At Fillmore East. Gregg’s 1974 The Gregg Allman Tour album included a rollicking take on “Lovelight,” a song that’s been in the jamband canon for years. It was one of Grateful Dead founder Pigpen’s signature tunes, and a particular favorite of Col. Bruce Hampton’s. Solomon Burke “I’m Hanging Up My Heart for You” and Percy Sledge “I’m Hanging Up My Heart for You” Here’s Burke’s original and a cover by Percy Sledge, whose “When a Man Loves a Woman” put Muscle Shoals on the map. Incidentally, Jaimoe backed Sledge around the same time Duane and Gregg were in L.A. though I don’t believe he ever recorded with him. Little Milton “I Feel So Bad” Little Milton was Gregg’s favorite singer and he covered this song throughout his career. A live version appeared on The Gregg Allman Tour. The Derek Trucks Band covered it regularly and released it on 2004’s Live at the Georgia Theatre. Hour Glass “Norwegian Wood” This is a pretty psychedelic take from their second album. I can only imagine how killer it would’ve been live. This is an example of a truly original arrangement for Duane, who had trouble convincing Dallas Smith to listen to any of his ideas. Buck Owens “Act Naturally” Buck Owens was one of the biggest country stars on the planet at this time. I know Hour Glass covered Owens, but I found no reference to any particular song. I chose this as it’s one the Beatles covered, with Ringo Starr on vocals. Lefty Frizzell “Long Black Veil” The music of home comforted the southerners while they were in L.A. As Pete Carr of Hour Glass noted, “Duane and I shared an apartment and we would play guitars together a lot. I remember Gregg, Duane, and I playing and singing ‘Long Black Veil.’ I remember us harmonizing on it and it really was a moment separated from everything else we were doing. It was like a close family thing.” Random notes Carr expresses one of the biggest frustrations Duane and company had in Los Angeles: it was just too unlike the South. And the proof is in Duane’s output upon returning South in just the first three weeks of September 1968. Duane joins, records, and performs live with Butch Trucks’s 31st of February; he links up with Berry Oakley to form a band; and plays a Clarence Carter session in Muscle Shoals. Two months later, in November, he returns to the Shoals to play on a Wilson Pickett session. He suggests they cover “Hey Jude,” the song becomes a massive hit, and Duane becomes a star to such a degree that he gets to hand pick his next musical project. [https://www.longlivetheabb.com/p/play-all-night-playlist-project-chapter6] We’re not quite there yet in the story musically, but we’re getting there. As always, thanks for reading. 🍄Play All Night! Duane Allman the Journey to Fillmore East [https://www.amazon.com/dp/0813069505]🍄 BUY PLAY ALL NIGHT [https://www.amazon.com/dp/0813069505] Brought to you by the paid members of the Long Live the ABB community. 🍄MUSHROOM🍄MAGICIANS🍄 Brent W. Hammond, Craig Stevens, Ken Lupson, Laura McCarty, Steve Marshall 🍑 PEACH 🍑 PALS 🍑 Allen Barnes, Art Dobie, Baileys Mike, Bob and Laura, Bob Johnson, Brent Pruner, Bruce Miles, Buddy Lewis, Cabinetsales, Caroline Doolittle, charlie2541, Chuck Zumwalt, Clifford Morse, Cwktwo, Danbookin, David Manes, Dennis Newton, Denny, Ed Ashton, Ed Pokorny, F. D., Frank Young, Gary Nagle/Chairman Wonwayout, Gary Smith, Gary Williamson, George Holman, Hlnbkt, Irishbeatz, James Reynolds, James Yerrill, Jcsarphie, JD Guitar, Jeff Kushmerek, Jeff Schein, Jerry K, JoaquinDinero, Joe Sokohl, Joel Berger, Joel Tanzer, John Delaney, John Dolan, John Haughey, Jordan David, Joseph Lilly, Kenton Lee, Kevin Harper, Kevin Walker, Kurt Nielsen, Mark Leitner, Martha Haynes, Mike Clark, Peter Poulos, Phillip Page, Preston Root, Randy Woodall, Ray Tillman, Robert Porter, Rose Brandt, Scott Green, sswoger, Stanleyglennie8, Surrender Cobra, Taylor Kropp, Tim Langan (Hot ‘Lanta Tim), Tina Christopher, Tom Pragliola, Tony Gioia, Wade McCurdy, Wiszowa This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.longlivetheabb.com/subscribe [https://www.longlivetheabb.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2]

