Allman Joy

Seminal Southern blues-rocker
Gregg Allman brings his solo self to town

With armfuls of tattoos, long, shining blonde hair and an older, but still fierce and full, Southernaccented, growling voice, Gregg Allman is back. On Saturday, June 4, he’ll bring his tour, promoting his new album, for an appearance at the annual Taste of Syracuse at 9 p.m.

After 42 years of touring, performing and recording solo and with The Allman Brothers Band, Allman retains his passion for music, love for his fans and playful sense of humor. Despite hardships including the motorcycleaccident death of his brother Duane in 1971, closely followed by that of the band’s bassist Berry Oakley in 1972, various divorces (one from Cher, with whom he had a son, Elijah Blue) and a liver transplant in 2010, Allman still hits the keyboards and road just as hard.

Low Country Blues (Rounder, 2011), Allman’s first solo studio record in 14 years, brings old-time blues cuts, classic and obscure, to life, along with an Allman original, “Just Another Rider.” Produced by the prolific T-Bone Burnett, Allman’s take on the tunes proves he’s still got all the grit the blues demand and he can still deliver it just as he always has.

Allman, 64, took a few minutes to speak with The New Times from his home in Georgia before he hit the road again to talk about what keeps him going, what pisses him off and his favorite indie band.

Q: What inspired you to record this album?

A: I would imagine the producer, T-Bone.

Q: How did you hook up with him?

Ramblin’ man: The many stages of Gregg Allman’s career include these black-and-white shots of The Allman Joys (1966) and the Allman Brothers Band (1982), with Gregg at the New York State Fair in 2005.

A: I was out with the Brothers doing a pretty long tour and this was the summer of 2009. So the last day of the tour came and my manager calls me and says, “Listen, man.” We were in Detroit, Minneapolis, one of those way up in the northern Midwest, and he says, “I need you stop by Memphis on the way home. There’s somebody I want you to meet.”

Well, I knew right then—not who it was, but what it was. He told me the guy’s name and I had never heard of him, I don’t know if I lead that sheltered of a life or what, but any way I had never heard of this T-Bone Burnett.

Some of my buds have recorded with him already and I don’t know how I got missed, but I went down there and met him. I didn’t really want to, but I kinda half-heartedly did it. And man, he was out of sight. I mean, the guy had the same type of old-fashionism as I did.

Q: You can tell that in your use of traditional techniques and instruments on the album, including upright bass. What does that add to the sound?

A: It makes it a one-of-a-kind. You hear some things in there, if you listen to it real close, all these different parts come out and you go, “God, I didn’t hear that before.” There’s a lot of little things, real subtle things going on inside there and I promise if you keep listening to it—you’ll hear ’em all. And I had never worked with an upright bass before, but my theory is this after doing it—I think that electric bass, there’s some part of it that takes away some of the vocal. I put it to the test and I listened to it both ways and I’ll be damned—on this record, you can hear me breathe. So therefore, you’re missing part of the dynamic of the vocal when you do it with an electric bass, and I got into it, man.

Q: Why did you decide to cover classic and obscure blues songs and how did you pick them?

A: When I was at this meeting with T-Bone in Memphis, I said to him, “What are we gonna cut, man? I got two or three written, but two or three is no album.” And he said, “I’ll tell ya what: This friend of mine gave me this modem that has, literally, 2,000 or 3,000 old blues songs on it.” I didn’t have much to go on to use with those, they were old. I had to just about start writing a tune that would fit them. So he said, “Just put your stuff to it. I’m gonna peel off 25 of these songs and I want you to take ’em and put your stuff in ’em. When ya get through, call me.”

It took me about three or four weeks, but I got ’em all done. Then he said, “All right, we’ll meet in Los Angeles.” I said, “Los Angeles?” And then he said, “I’m sorry, you can’t bring your band.” And I thought, “Man, this is bullshit!” I mean, that almost stopped the whole project. That was almost two clicks away from an insult {laughs} and he spent way too much time trying to explain that to me.

Q: It worked out though, right?

A: Yeah, when the Brothers first got with {producer} Tommy Dowd he’d drive us down to Miami when we had a brand new studio, Capricorn Studios, that we had just finished in Macon, Ga., and I just wondered, “Why the hell are we going all the way down there just to do what we could do right here?” Well, that was his sandbox and his toys and he knew how to do it best down there. And finally I came to that realization and I just said, “OK, when do you want me to be there?”

Q: What is it about blues music and these older songs that draws you to them?

A: It’s kind of an outlet, ya know? If you got a little taste of blues or something hangin’ on from way back, it’s like a release. It damn sure works, too.

Q: What keeps you recording, touring and performing?

A: Passion, my dear. Passion for the music and for the people, too.

Q: When did you decide you were going to be a musician?

A: Our family moved from Nashville, Tenn., where I was born, to Daytona Beach, Fla. My mother always wanted to go there. Today, she’s got all of her mind. She’s 93, she drives, she shops, she cooks…

Q: So you’re gonna be going ’til you’re 120 then?

