One Way Out: The Inside History of the Allman Brothers Band (51 page)

DEREK TRUCKS:
Afterwards, when we were hugging, Eric whispered in my ear, saying something like, “I haven’t played like that since 1969.”

I think it’s really incredible that a band could have a fortieth anniversary and have it be a musical highlight. I can’t think of anyone else who has or could pull that off.

BOYER:
There’s a phrase called courting the muse, and that’s something you have to do if you want to be an artist or real musician. You can’t just run through the motions. Gregg is still doing that. He loves to play.

ALLMAN:
I’m proud to say that I have a lot of good music to live up to so I can’t get out there and do it halfway. I’m one of the fans, too. In fact, I’m the biggest critic and I’ve got to be satisfied with it before it’s right.

DEREK TRUCKS:
It amazes me how, despite all the drama, at the end of the day what’s right for the band trumps all. That’s what keeps this thing driving and that’s what’s different about it. Everyone is free to voice their ideas and opinions and have them considered. It’s very much a band in that way. I’ve been a part of major tours and I’ve never seen a situation where a band that’s been together this long will let everyone have their say. If something’s working and it’s musically happening, they follow it, regardless of whose idea it was. Every one of us has made suggestions that ended up being followed. We all chime in, and not just about our individual parts. It’s always about “What are we trying to say here, and what’s the best way of saying it?”

BUTCH TRUCKS:
That spontaneity is still there—the feeling that anyone can come up with anything at any time to lead us in a different direction—and that’s the reason we are here almost forty-five years later. It’s still flowing. We still come up with things that surprise one another. You know what it feels like and you want to get there; it’s better than sex!

LEAVELL:
Eventually we all grow up and the most important thing to all of us is the music. It has to be or we wouldn’t still be doing this. At the end of the day, the music prevails and I’m very happy that this is the case.

JAIMOE:
The fact is, you perform better with people you’ve performed with the longest. You do learn something when you have been around each other for so long, whether it’s criminal or something great. That’s just the truth of the matter.

BURBRIDGE:
It’s like: How do you understand a wife better after so many years? You become aware of nuance. It’s the same with a band: singular and group nuance becomes more defined. You can tell better what mood an individual is in. What the group spirit is. You need to talk, too! People are not mind readers, even if they
think
they’re great at it. So many small things that all matter when you are trying to make up something new, on the spot, collectively, in front of thousands of people, every night. It’s quite a dance. Fortunately, I love to dance.

LEAVELL:
We’ve seen a lot of fallen soldiers through the years—Duane, Berry, Lamar, and many, many others. You look back at them and they are reminders of how lucky we are to be here, and to make this music. It makes it even more exciting to do it, to carry on, to take care of yourself physically, emotionally, mentally …

JOHNNY NEEL:
People come and go but the Allman Brothers endure. Dickey’s out, Warren left and came back … it’s more than a band. It’s an institution and it’s like a big ol’ animal, an organism that can regenerate itself.

GIBBONS:
Derek and Warren hold down a serious dedication to re-creating something that hasn’t been done since, and it’s remarkable how their talents have preserved what we’ve come to know and love about the Allman Brothers sound. They are younger guys who have devoted their musical careers to something very, very special. They are re-creating a really fantastic form of music that is indelibly emblazoned and that resonates with most brains. And as soon as you walk on the stage with them, you feel it.

QUIÑONES:
I’m proud to be part of this legacy. I’ve been with the band for half their life now and have come to realize what an important role the Allman Brothers have played in American music. I feel honored and blessed to be a part of this history, and it blows me away when I meet people and realize just how much this music has touched them, what it’s done for them over the years.

ALLMAN:
The drummers are back there behind me and I’m on the line. One night at the Beacon, I looked down and realized I was the only one left on the front line. I guess it makes me appreciate the whole thing even more, really. It’s hard to stick together, and that’s probably why a lot of other good bands don’t last this long. My brother, Woody, Oakley … they can’t be replaced because they were all unique individuals, but it doesn’t mean the whole shebang has got to fold. We still have music left to play.

The Allman Brothers Band, 2009.

DEREK TRUCKS:
I don’t know if the ABB could withstand any more major personnel changes. If it’s going to remain legit, it has to be this lineup. Beyond that, it would be tough to keep it going and I think everyone is of the same mind-set that this lineup is the way it’s going to go out, whenever that time comes.

I think the chemistry between Warren and I has really grown over the past five or six years. It’s a pretty simple thing. The attitude is right and it’s never combative. We’re pushing each other on. There’s always a sense of trying to make shit happen, trading riffs, pushing each other. You want to make music, push it forward. And while we are not competitive, you don’t want to be second. Warren has that in him, and I have it in me. It was that way with Dickey and Duane; good players make each other better. As long as you’re moving forward, then it’s right.

Gregg had a liver transplant in June 2010, just months after appearing quite strong at eight shows at New York’s United Palace Theater, where they played that year instead of the Beacon Theater.

ALLMAN:
Most people are two steps from the coroner when they finally get a transplant, so naturally they feel refreshed when they come out the other side, with fresh, clean blood running through them. Phil Lesh [who had a liver transplant in 1998] called me before the surgery and said that when I was done I would feel like a new man, but the thing is I still felt pretty good, though I was drinking those five-hour energy drinks right and left and getting B-twelve shots two or three times a week to keep my energy up.