"All music is soul music" Lamar Williams Jr. on recording and touring with Oteil and life within the Allman Brothers family

Episode Overview Lamar Williams Jr. is the son of Allman Brothers bassist Lamar Williams, and he’s spent two decades building his own place inside the Allman Brothers’ extended musical family. I talked with him about The Offering, the long-gestating album with Oteil Burbridge recorded in Iceland, and about the lineage that carried him from Macon’s church choirs to Butch’s Les Brers, the Big Band of Brothers, and touring/recording with New Mastersounds, North Mississippi Allstars, and the Allman Betts Revival. Our Crossroads We are Lamar lost his father young and our shared experience of grief and carrying someone’s memory forward came up directly in our talk. I’ve seen Lamar live multiple times in a variety of settings. He’s one of my favorite singers of the Allman Brothers canon, perhaps my favorite. When you listen to the conversation, you’ll hear why. Lamar is not only a fantastic vocalist, he’s a student of the craft. His voice is his instrument. Overlooked is his how much love he puts out into the world as a lyricist and singer. I certainly gravitate to that presence. The Conversation The Offering. Lamar’s latest project began a decade ago when Allman Brothers’ bassist Oteil Burbridge picked up a banjo at home while his wife spent a year in Africa working with gorillas—just exercises to keep himself busy and learn the instrument. Williams heard them in Burbridge’s basement studio, told him “I hear something all over it,” and took the instrumentals to his writing partner, the late Victor Clark. After the ABB closed up shop, Dead & Co. pulled Burbridge away for a decade. Lamar, Oteil, and friends finished it in Iceland, near Akureyri, the same coast where Williams had already recorded twice with the New Mastersounds. Singing onstage with the Allman Brothers Band. This is a great story. Riding to the Beacon Theatre with Gregg Allman and godfather Chank Middleton, Allman quizzed Williams on songwriting and planted the idea that he needed a writing partner. Hours later, Chank pointed him out to Gregg before the ABB’s set that night; Allman’s only response was, “Come see me at halftime.” Lamar tells the full story. Lamar Williams Sr. Jaimoe and Lamar’s pops grew up together on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. They essentially learned to play music together. Lamar was the obvious choice when Berry Oakley died in 1972, when Butch Trucks cut the audition short and announced something to the effect of “As far as I’m concerned, this decision is made. We’ve found our bass player.” Williams Sr. died in 1983 of lung cancer linked to exposure to Agent Orange in Vietnam. His son shares a very specific memory of him—walking on his back while he watched sci-fi on the floor after returning from tour. Lamar Jr.’s favorite moment from his pops? His father’s upright bass on “Ponyboy.” Upgrade to a paid membership for previews of Conversation from the Crossroads episodes. Les Brers, Big Band of Brothers, Trouble No More, Allman Betts Revival. Butch Trucks built a band around Williams on impulse after a Roots Rock Revival gig: “We’re going to start a band now, and I want you to be in it.” That became Les Brers, with the ABB rhythm section of Butch, Jaimoe, and Marc plus Jack Pearson alongside Burbridge—Williams’ formal entry into the Allman Brothers family. He later toured with Big Band of Brothers, the jazz ensemble reworking the catalog with Jaimoe on