GREGG ALLMAN interview

Aquí os dejo una entrevista hecha por Brian McElhiney a GREGG ALLMAN en el periódico Daily Gazzete del pasado 31 de diciembre, donde habla acerca de su nuevo disco y nos cuenta que está muy orgulloso de él y que es lo mejor que haya hecho nunca, de su carrera en solitario se entiende. También desvela que ha estado escribiendo canciones para ABB pero que no habrá nada hasta por lo menos el próximo 2011. Lo de siempre vamos.
Y siguiendo con la promoción del disco nos dice lo que ya os había comentado, que es una vuelta a sus raíces, que nadie ha hecho aún un trabajo como este y que WARREN HAYNES ha escrito uno de los temas. Es una vuelta a ROBERT JOHNSON y el hard-core-blues.
Como veis la pinta es tremenda y se me hace la boca agua con sólo leer esta entrevista:

Daily Gazette, The (Schenectady, NY) - December 31, 2009

It's All(man) on stage BY BRIAN McELHINEY, Gazette Reporter

With Gregg Allman, you're in good hands. Well, fans of the Southern rock singer will be come April, when his new 14-song solo album is released. And that's as long as insurance giant Allstate OKs Allman's first choice of album title.

"Hopefully, if I get the written OK from Allstate Insurance, it will be 'You're in Good Hands With Allman,' " he said from a tour stop with his solo band in Jim Thorpe, Pa. "If not, it'll be something else."

Either way, fans should be celebrating -- this is Allman's first solo release since 1997's "Searching for Simplicity" and his first studio album since The Allman Brothers Band's "Hittin' the Note" in 2003. The band is currently working out the new material on the road this month, heading to The Egg on Sunday.

Best yet

"This is definitely my best work yet," Allman said. "I'm really, really, really proud of it, I really am, and it's definitely the best solo record I've ever done. It'll definitely make up for lost time."

The album kicks off a relative flurry of activity in the Allman Brothers camp. Allman has been writing material for the next Allman Brothers Band album, although that may not see a start date until 2011.

However, he can look forward to a bit of a break. After this current round of touring finishes up in mid-January, he'll be off until March 5, the start of the Allman Brothers annual New York City tour run at the Beacon Theatre. And it will be well-deserved -- 2009 was the 40th anniversary of the Allman Brothers Band, something that's still a bit surprising to Allman.

"I thought we'd be around for two years," Allman said. "I was always the Doubting Thomas in the band."

Allman and his late slide guitarist brother, Duane, formed the band in 1969 in Jacksonville, Fla., the last in a line of garage groups with names like The Escorts and the Allman Joys involving the brothers. Although Duane died in 1971, the band has continued on, defining the Southern rock sound along with other groups such as Lynyrd Skynyrd.

Solo career

Gregg Allman, the band's lead vocalist and organist, kicked off his solo career with 1973's "Laid Back," which scored a single with Allman Brothers Band classic "Midnight Rider." Allman's solo work has focused more on his soul influences, with stripped-down arrangements winning out over the Brothers' lengthy jams.

The Allman Brothers hits do find their way into Allman's solo sets, which feature an all-star backing band of bassist Jerry Jemmott, drummer Steve Potts, percussionist Floyd Miles, keyboardist Bruce Katz, horn player Jay Collins and guitarist Scott Sharrard.

Played as written

"We usually do [the Allman Brothers songs] like [they were] written -- like, for instance, on 'Laid Back,' the version of 'Midnight Rider,' that's the way it was originally written," Allman said. "The same with our version of 'Come and Go Blues' -- that's the way it was originally written. Any song that we do that the Allman Brothers do is totally different -- we do 'Whipping Post,' and it's like reggae, almost."

The Allman Brothers Band is known for long sets and vamped performances, with many shows going past the three-hour mark. Allman's solo sets are much shorter, but still leave room for experimentation.

"It's been real good, real good; we get 'em on their feet," he said of the audiences at his shows so far. "It's a kick-ass band -- we've got Aretha [Franklin's] old bass player, Booker T's drummer, three guys from Woodstock. Floyd Miles, I grew up with him in Daytona Beach. I don't know if you can teach anybody, but if you can, he did."

Many of these players feature on Allman's new solo record, a collection of updated old blues songs and at least one original written with Warren Haynes. The songs find Allman reconnecting with his musical roots, and were produced by T. Bone Burnett, the industry's virtual go-to guy for gritty country blues sounds.

"Nobody's done something like this in a while," Allman said of the record. "Etta James did that one that was old classics; hell, John Henley did one that was old classics, but I don't know if anyone ever did one that was just hard-core blues -- I mean, this goes back to Robert Johnson. We do some Magic Sam; we do some real, real old BB [King] stuff, from back in the early '20s -- stuff he did that he don't even think about anymore. Well, I'm sure he thinks about it, but he doesn't play it."

For Allman, the show is still where it's at. The new songs are slowly being worked into a repertoire already overflowing with hits from both his solo career and the Allman Brothers Band.

Money's worth

"I would like to think that [the audience] gets their money's worth," he said. "I'd like to think that there are hearts out there with many problems, and I also think that for two-and-a-half or three hours we make them forget about them. And everybody's got to make a living, but that in itself is almost pay enough. And there's a lot of problems out there these days."

Y para terminar, como os habréis quedado con gana de más, aquí os dejo un vídeo en la pasada Nochevieja de una sorprendente e irreconocible "Whipping Post" hecha por GREGG ALLMAN and Friends.