{"id":3413,"date":"2011-08-16T01:52:04","date_gmt":"2011-08-16T08:52:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/?p=3413"},"modified":"2011-08-16T01:52:56","modified_gmt":"2011-08-16T08:52:56","slug":"gregg-allman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/2011\/08\/gregg-allman\/","title":{"rendered":"GREGG ALLMAN"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/h1>\n

GREGG ALLMAN<\/h1>\n

After a brush with mortality, a rock legend gets back to the blues<\/strong><\/h2>\n

By Chris Neal<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s been a few months since doctors used a device to spread Gregg Allman\u2019s rib cage as part of his treatment for cancer, but he still winces at the thought. \u201cThat hurt so damn bad,\u201d he says. \u201cUnh! <\/em>All the rib bones that go back and connect to your spine, they disrupt all that. Boy, that hurts. They can cut and sew muscles and skin, and that\u2019s one kind of pain. But you start messing with the bones, oh, god<\/em>. I never realized there was that kind of pain on this earth. I don\u2019t think a human body could stand much more. I mean, it was just \u2026\u201d He trails off, shaking his head, then chuckles. \u201cYou pay for that liquor.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Allman Brothers Band\u2019s singer, keyboardist and co-founder has been sober for 16 years now, but the damage had already been done. He was diagnosed with hepatitis C in 2007\u2014most likely the result of having been tattooed with a dirty needle more than 40 years ago. \u201cLater on in life, when drinking raised its ugly head, that paved the way for the hep C to turn into cancer,\u201d explains Allman, 63, who received chemotherapy in late 2010 and finally underwent a successful liver transplant last June. \u201cThat chemo made me sick as a dog, but if they hadn\u2019t found those cancers I would not have been with us much longer.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer recuperated, he comforted himself with the knowledge that he had a killer new solo album in the bag\u2014Low Country Blues<\/em>, recorded with producer T Bone Burnett over 11 days in Los Angeles early last year. Burnett convinced Allman to record with his own hand-picked musicians, including pianist Dr. John and guitarist Doyle Bramhall II, tackling a set mostly composed of vintage blues songs (along with one original, \u201cJust Another Rider,\u201d written with Allman Brothers Band guitarist Warren Haynes). We spoke with Allman during a visit to New York City about his illness, his new music and his love affair with the blues.<\/p>\n

How did you discover the blues?<\/strong><\/p>\n

When my brother [late guitarist Duane Allman] and I were first starting out, we played the Chitlin\u2019 Circuit, all those sleazy-ass clubs in the Southeast. (laughs<\/em>) The ones with the chicken wire up so beer bottles won\u2019t hit you, and Sweaty Betty and her girlfriend dancing like go-go girls. Oh, we saw some trashy places. Anyway, we\u2019d go back and forth between these clubs and would listen to this radio station out of Gallatin, Tenn., WLAC. You could get it anywhere from New York to Miami after 9 at night. That\u2019s when I first heard Lightnin\u2019 Hopkins, Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, Howlin\u2019 Wolf, all of them. It was the first time I heard Sonny Boy Williamson and got turned on to the harp. It was like a wonderland of music. It sounded so much better than the Beach Boys and Dick Dale and all that bullshit. Then at night this guy Herman Grizzard would come on with the late show, and his thing was jazz. That was the first time I heard [jazz organist] Jimmy Smith. So we listened to that\u00a0every chance we could.<\/p>\n

What was touring like then? <\/strong><\/p>\n

When we went on the road I was 16 and just out of high school. The Beatles had come out and everybody and their brother\u2014no pun intended\u2014had a band. There was some very good competition out there. A lot of \u2019em fell by the wayside, but a lot of \u2019em didn\u2019t. The Brothers have always been pretty much blues-based, but when we first started we\u2019d play Otis Redding, James Brown\u2014it was rhythm and blues back when we were playing the clubs. We played six nights a week, five sets a night, 45 minutes a set and we got $440 for the four of us a week. Even in 1966 that wasn\u2019t any wages at all, especially if you\u2019re trying to buy amplifiers and sound systems. (laughs<\/em>) I came up busted every week, man.<\/p>\n