drums, and says his approach to singing it comes from refusing to imitate—reverting to the church tradition he grew up in instead. The New Mastersounds and North Mississippi Allstars. Williams joined the New Mastersounds after sitting in at a Peter Levin benefit show in Denver. He became their first vocalist in eighteen years. Years later, Luther Dickinson watched Williams cover an ailing Charlie Starr on “Come and Go Blues” at an Allman Betts Family Revival show, and the two went on to record North Mississippi Allstars’ Set Sail. It earned a Grammy nomination. His father’s words. In a 1974 Downbeat interview, Williams Sr. called the Allman Brothers Band “a religion”—six musicians lifting each other into something that resists categorization. Williams points to The Offering’s closing track, his version of Earl King’s “Time for the Sun to Rise,” first played for him by Luther Dickinson, as the record’s clearest expression of that same patience. We talk specifically about this version of the song with Luther Dickinson. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0krZBOfjNs] And here’s Lamar Sr.’s full quote about the Allman Brothers, Macon, the South, and music: Lamar Williams grew up with Jaimoe Johanny Johanson in Port Gulf, Louisiana (Gulfport, Mississippi). It was through Jaimoe’s recommendation and a subsequent audition that Williams entered the band. I asked him if he was accepted into the band immediately. “It was a thing of adjusting to their particular style of music. I feel that musicians are able to . . . if you have to play country and western, then you’re going to play country and western; if you’re going to play jazz, you’ll adjust to that. Now, you take cats who are not real musicians, then they’re hung up in one particular bag, a lot of other things they’re not hip to.” Do you have any idea what the term “southern blues” means? Well, I can relate to “down home,” you know. Musicians who come up in the South, musicians who come up on the West Coast, the East Coast, anywhere. That environment affects their heads. In most cities you have a whole bunch of other static going on. Down South, living in a small town, Macon, you have a lot of time to put into it. You have a lot of time to check out other stuff, to check out a lot of stuff in your head. The whole South is laid back, that’s where atmosphere comes from. I’ve met cats who come down from New Jersey and New York to try to get some of that southern thing to rub off on them. What is the special quality that the Allman Brothers Band has that makes them so popular? To me it’s a religion. For instance, I can feel just blah, but when I get on that stage, there’ll be so much energy flowing from the other five cats that they just lift me in a real strong spiritual way, till I don’t know how tired I am. It becomes a real strong spiritual thing to get to the point where the six cats on that stage, their job is to produce a sound, the Allman sound. But I don’t think it can be put in any particular category. We play the first and second numbers, all that time we’re feelin’ each other out, where everybody’s head is. As it goes up, everybody gets into a thing with each other. I can feel incredible vibes on that stage. Play All Night! Duane Allman the Journey to Fillmore East [https://www.amazon.com/dp/0813069505]🍄 Resources Lamar Williams Jr. * www.lamarwilliamsjr.com [https://www.lamarwilliamsjr.com/] * Instagram https://www.instagram.com/lamarwilliamsjr/ [https://www.instagram.com/lamarwilliamsjr/] North Mississippi Allstars, Set Sail (2022) Oteil Burbridge & Lamar Williams Jr., The Offering (2026) The New Mastersounds, Shake It (2019); The Deplar Effect (2022) Playlist Here’s a sample of some of my favorite Lamar Williams Jr. cuts. The Youtube playlist is the most complete as two of these tracks are only available there. An additional two are missing from Spotify altogether. Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7ynZBaHQYICG9fVb9N1Kmq?si=S8pkh0f_Rf265WHTmI5Ykg&pi=p_N0SSOXSU6Rj] Tidal [https://tidal.com/playlist/ce710422-39b4-412f-a06e-2253fbf00e2d] Youtube [https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRfqHNDF7ziM&si=vj6ikFlJGoW5H5vM] * “Trouble No More (live)” - Allman Betts Revival & Slash (Youtube only) * “Love and War (Live from Mexico)” - Oteil Burbridge & Lamar Williams Jr. * “Country Road” - Oteil Burbridge & Lamar Williams Jr. * “Set Sail, Part I” - North Mississippi Allstars & Lamar Williams Jr. * “Cold as Ice” - Lamar Williams Jr. * “Don’t Keep Me Wonderin’ (live)” - Big Band of Brothers w/ Jaimoe(!!!) & a sit-in from Oteil Burbridge (Youtube only) * “Authentic” - North Mississippi Allstars & Lamar Williams Jr. * “Peace and Understanding” - Peter Levin, Lamar Williams Jr., Eric Krasno & Marc Quiñones * “Love They Deserve” - The New Mastersounds & Lamar Williams Jr. * “I Can Hear My Train Calling” - Joshua C.S. & Lamar Williams Jr. * “Everyone & Everything” - Eddie Roberts, George Porter Jr. & Lamar Williams Jr. * “Let Me in from the Cold” - The New Mastersounds, Eddie Roberts & Lamar Williams Jr. * “Meet You in the Sunshine” - The New Mastersounds, Eddie Roberts & Lamar Williams Jr. * “Days of Summer” - Lamar Williams Jr. * “Gonna Get in My Way” - The New Mastersounds, Eddie Roberts & Lamar Williams Jr. * “Shake It” - The New Mastersounds & Lamar Williams Jr. * “Time for the Sun to Rise” - Oteil Burbridge & Lamar Williams Jr. * “Time for the Sun to Rise” - Lamar Williams Jr. & Luther Dickinson Brought to you by the paid members of the Long Live the ABB community. 🍄MUSHROOM🍄MAGICIANS🍄 Brent W. Hammond, Craig Stevens, Ken Lupson, Laura McCarty, Steve Marshall 🍑PEACH🍑PALS🍑 Allen Barnes, Art Dobie, Baileys Mike, Bob and Laura, Bob Johnson, Brent Pruner, Bruce Miles, Buddy Lewis, Cabinetsales, Caroline Doolittle, charlie2541, Chuck Zumwalt, Clifford Morse, Cwktwo, Danbookin, David Manes, Dennis Newton, Denny, Ed Ashton, Ed Pokorny, F. D., Frank Young, Gary Nagle/Chairman Wonwayout, Gary Smith, Gary Williamson, George Holman, Hlnbkt, Irishbeatz, James Reynolds, James Yerrill, Jcsarphie, JD Guitar, Jeff Kushmerek, Jeff Schein, Jerry K, JoaquinDinero, Joe Sokohl, Joel Berger, Joel Tanzer, John Delaney, John Dolan, John Haughey, Jordan David, Joseph Lilly, Kenton Lee, Kevin Harper, Kevin Walker, Kurt Nielsen, Mark Leitner, Martha Haynes, Mike Clark, Peter Poulos, Phillip Page, Preston Root, Randy Woodall, Ray Tillman, Robert Porter, Rose Brandt, Scott Green, sswoger, Stanleyglennie8, Surrender Cobra, Taylor Kropp, Tim Langan (Hot ‘Lanta Tim), Tina Christopher, Tom Pragliola, Tony Gioia, Wade McCurdy, Wiszowa LLtABB swag [http://merch.longlivetheabb.com/] This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.longlivetheabb.com/subscribe [https://www.longlivetheabb.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2]

At Fillmore East at 55: Long Live the ABB 🍄

At Fillmore East was released 55 years ago, July 6, 1971. My book Play All Night! Duane Allman & the Journey to Fillmore East [https://www.amazon.com/dp/0813069505] is the story of that album and the biography of the Allman Brothers Band’s sound. In celebration of the anniversary, I excerpted Chapters 12 and 13 of Play All Night in four posts. Part 1: “The Allman Brothers did it all. On stage they were giants.” [https://www.longlivetheabb.com/p/fillmore55-part1] Part 2: “Some of the greatest live performances I’ve ever witnessed” [https://www.longlivetheabb.com/p/fillmore55-part2] Part 3: “This is the People’s Band. Music is for the people.” [https://www.longlivetheabb.com/p/fillmore55-part3] Part 4: “Best damn rock & roll band this country produced in the past 5 