BROTHERS AND SISTERS Album by the Allman Brothers Band…
BROTHERS AND SISTERS: Allman Brothers Band and the Inside Story of the Album that Defined the 70’s by Alan Paul – a Book Review.
“GREGG ALLMAN: I shut my eyes and sang, and at the end of that there was this long silence. At that moment we knew what we had.” from ONE WAY OUT: The Inside History of the Allman Brothers, by Alan Paul.
In my post “Baby Boomer Generation Singer-Songwriters: Our Music of the Sixties & Later,” I wrote: “There are exceptions, perhaps, but I believe that the greatest writers of our Boomer Generation have been our Singer-Songwriters.” I had some heated replies to that one.
BROTHERS AND SISTERS: Allman Brothers Band and the Inside Story of the Album that Defined the 70’s by Alan Paul.
A musician in his own right, Alan Paul is a journalist and author known for his remarkable deep-researched articles and books about the music world.
The Alaska-born Paul started his career as Managing Editor of Guitar World.
His ONE WAY OUT: The Inside History of the Allman Brothers Band was published in 2014, becoming a New York Times best seller.
His next book, written with Andy Aledort, was TEXAS FLOOD: The Inside History of Stevie Ray Vaughan, also a best seller.
And now he’s giving us…
BROTHERS AND SISTERS: Allman Brothers Band and the Inside Story of the Album that Defined the 70’s.
It’s the story of the making of the classic album BROTHERS AND SISTERS. It’s a riveting report of Rock and Rogues. And downhome country boys. It goes back in time and ahead. And what a story Alan Paul tells us!
Two deaths had shaken them all. To the point where the Allman Brothers Band wondered if they could create the music for that 1973 album. Group leader Duane Allman had been killed in a motorcycle accident in ’71. Next year, bassist Berry Oakley also died in his own motorcycle crash.
But Gregg Allman was determined. Gregg wrote two songs for that album: “Come and Go Blues” and “Wasted Words.” They were sad, bitter, very bluesy, beautifully crafted.
Lead guitarist Dickey Betts wrote four of the songs, including “Ramblin’ Man” and “Jessica,” their biggest hits. “Jessica” came to him while watching his baby girl happily bouncing across the floor on all fours. “Lord, I was born a ramblin’ man” became the opening line for Southern Rock as an art form.
BROTHERS AND SISTERS went gold after two days of release…
Chapters 13 and 14, about the Summer Jam at Watkins Glen, reads like a freaking novel. Paul catches the sheer energy and details of the last great outdoor Boomer concert. The Grateful Dead, the Allman Brothers Band and The Band made music history together.
The Album that Defined the 70’s
Alan Paul also takes us into an area I love: Cultural History. He explores how this one Album not only described our Boomer ’70s, but led us on a new road. Or maybe “Back Home Again” would be a better term.
Although Hollywood’s Rural Purge had practically erased Country from our culture — cancelling everything from The Beverly Hillbillies and Gunsmoke, to The Johnny Cash Show and The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour — the 70’s saw a return to Country. Television executives reluctantly allowed The Waltons and Little House on the Prairie on the airways. Southern Rock appeared. Country Rock. Outlaws. Country was hot again.
Charlie Daniels appeared. Lynyrd Skynyrd. The Marshall Tucker Band opened for the Allman Band.
The Country scene was coming together.
But by 1974 the band was splintering. Coming together again. Splintering again.
Grief over those bandmates’ deaths still haunted them. So did the heavy use of drugs. Betts’ marriage with Jessica’s mother, Sandy “Blue Sky” Wabegijig (of the Wiikwemkoong First Nation in Northern Canada), was falling apart.
Gregg met and married Cher. Gregg and rest of the Band were befriended by Jimmy Carter and supported Carter on his drive to the Presidency.
Then came the highly publicised arrests and trials involving Gregg and the Dixie Mafia.
Alan Paul writes with fascinating detail, honesty and a real sense of the people and their time. This book belongs on your Country Music bookshelf.
For more about this featured Author, visit AlanPaul.net.
Special Thanks to Goodreads & St. Martin’s Press for the signed Advanced Reader Copy of this Great Read…
And to Mel Shaw, Nashville, for his exuberant phone-yarns about Music, Multi-Media & Mounties…
“Live Free, Mon Ami!” – Brian Alan Burhoe
And See My Baby Boomer Generation Singer-Songwriters: Our Music of the Sixties & Later.
“Although Hollywood’s Rural Purge had practically erased Country from our culture…”
Open up the album’s gatefold cover — and there they are — the Allman Band’s family get-together — Brothers and Sisters…
BROTHERS AND SISTERS: Allman Brothers Band and the Inside Story of the Album that Defined the 70’s by Alan Paul. Book Review
Further Reading…
Alan Paul – ONE WAY OUT: The Inside History of the Allman Brothers Band
Michael Streissguth – OUTLAW: Waylon, Willie, Kris, and the Renegades of Nashville
Mickey Hart – DRUMMING AT THE EDGE OF MAGIC: A Journey Into the Spirit of Percussion
Alan Paul, Allman Brothers, Allman Brothers band, Book Review, Brothers and Sisters album, Dickey Betts, Gregg Allman, Kirk West, Mel Shaw, Nashville. Mickey Hart, One Way Out, Sandy Blue Sky, Sandy Wabegijig, Wiikwemkoong First Nation.
