VH1's Dave Basner recently issued an update on the ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND, the members of which seem to have different ideas about writing and recording new material. Drummer Butch Trucks recently told VH1 the band would not be making any more records, but frontman Gregg Allman is saying otherwise!
Trucks: "We've reached the point now where we'll probably never go into the recording studio again because we can't sell enough records to pay for the cost of going to the studio."
Gregg Allman responded by telling PlanetRock.com: "Let me tell you, all I can say about that is I didn't tell you that. We will be getting in the studio! with or without Butchy. There, I said it."
Guitarist Warren Haynes also commented on Trucks' remark: "Well, you know, he's probably right. I think Butch's vision of what we would do is maybe compile enough songs, enough new songs, but make them open to the public as live performances and not necessarily make a studio record but continue to put out new material.
It would be fun to make another studio record, I wouldn't rule it out, but at the moment it's not a priority. With the business changing the way it has, we were all really proud of Hittin' The Note, we would only want to make a record as good or better than that. And with myself and (guitarist) Derek (Trucks) and Gregg all being so busy, it won't be any time soon."
For updates go toAllmanBrothersBand.com.
Classic Rock Revisited founder Jeb Wright - who provided the news above - recently spoke with Gregg Allman about his first solo album in 14 years, "Low Country Blues". An excerpt from the interview is available below.
Jeb: You went fourteen years between solo albums. I have to ask if (producer) Tom Dowd's death had something to do with that gap.
Gregg: "It certainly did. He died and after I got through mourning I thought, 'What are we going to do when it comes time to record?' A producer is like a member of the band who got there late."
Jeb: You did make a good choice with T Bone Burnett.
Gregg: "I had never heard his name before. I was out with THE ALLMAN BROTHERS and we had a long tour and I was real tired. We were playing our last gig; this was the latter part of '09. My manager calls me and says, 'Listen, I need you to stop in Memphis on the way to Savannah. There is somebody I want you to meet.' I knew what it was about. I just about said, 'Let's don't and say we did.' I went and I am so glad that I did.
I went to Memphis and we met at the Peabody Hotel. You can't miss him; he is about seven-foot two. He is taller than most basketball players; he looks down on us all. He gave me this modem with thousands of old, old blues songs. He said, 'I'm going to peel this down to about twenty-five songs and send them over to you. Take the best fifteen of your liking and rearrange them, totally. When you are satisfied with them then let's hit the studio and cut them.' I said, 'Sho 'nuff.'
I couldn't even understand some of them. Some of them were public domain and they literally belonged to anybody. Most of them were like 78's and you could hear all the scratches. We started talking and I asked him, 'What are you in Memphis for?' He said, 'I am here with two builders and we are measuring out, board by board, the Sun Recording Studio. I am going to build me a Sun Records right next to my house in California.' That is the craziest thing I had ever heard so I thought that this guy has got to be alright. We got closer and closer and we built a good friendship that afternoon."
Jeb: These are not well known blues songs and I think that makes the album really cool. Plus you're not just recording them, you're re-writing them in a sense.
Gregg: "Exactly."
Jeb: 'Floating Bridge' is damn good. I love your vocals on that. How do you own a song that you didn't write, vocally?
Gregg: "You've just got to be really into it. You want it to sound a certain way and you try this and you try that and you just pick and pick and pick at it. It is not quite as tedious as it sounds, though. One thing that helped was having an acoustic bass. Some of the wavelengths of the electric bass cut into the vocal and rub it out. We had acoustic bass on this and that is why you can hear me breathe between verses."
Go tothis locationfor the complete interview.
Source: www.Bravewords.com