years.” [https://www.longlivetheabb.com/p/fillmore55-part4] And here’s a livestream with my dude Jeff Kollath JK [https://substack.com/profile/502930825-jk] to talk about the record’s past, present, and its enduring influence. The Conversation The recording. We agreed one reason this record is so great is how alive it sounds. Tom Dowd mic’d the crowd, an unusual choice, and the room’s presence gives At Fillmore East warmth—the opposite of a flattened soundboard tape. A band “in full possession of its considerable intelligence and stamina.” At Fillmore East was a full dose of two sides of the Allman Brothers Band, their exquisite taste and immense power. Jeff called them “solos of perfect logic” moving from restraint into full intensity and back, the record never losing its shape. Where does it rank? Neither of us has any problem calling it rock’s greatest live album. We threw out a few others, the Stones’ Get Yer Yayas Out, MC5’s Kick Out the Jams, Kiss Alive!—all cleaned up in post, the latter two considerably. Humble Pie’s Rockin’ the Fillmore, recorded two months after the ABB, makes the contrast plain: a 23+ minute “Gilded Splinters” on side two of the double album is indulgent and overwrought. “Whipping Post” runs the same distance and never loses the thread—a complete idea, start to finish, from all six players, leaving the room, and generations of listeners, enraptured. What the tapes reveal. Listen closely to the beginning of “Whipping Post.” Five fans call out for the song before it starts (it’s the third guy you hear clearly). Listen even more closely and you’ll hear at least two shout for “Dreams.” The crowd keeps screaming for more at the close of “Mountain Jam,” after a bomb-threat evacuation earlier that same night. Not released Live/Dead as counterpoint. The Dead at their best in that era, especially the first four tracks—“Dark Star” “St. Stephen” “The Eleven” “Turn on Your Lovelight”—but Jeff believes the Dead’s legacy rests on the two studio records that follow, Workingman’s Dead and American Beauty. The Allman Brothers Band built its reputation from At Fillmore East. I argue Live/Dead is not even the definitive Dead live album (that’s Europe 72, which has lots of edits in post). 🍄Play All Night! Duane Allman the Journey to Fillmore East [https://www.amazon.com/dp/0813069505]🍄 BUY PLAY ALL NIGHT [https://www.amazon.com/dp/0813069505] Brought to you by the paid members of the Long Live the ABB community. 🍄MUSHROOM🍄MAGICIANS🍄 Brent W. Hammond, Craig Stevens, Ken Lupson, Laura McCarty, Steve Marshall 🍑 PEACH 🍑 PALS 🍑 Allen Barnes, Art Dobie, Baileys Mike, Bob and Laura, Bob Johnson, Brent Pruner, Bruce Miles, Buddy Lewis, Cabinetsales, Caroline Doolittle, charlie2541, Chuck Zumwalt, Clifford Morse, Cwktwo, Danbookin, David Manes, Dennis Newton, Denny, Ed Ashton, Ed Pokorny, F. D., Frank Young, Gary Nagle/Chairman Wonwayout, Gary Smith, Gary Williamson, George Holman, Hlnbkt, Irishbeatz, James Reynolds, James Yerrill, Jason Hecht, Jcsarphie, JD Guitar, Jeff Kushmerek, Jeff Schein, Jerry K, JoaquinDinero, Joe Sokohl, Joel Berger, Joel Tanzer, John Delaney, John Dolan, John Haughey, Jordan David, Joseph Lilly, Kenton Lee, Kevin Harper, Kevin Walker, Kurt Nielsen, Mark Leitner, Martha Haynes, Mike Clark, Peter Poulos, Phillip Page, Preston Root, Randy Woodall, Ray Tillman, Robert Porter, Rose Brandt, Scott Green, sswoger, Stanleyglennie8, Surrender Cobra, Taylor Kropp, Tim Langan (Hot ‘Lanta Tim), Tina Christopher, Tom Pragliola, Tony Gioia, Wade McCurdy, Wiszowa 🍄🍑MERCH [http://merch.longlivetheabb.com/]🍑🍄 Created this to honor the Allman Brothers Band’s March 1971 run at Fillmore East. You’ll see the original ad below, which had Johnny Winter at the top of the bill. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.longlivetheabb.com/subscribe [https://www.longlivetheabb.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2]

