Local has connection to Allman Brothers
The first time I heard the term Southern rock was in the early ?70s when it was applied to music being played by the Allman Brothers Band (now a member of the Rock n? Roll Hall of Fame). According to a documentary titled ?Southern Rock Revolution,? this is how the Allman Brothers Band came to be:
In the late ?60s, soul singer Wilson Pickett was doing a recording session at Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals, Ala. Also hanging out at the Muscle Shoals studio was a long-haired, free-spirited, guitar virtuoso from Florida named Duane Allman.
Allman and Pickett clicked right off the bat, and Allman ended up playing guitar on Pickett?s recording of the Beatles? song “Hey Jude,” a smash hit for Pickett (as well as for the Beatles).
Phil Walden, head of Capricorn Records in Macon, Ga., heard Pickett?s version of “Hey Jude” and was so impressed with Allman?s guitar playing that Walden decided to form a band with Duane Allman as the nucleus. Said Fame Studios musician-producer Jimmy Johnson: “That particular part Duane played [on Pickett?s “Hey Jude”] changed music ? it changed music to the point that Southern rock was introduced.”
The original lineup of the Allman Brothers Band of the late ?60s and early ?70s consisted of: Duane Allman on lead guitar; Greg Allman, younger brother of Duane, on keyboards and lead vocals; Butch Trucks on drums; ?Jaimoe? Johanson on drums; Dickey Betts on rhythm and lead guitar; and Berry Oakley on bass.
Sadly enough, just as the Allman Brothers, mixing rock, blues, jazz, and country, began to peak, Duane was killed in a motorcycle accident in Macon, Ga., Oct. 29, 1971. Eerily enough, Berry Oakley also perished in a motorcycle accident Nov. 11, 1972, only a few blocks from where Allman died. Though it has undergone several lineup changes over the years, the Allman Brothers Band continues to record and perform.
The Sept. 18, 2003 issue of Rolling Stone featured “The 100 Greatest Guitar Players in the World.” Duane Allman was voted the second greatest guitar player of all time, finishing behind Jimi Hendrix. Though Allman is considered one of the very best guitarists ever, regardless style and music genre, it?s his work as a rock-blues slide guitarist for which he best is remembered. Guess what? There is a connection between Duane Allman and a native Warren countian named Mike Foster, a fine guitarist in his own right.
Mike Foster: “It was around 1970-1971, and some friends and I drove to Cookeville to hear the Allman Brothers Band play at the Tennessee Tech gym. Figuring they would be staying at the Holiday Inn in Cookeville, we drove up early that day, hoping to run into them. As fate would have it, when our van pulled into the Holiday Inn parking lot, there was Duane outside at the ice machine fetching some ice. We hollered at Duane, struck up a conversation, and he invited us inside his and the band?s room.
“Once inside, I noticed this guitar lying on the bed. I picked it up and started playing. However, it was tuned to the key of ?E,? and I started tuning it down. Duane said, Whatchu doing, man? That?s the key I use to play slide guitar. I then handed him the guitar and asked him to show me how to play slide. Duane took the guitar, tuned it back to ?E,? and started playing slide. I can honestly say that the great Duane Allman showed me my very first lick on slide guitar.”
In addition to playing with a number of rock, blues, and country bands over the years, Mike Foster, these days, teaches dobro and guitar lessons in McMinnville.
Mike Vinson is a Warren County columnist who can be reached by e-mail at [email protected].