A: Hah! I dunno, with this new liver, who knows. But anyhow, I hated Daytona Beach, plus I had to change schools in the middle of the year, that’s always fun. And I was in military school in 1963. One day I picked up this newspaper that said “Vietnam” and I thought to myself, “Self, you have a 98.3 average, ROTC. Look where they’re gonna send your ass.” So I got on my full dress uniform, saber and everything and it was one of the top 10 West Point-like schools and I went in to the commandant, and said, “Sir, if you see me getting smaller, I’m leaving.” {laughs}

Q: How did that go over?

A: Yeah, he didn’t appreciate that much.

Q: And just years later, in 1969, you started with the Allman Brothers band. How does it feel 40 years later?

A: It feels great.

Q: Your instrument of choice is a Hammond B3 organ, is that right?

A: Actually, I like guitar-playin’ still. And I play a lot of guitar in my band. So, I don’t know. It’s probably a toss-up. I like playin’ piano, too. That’s what I write most of my songs on.

Q: When it comes to songwriting, where do you find your inspiration?

A: Inspiration is a funny thing. You can take something so small and so trite and just so. . . it could be the last thing in the world that you think to write about and sure thing, there it is.

Q: Who are your greatest influences?

A: I would say Little Milton, Ray {Charles}, B.B. {King}, all those people. I think everything. . . I mean, I don’t know if I got any licks from Lady Gaga {laughs}.

Q: You should give it a try sometime.

A: {Laughs} Nah, my point is you get something from just about everybody. Everything you hear that has any kind of an impression on you, part of it’s gonna stick.

Q: What are you listening to now that’s making an impression on you?

A: I usually listen to old stuff, but I like Kings of Leon.

Q: You’ve been through many hard times in your life. How did music help you through all that?

A: The same as everybody who doesn’t have that, you know. But the music is definitely my fail-safe. It keeps me in my right mind. I mean, no matter how hard things get, you’ve got your music. It’s mathematically, totally equal and it’s. . . I wish everybody had it. Instead of gobbling down a bunch of valiums, sit down and play a little bit. It works. If I can’t sleep, I go straight to the piano.

Q: You’ve played with the Allman Brothers, solo and as a guest artist. What’s your favorite way to perform or record?

A:  I like recordin’ with my own bunch’a boys, with my own band and I guess it’s just that producers want to work with session players and there’s quite a difference. There was one guy on this record that had never played live in his life. Isn’t that something? The upright bass player.

Q: How did he get picked for this?

A: Well, they have their own little clique and then all the producers know who they are.

Q: Who is playing with you when you tour? What’s the instrumentation?

A: Well, I just added two horns, so it’ll be a nine-piece band. It’s a horn section that’s just like The Memphis Horns: two tenor saxes and a trumpet and both the tenor players in my band switch off on baritone, big sax. So, if you have each one of them playing a different instrument, you have a baritone sax, tenor sax and a trumpet. It’s amazing how fat you can get that kind of horn section going. It’s amazing, really. My band’s not soaked down with guitars. I’ve been there, done that.

Q: Are you going to be playing a mix of material? Allman, old, new.

A: That’s it.

Q: You worked with Dr. John on this album. What was that like? I know it’s been a long time.

A: It is wonderful working together now. He is the funniest son of a gun you’ll ever meet. He’s gone from just nodding out during the song to being the most liveliest cat in the whole studio. Really. He really pulls his end of it, I’ll tell ya. Mmm-hmmm.

Q: How about the new Allman Brothers museum in Georgia, The Big House. What’s that like?

A: Ah, it’s beautiful.

Q: A little different than when you lived there?

A: Oh, God.

Q: What’s next for you?

A: Well, this liver transplant left me with three quite large hernias. I don’t have a beer gut, they’re hernias. Before I went under I said, “Now look, you guys: You’re not gonna manufacture me a man-made beer gut, are ya?” I’ve got news for ya, they’re up already. Now I gotta just wait until I’ve got eight weeks to heal up and that’ll be ’til Christmas. The Brothers stopped playing not only at Christmas, but we just don’t do any cold weather-type things. I mean, we have painted ourselves into a corner. The Brothers have only been to Europe three times in 42 years.

Q: Why?

A: Well, we built this thing here in the states and we wanted to take all our equipment if we went over to Europe. We wanted to rent a freight plane. Well, we went over there for like two months and we got home with. . . oh, God, just next to nothing. And that kinda pissed us off. So they stopped putting us over there. So, I set ’em down the other day and said, “Look, we gotta open these places back up.” So the first thing I did was book all over Europe. Spain and the Netherlands for this tour and I’m goin’ everywhere over there. I went over there already and did some talk shows and played a couple times, but I didn’t take my band. I did one just by myself and those people, and I don’t care if we didn’t go over there or not, they are nuts about the Allman Brothers.

Q: They’ve been waiting for you!

A: Right? {laughs} They love low country blues. My manager was right with me and like, “Why the hell do the Brothers just play three blocks this way and three blocks that way? {laughs} What’s the deal? You think it’s gonna swallow you up?”

Q: Well then I’m glad you’re going over there.

A: Oh man, I’m gonna play my butt off. I’m gonna really try this time {laughs}. Naw, I try every time.

Sunny and hair: Gregg Allman and Cher matched their fancy follicles when the then-romantically linked pair teamed (billed as “Allman and Woman”) for the 1977 Warner Bros.