At Fillmore East at 55 Livestream July 6 9pm eastern

Join me and past Conversations from the Crossroads guest Jeff Kollath to celebrate the 55th anniversary of rock’s greatest live record, At Fillmore East, which I count among the greatest artistic achievements of the 20th century. Join us here: https://open.substack.com/live-stream/267211 [https://open.substack.com/live-stream/267211?r=20o170&utm_medium=ios] 🍄 Sharing is caring. 🍄 🍄Play All Night! Duane Allman the Journey to Fillmore East [https://www.amazon.com/dp/0813069505]🍄 BUY PLAY ALL NIGHT [https://www.amazon.com/dp/0813069505] Brought to you by the paid members of the Long Live the ABB community. 🍄MUSHROOM🍄MAGICIANS🍄 Brent W. Hammond, Craig Stevens, Ken Lupson, Laura McCarty, Steve Marshall 🍑 PEACH 🍑 PALS 🍑 Allen Barnes, Art Dobie, Baileys Mike, Bob and Laura, Bob Johnson, Brent Pruner, Bruce Miles, Buddy Lewis, Cabinetsales, Caroline Doolittle, charlie2541, Chuck Zumwalt, Clifford Morse, Cwktwo, Danbookin, David Manes, Dennis Newton, Denny, Ed Ashton, Ed Pokorny, F. D., Frank Young, Gary Nagle/Chairman Wonwayout, Gary Smith, Gary Williamson, George Holman, Hlnbkt, Irishbeatz, James Reynolds, James Yerrill, Jcsarphie, JD Guitar, Jeff Kushmerek, Jeff Schein, Jerry K, JoaquinDinero, Joe Sokohl, Joel Berger, Joel Tanzer, John Delaney, John Dolan, John Haughey, Jordan David, Joseph Lilly, Kenton Lee, Kevin Harper, Kevin Walker, Kurt Nielsen, Mark Leitner, Martha Haynes, Mike Clark, Peter Poulos, Phillip Page, Preston Root, Randy Woodall, Ray Tillman, Robert Porter, Rose Brandt, Scott Green, sswoger, Stanleyglennie8, Surrender Cobra, Taylor Kropp, Tim Langan (Hot ‘Lanta Tim), Tina Christopher, Tom Pragliola, Tony Gioia, Wade McCurdy, Wiszowa This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.longlivetheabb.com/subscribe [https://www.longlivetheabb.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2]

"That light hasn't gone out yet" Representation, resistance, and what history teaches in hard times

Episode Overview Sue Ferentinos and I have been friends for eighteen years. When I needed an editor for Play All Night!—someone I trusted, someone who came to the Allman Brothers completely fresh—she was the call I made. She gave me a sharp outside eye, a historian’s instincts, and the willingness to tell me when I’d hit it and how to make it better if I hadn’t. That collaboration shaped the book in ways I’m still thinking about. Our conversation picks up where that work left off. Our Crossroads Sue looks at the world the way I do—through history. We’re two historians rapping on the many ways the past carries meaning for, and belongs to, everyone. Our life’s work has been in the public sphere. Her particular expertise is in gender and sexuality, two topics very much underrepresented in history’s stories. We also each have extensive experience working with and for national professional organizations. We are also each editors. I hired Sue to help me with the final pre-review Play All Night! manuscript in spring 2021. It was a bonus that she knew nothing about the Allman Brothers. Her comments validated my work as a historian and also my writing. She pushed me to clarity that the book benefited from—most notably in my comparison of the Dead and the Allman Brothers on pages 109-110, which are some of my favorite passages in the book, a place where I really felt I said something I theretofore was unable to articulate. The Conversation You see the world more clearly when you finish a project like Play All Night. The book was the culmination of a thirty-year intellectual journey and my headspace changed for good and for the better. I shared some insights I’d had since the book’s publication—particularly the gender implications of the band’s long hair as they toured the South in the 