The Allman Brothers will return to their post at the Beacon Theatre in New York this spring with eight concerts schedule between March 10 and March 19, 2011. The residency has become an annual tradition dating back to the late 1980s. This year's residency is a particularly special series, as it it the first live performance by the Allman Brothers Band since Gregg Allman received a live transplant. Look for Allman Brothers Band tickets to see this legendary jam band play its renown residency in New York City.
The Allman Brothers Band is a pioneering and innovative Southern rock group from Macon, Georgia originally popular in the 1970s, described by Rolling Stone's George Kimball in 1971 as "the best .. rock and roll band this country has produced in the past five years."
The band was formed in 1969, consisting of Duane Allman (slide guitar), Gregg Allman (vocals, organ), Dickey Betts (guitar), Berry Oakley (bass guitar), Butch Trucks (drums) and Jaimoe Johanny Johanson (drums). The actual Allman Brothers, Duane and Gregg, had originally been in a garage band called the Escorts, then the Allman Joys and finally the Hour Glass. The Hour Glass had released two failed albums from Liberty Records, and then lost their record contract. Duane Allman, with a stint as a session guitarist in Muscle Shoals, Alabama behind him, gave in to Phil Walden (former manager of Otis Redding) and formed the Allman Brothers Band; Gregg was retrieved from an unsuccessful group in Los Angeles to round out the group. Walden signed them to his fledgling Capricorn Records label.
The Allman Brothers Band played numerous concerts in the south before releasing their debut album, The Allman Brothers Band. Critics loved it, but the blues-rock album found few listeners, attracting only a cult audience. Idlewild South (1970), the follow-up, produced by Tom Dowd, was a massive critical success, and managed to be quite lucrative, as well. By this time, the band's long, epic jams were becoming commonplace in studio records, making many of the songs a unique mixture of jazz, classical music, heavy metal and blues.
1971 saw the release of a live album, Live at Fillmore East, recorded earlier that year at the legendary rock venue, the Fillmore East. The album was another huge hit, and is now remembered as one of the best blues-rock albums of all time. The Allman Brothers received the honor of being the last act to play the Fillmore East before it closed. Duane Allman died not long after the album was certified gold, killed in a motorcycle accident in Macon, Georgia (at the corner of Hillcrest and Bartlett) when he collided with a truck.
Dickey Betts filled Duane's former role in completing the last album he participated in, Eat a Peach. Chuck Leavell, a pianist, was added to replace Duane. Not long after the release of Eat a Peach, Berry Oakley died in another motorcycle accident, only three blocks away (near Napier Avenue and Inverness Street) from the site of Duane Allman's fatal accident.
He was replaced by Lamar Williams, who was on board in time to finish the next album, Brothers and Sisters (1973). The album marked a shift of direction towards country music, due partially to the loss of Tom Dowd, as well as the increasing influence of Dickey Betts, who soon became the bandleader. Brothers and Sisters included the group's best known hits, "Ramblin' Man" and "Jessica", the latter a seven-minute instrumental hit. The album was accessible and laid-back, and the band was bigger than ever.
