Gregg Allman – “Going, Going, Gone” from Southern Blood

ByRichard Orlando

Multi-instrumentalist and singer and songwriter Gregg Allman was born on December 08, 1947.

Co-founder of the Allman Brothers Band with his older brother Duane, Gregg counterbalanced the twin guitars of Duane and Dickey Betts with his keyboard work and vocals.

A “rock star” who’s had more than his share of trials and tribulations, beginning with an ill-advised signing with Liberty Records at the start of his career and losing his older brother as they had just reached the first peak of their success. That was followed soon after by the death of the band’s bass player Berry Oakley in another motorcycle accident.

The band persevered, reaching new heights commercially but the attendant excesses that their success allowed saw the band bitterly fall apart.

They reunited in 1978, but they broke up once again in 1982. For Gregg Allman, the 1980s were something of a lost decade.

With new members Warren Haynes, Allen Woody, and Johnny Neel on board, The Allman Brothers Band hit the road in 1989 to celebrate their twentieth anniversary.

Shortly after Duane’s passing, Gregg had begun work on a solo LP. The first sessions, recorded in the spring and summer of 1972 didn’t yield any usable material and The Allman Brothers had begun work on their fourth LP, “Brothers and Sisters” even as Gregg started over with producer Johnny Sandlin on his solo LP.

His solo debut, “Laid Back” appeared in 1973. This was followed by a live recording, “Gregg Allman Tour” in 1974.

His next release under his name, “Playin’ Up A Storm” came out in 1977.

It would be nine years before his next, “I’m No Angel”.

This Bob Dylan cover comes, unsurprisingly, from Allman’s eighth and final album, 2017’s “Southern Blood”.

His health was rapidly failing when he went into the studio to record it.

He and his band and producer Don Was returned to where it all began for Allman, The Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, recording the album in nine days.