60s and early 70s. I wrote a fair amount in the book about the challenges touring as an integrated band of hippies, but it was not a core part of my argument by any means. The music was always my focus. But Sue showed me, through my own writing, that it is impossible to ignore how far the ABB pushed the envelope on this issue, and how influential it was to those around them. Southern men with long hair weren’t just flouting convention. They were triggering a specific kind of anxiety about gender roles, one that intersected at the crossroads of being integrated. The band were outsiders and outcasts as they toured because they posed a threat to the social order under which lay the ever-present threat of violence. From there we went deeper into Sue’s expertise. She shared how the 1950s were a period of moral retrenchment and traced how that set up the 1960s counterculture explosion that Duane and his bandmates were a part of. (Another area she pushed me on in my manuscript.) Young men weren’t just growing their hair long. They were rejecting the entire architecture of traditional gender roles their parents had idealized Our conversation moved to one of my favorite topics: public memory. Sue noted that historical markers don’t require people to opt in. They sit in the landscape, waiting. Sometimes someone reads one and learns something. We came around to the present. Sue spoke plainly about what she sees happening at the federal level—the effort to narrow the history the country gets told. Her argument was careful and clear: it’s not about avoiding controversy. It’s about telling real history, which is complex, which is contested, and which belongs to everyone who’s ever lived it. She closed with something worth sitting with. History taught her she wasn’t alone. Queer people existed in the past. Women existed in the past. So have immigrants. When she found their stories, it changed what she thought was possible. That’s the work—the accumulating evidence that people have always found ways through. As I often say, history is liberating. Resources Bob Beatty, Play All Night: Duane Allman and the Journey to Fillmore East (University Press of Florida, 2022). https://www.amazon.com/dp/0813069505 [https://www.amazon.com/dp/0813069505]. Susan Ferentinos * https://susanferentinos.com/ [https://susanferentinos.com/] * Interpreting LGBT History at Museums and Historic Sites (2014) Little Richard: I Am Everything (2023). Brought to you by the paid members of the Long Live the ABB community, who receive previews of new Conversation from the Crossroads episodes. 🍄MUSHROOM🍄MAGICIANS🍄 Steve Marshall, Brent W. Hammond, Ken Lupson, Laura McCarty 🍑 PEACH 🍑 PALS 🍑 Allen Barnes, Art Dobie, Baileys Mike, Bob and Laura, Bob Johnson, Brent Pruner, Bruce Miles, Buddy Lewis, Cabinetsales, Caroline Doolittle, charlie2541, Chuck Zumwalt, Clifford Morse, Craig Stephens, Cwktwo, Danbookin, Dennis Newton, Denny, Ed Ashton, Ed Pokorny, F. D., Frank Young, Gary Nagle/Chairman Wonwayout, Gary Smith, Gary Williamson, George Holman, Hlnbkt, Irishbeatz, James Reynolds, James Yerrill, Jcsarphie, JD Guitar, Jeff Kushmerek, Jeff Schein, Jerry K, JoaquinDinero, Joe Sokohl, Joel Berger, Joel Tanzer, John Delaney, John Dolan, John Haughey, Jordan David, Joseph Lilly, Kenton Lee, Kevin Harper, Kevin Walker, Kurt Nielsen, Mark Leitner, Martha Haynes, Mike Clark, Peter Poulos, Phillip Page, Preston Root, Randy Woodall, Ray Tillman, Robert Porter, Rose Brandt, sswoger, Stanleyglennie8, Surrender Cobra, Taylor Kropp, Tim Langan (Hot ‘Lanta Tim), Tina Christopher, Tom Pragliola, Tony Gioia, Wade McCurdy, Wiszowa LLtABB swag [http://merch.longlivetheabb.com/] This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.longlivetheabb.com/subscribe [https://www.longlivetheabb.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2]