How did this album begin? <\/strong><\/p>\n

It started with meeting T Bone. My manager, Michael Lehman, said to me, \u201cYou know, it\u2019s about time for you to get into the studio.\u201d I was coming off an Allman Brothers tour and was in Detroit and on my way home to Savannah, Ga. Michael said, \u201cOn your way I want you to stop in Memphis and meet\u00a0T Bone Burnett. I think you\u2019ll like him.\u201d<\/p>\n

What was your first impression? <\/strong><\/p>\n

When I saw what he was doing in Memphis, that sealed it. He was there with two architects and they were measuring the Sun Records building board by board. He was going to go back to Los Angeles, where he had this big lot of three or four acres next to his house, and he was going to rebuild the Sun studios exactly. I thought that was the coolest thing I\u2019d ever heard. I thought, \u201cMan, this guy might just be it. Maybe the gods are looking out for me.\u201d At the meeting he said, \u201cI\u2019ve a couple thousand blues songs on my computer\u2014old, obscure ones. Some of them you might recognize, most of them you might not. Some of them have that old scratchy sound because they were from 78s, but they\u2019re all there. I\u2019m gonna send you about 20 and I want you to listen to them and call me.\u201d So I took \u2019em home and listened, and there was some\u00a0good stuff on there.<\/p>\n

How did you and Warren Haynes come to write \u201cJust Another Rider\u201d? <\/strong><\/p>\n

Warren and I got together at a time when we both weren\u2019t working and worn out, which are few and far between. I was doing a benefit for the Michael J. Fox Foundation here at the Waldorf-Astoria [in November 2009]. Of course Warren lives here now, up on the Hudson River. So I had a day off and he came down and I had a piano brought to the room. We finished up this song, \u201cJust Another Rider,\u201d which we had started a long, long time ago. A few days after that we went on the Allman Brothers tour, and after that tour I met T Bone. We got a little over halfway through making the record and T Bone says, \u201cOh man, I\u2019m sorry. Do you have anything that you\u2019ve written that you want to put on the album?\u201d I told him I had one that I thought would fit in, and sure enough it did. We just had to make sure it would sound right. It needed to be in the same vein as the other songs.<\/p>\n

Why did you play with T Bone\u2019s musicians instead of your solo group? <\/strong><\/p>\n

They told me at the last minute, \u201cBy the way, you\u2019re not going to be bringing your band.\u201d I almost slammed the door on the whole thing. I\u2019m so glad I didn\u2019t. I spent a couple of days with no sleep, just thinking. Imagine getting that kind of request. But finally I said, \u201cWe\u2019re going to his sandbox, I guess we\u2019ll play with his toys.\u201d (laughs<\/em>) So I got down there, and I was so\u00a0astounded by those guys. Turned out he got Dr. John. Doyle Bramhall II was there playing guitar. Dennis Crouch was the bass player, he\u2019s from Nashville. And on drums\u00a0was Jay Bellerose.<\/p>\n

How is your health now? <\/strong><\/p>\n

I feel real good. I have my moments, of course, but they\u2019re nothing to get upset\u00a0about. Every now and then I\u2019ll have a lag in my energy level. It was a hell of an ordeal\u2014I\u00a0hurt so damn bad sometimes. But I thank\u00a0God, because I want to live at least five or\u00a0six more years. It was heavy, man. It was. I\u2019ve gotten real close to God.<\/p>\n

Did it affect your voice? <\/strong><\/p>\n

That\u2019s about the only thing I think it didn\u2019t affect. I was singing two weeks\u00a0after it was over.<\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

Do you have a goal in mind? <\/strong><\/p>\n

I just want to sail on and do what\u00a0I\u2019m doing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

GREGG ALLMAN After a brush with mortality, a rock legend gets back to the blues By Chris Neal It\u2019s been a few months since doctors used a device to spread Gregg Allman\u2019s rib cage as part of his treatment for cancer, but he still winces at the thought. \u201cThat hurt so damn bad,\u201d he says. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7],"tags":[2398,1059,2314,970],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3413"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3413"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3413\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3416,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3413\/revisions\/3416"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}