Gregg Allman - Low Country Blues

Gregg's first solo album in 14 years!!! Produced by T Bone Burnett, and features 11 covers of songs from the legendary bluesmen like Muddy Waters to Sleepy John Estes, PLUS and original song by Gregg and Warren Haynes called "Just Another Rider" musicians include Dr John, Doyle Bramhall, Dennis Crouch, Jay Bellerose..

 Tracks:

 Washington Post Review  18/1/11

Gregg Allman's first solo album in 14 years consists almost entirely of vintage blues material from the '40s, '50s and '60s. And yet it's more than just a salute to the music that formed the backbone of the Allman Brothers' Southern rock aesthetic. Electrifying throughout, the record's 12 performances testify both to the durability of deep, down-home blues and to how completely the Brothers' keyboardist and lead singer - still in fine, if craggy, voice - has made them his own.

A gutbucket version of country bluesman Sleepy John Estes's "Floating Bridge" kicks off the proceedings, followed by a reverb-heavy take of Chicago harp player Junior Wells's "Little by Little." The latter features smoky organ fills and fat, dirty-toned guitar. Otis Rush, Bobby Blue Bland, Muddy Waters and Skip James get their due here as well, Waters with a nasty, slide guitar-laced version of "I Can't Be Satisfied," James with a wraithlike take of the Delta blues classic "Devil Got My Woman."

Produced in hands-off fashion by the ubiquitous T Bone Burnett, the album also boasts Dr. John on piano and Doyle Bramhall II on some of the most lacerating electric guitar this side of Chicago big axe Hubert Sumlin. Allman recorded the project last year, not long before receiving a liver transplant after years of suffering from hepatitis C. With nods to his landmark "Midnight Rider," "Just Another Rider," the sole Allman original on the album, finds the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer pondering his personal and artistic legacy.

- Bill Friskics-Warren

AMG review by Hal Horowitz  4 Stars

Given his place in the pantheon of American rock music, Gregg Allman's solo career away from the Allman Brothers Band has been generally disappointing. Perhaps that's why it took nearly a decade between his previous album, 1997's Searching for Simplicity (its title alone indicates his frustrations) and 1988's over-produced yet underwhelming Just Before the Bullets Fly.

A whopping 14 years later, Allman joins forces with roots producer to the stars T-Bone Burnett, hoping that some of the latter's mojo can rub off on a singer who is one of the great white soul and blues vocalists in rock music. For the most part it does, as the duo choose 11 relatively obscure covers from classic artists such as Bobby "Blue" Bland, Junior Wells, and B.B. King that have clearly influenced Allman's musical approach.

The backing is organic but far from stripped-down with horns, multiple guitars, and even background vocalists supporting the singer's patented crusty growl. From the opening raw thump of the ominous Sleepy John Estes' "Floating Bridge" to a peppy yet intense take on Muddy Waters' "I Can't be Satisfied" and a fiery reworking of Magic Sam's "My Love Is Your Love," Allman sounds invested and inspired by this material and his musical surroundings.

Veterans such as Dr. John (credited here with his real name, Mac Rebennack), Doyle Bramhall II, and Burnett's often used rhythm section of drummer Jay Bellerose and Dennis Crouch on bass keep a taut yet easygoing lock on the groove. That's particularly evident on the predominantly acoustic version of Skip James' "Devil Got My Woman."

The horns that appear on five tunes never overpower the sound yet help propel Allman's soul-searing performance of Bland's "Blind Man." Ditto for Otis Rush's slow blues "Checking on My Baby," which brings the vocalist back to his "Stormy Monday"-styled beginnings.

One original co-written with Allman Brothers Band guitarist Warren Haynes, "Just Another Rider," while not a terrible song, pales in comparison with the rest of the material and could have been saved for the next Brothers album, where it might make a better fit. Allman is credited with B-3 on the majority of the tunes, but his contributions are generally mixed so low as to be nearly inaudible. His organ can be heard on a low-down run-through of Amos Milburn's "Tears, Tears, Tears" that captures a sweet, jazzy noir West Coast blues.

It adds up to Allman's best and surely most focused and cohesive solo release, and one where the template can hopefully be repeated in less time than it took this to appear.