The Inside Story of The Allman Brothers Band
ONE WAY OUT: THE INSIDE HISTORY OF THE ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND by Alan Paul
It’s amazing, really, how long The Allman Brothers Band has been around. The Beatles lasted, what, ten years? Not even that – they were basically split when they recorded swan song Let It Be. And yeah, The Rolling Stones are still strong after decades upon decades, but they never lost their Mick Jagger or their Keith Richards. It’s fascinating to consider what would cause a group of guys to stick it out, and even more, what would make fans stay true a generation after losing a lead member. Tell me if there’s another great band that’s stayed as strong as The Allman Brothers Band – I can’t think of anyone really close.
Whatever caused this, there’s no fighting the facts that these guys are going strong; their legacy hasn’t faded into the vaults of music history. There’s the fact that, years later, a starting price ticket to see the band live is $70- that’s more than my Taylor Swift ticket, or what I dished for Rihanna. And, even though so few years of his work were able to be recorded, Duane Allman is still named among the best guitarist ever all the time. For instance, he’s in the ninth spot for Rolling Stone magazine’s “100 Greatest Guitarist of All-Time,” which I really hate to use, because there are like, two females on that list, so it’s totally not something society should look to, BUT, it gives you a parameter for how much that guy accomplished in his too few years.
Throughout One Way Out: The Inside History of The Allman Brothers Band, an amazing compilation of quotes and opinions from the living members of the band, their roadies, support staff and others, the goal isn’t so much to figure out the why of their popularity and lastability (since it seems, even the guys themselves couldn’t put their finger on the exact reason) so much as to just give you the behind-the-scenes of everything that went down, from formation to today.
It’s amazing the amount of info author Alan Paul was able to collect for this book, not just from all of the guys in the band’s current lineup (Gregg Allman, Butch Trucks, Jaimoe, Warren Haynes, Marc Quinones, Derek Trucks and Oteil Burbridge), but also from the men that were in it for years before getting kicked out or leaving of their own volition and the folks that had their flash-in-the-pan moment with the group (Chuck Leavell, Dickey Betts, Jimmy Herring, Jack Pearson, Mike Lawler, David Goldflies, Les Dudek, David Grissom, Zakk Wylde). It’s amazing to just take a moment to think about how a writer would get Dickey Betts, a founding member of the group that was forced to leave the band, to agree to help contribute to this collection, much less how he tracked down a dude like Zakk Wylde, who played one (1) show and get that guy’s take on his experience.
Perhaps the best way to understand just how Paul got all these interviews- I’m realizing now I haven’t even mentioned that he also includes interviews with Linda Oakley (founding member Berry Oakley’s wife), three of the original crew members (including the amazing-on-the-page ‘Red Dog’), members of The Grateful Dead, and a little guy named Eric Clapton- is to pay respect to each individual’s story and opinion in the same way Paul does throughout the book. There is no commentary on people’s statements. We get to see Gregg’s side of things as well as Betts without any guidance on who is right. Of course, there’s a ton of disagreement from one paragraph to the next on what actually went down, but sometimes, that’s the way truth works.
There’s the plot and all that I’m failing to mention so far. So it goes, two brothers begin making music in their teens, the older becoming obsessed with the guitar, the younger modestly following, creating a voice of his own. They get older, grow apart, and the older, Duane, begins to put together a group of the greatest musicians he can gather around himself, knowing the only person fit to be the lead singer of the group is his little brother. Gregg comes out, sings with the guys, and soon enough, the great The Allman Brothers Band is created. And there are some amazing years with the group touring together, recording together, coming into the limelight and thriving under the subtle leadership of Duane Allman. Then, too soon, Duane passes away in a motorcycle accident, leaving the group struggling to find a new leader. Yet, these guys keep going for decades and decades. That’s basically the jist of it all; what Paul does throughout the book is expand the narrative most of us know into something only the most loyal of roadies and groupies would ever get to see.