I had to sleep all day in order to play at night, but I’m not much of a day person anyhow, so that wasn’t that unusual. But they told me I wouldn’t be able to do that routine for more than two or three years before I’d start going down into a very slow, painful death that would take about two and a half years. I needed the operation as soon as I could have it.

When I found out there was a match, I was really excited. I had no idea what I was in for. When I first woke up, it was the worst pain I ever dreamt of, much less had. I didn’t even think about that going in there and they don’t even let you know anything about that because if they did, a lot of people would say “No thanks” and they would die. The first four days, the pain is just unbelievable. They have this thing to spread your rib cage. It’s like building a battleship in a bottle so they take this big forceps thing and stretch your rib cage and when you wake up, Ooohhh God! The pain right across the middle of your back all the way around is just unbearable. But within weeks I started to feel very clearheaded and healthy. Of course, this was a godsend, and it makes you real humble and stop and feel appreciative.

As Allman recuperated in his Savannah, Georgia, home with the help of longtime friend Chank Middleton and housekeeper Judy Lariscy, he began itching to get back on stage.

ALLMAN:
As I began to recover and feel better, I was laid up for 120 days and that was the longest I’ve gone without performing by far. I’ve been doing this since I was sixteen and, man, did I miss it. What I missed was getting out there and making it work. What I miss ends at the front of the stage. I just love to play, man, and am seriously devoted to that music. Plus, I’ve got a lot of gypsy in my blood and I don’t mind traveling for as long as I can possibly do it. Just being home that long was real strange and I didn’t really like it.

Allman returned to the stage with the Allman Brothers Band on November 10, 2010, at Philadelphia’s Tower Theater, the start of a nine-show tour of Northeastern theaters. He appeared remarkably vigorous but suffered some health setbacks over the ensuing eighteen months. When Gregg missed the final show and a half of the 2012 Beacon run and appeared greatly weakened at the Wanee Fest a month later, Haynes was once again sent scrambling to round up appropriate guest stars and many fans started to write the obituary of the Allman Brothers Band. Perhaps they should have known better, given the long history, but the concern extended to the band itself.

QUIÑONES:
We really thought that we lost Gregg for good musically. It was really, really scary to watch him on stage; we had never seen him like that. And Butch also had some health problems, which led to me playing a lot of drums in his place, so for a while we had two-thirds of the original band in precarious situations. Me, Derek, Warren, and Oteil were looking at each other on stage with a lot of concern and we had a lot of dinner meetings, discussing what to do, how to get the band back on track. There were some moments that we thought it was the end of the line for the Allman Brothers Band.

BUTCH TRUCKS:
I have glaucoma and it got to where I had 20 percent vision in my right eye. I needed surgery but couldn’t have it before the tour, so the ophthalmologist put me on this medication to take the pressure off the eyeball but it led to a lot of other issues. It stops your body from producing sodium and I was getting worn out mentally and physically. My mother died of Alzheimer’s and Derek was old enough to see that, and when he looked at me, that’s what he was seeing in my eyes and it understandably freaked him out and scared me, too. I went straight to New York for an MRI and they said there’s nothing wrong and took me off the medication and I got back on my game.

QUIÑONES:
It sometimes seemed like we were more concerned about the legacy of this band than the original members were. We didn’t want to go out on stage sounding like that and for people to start bagging the band. After working so hard for this unit to sound so good, we didn’t want to go out like that. When the guy forgets lyrics for songs he’s been singing for forty years, we’ve got a problem, man. We got together towards the end of the run and went to talk to Gregg in his hotel room.

BUTCH TRUCKS:
When Gregg forgot the first line to “Statesboro Blues” we knew we had a serious issue. We had a meeting at the end of the tour to flat-out tell him, “Pull it together—do whatever you have to do or there’s not going to be any more Allman Brothers tours.” And he kind of pulled the rug out of our meeting by saying he knew what the problem was and what the meeting was about before we could say a word.

QUIÑONES:
Before we could say anything, Gregg said, “Guys, I know. I’ve decided to go into rehab at the end of this run.” And that’s what it takes—for the addict to say, “I need help.” It has to be their choice, their decision, so when he said that, we were really, really happy and surprised.

He came back the following March [2013] for the Beacon in unbelievable shape. The first day of Beacon rehearsal, we rehearsed an hour and a half straight, which had never happened in the twenty-two years I’ve been in this band. We used to go to Sarasota for three weeks and if we got three good rehearsals in, it was a lot.

HAYNES:
We had about a week to rehearse and we packed a lot more into each session than we normally would. We got a lot more accomplished and it was a pleasant scene. Everyone was psyched that everyone individually was in good shape. Gregg and Butch were doing way better, which was a big relief, and the music really benefited.

Gregg’s condition and the band’s extra rehearsal time were evident throughout the 2013 Beacon run, as they introduced two new Haynes-penned songs as well as several ambitious new covers and some ABB songs that had fallen off their set lists. Gregg sang and played stronger than he had since at least 2009.

BUTCH TRUCKS:
The last three nights I had to tape my snare drum down because I was hitting it so hard it was bouncing up to my crotch. I was having more fun than I’ve ever had in my life. That was the best run ever, made all the sweeter by the difficulties of the previous year.

HAYNES:
I think we played a higher level than we have at least since the fortieth anniversary. It was a very satisfying run.

Less than a month later, the Allman Brothers band headlined the first night of Eric Clapton’s Crossroads Festival at Madison Square Garden, a two-night orgy of guitar greats, including Jeff Beck, Buddy Guy, B.B. King, Keith Richards, Vince Gill, and many others.