What did you listen to today?

1970 - Live recording

new music Friday

Paste Magazine Top 50 Southern Rock Albums 

1. The Allman Brothers Band: At Fillmore East (1971) - In many ways the quintessential Southern Rock album, At Fillmore East features definitive performances of some of the Allman Brothers’ best-known tunes, including a jumping version of Blind Willie McTell’s “Statesboro Blues,” the painful 23-minute blues of “Whipping Post,” and the groundbreaking “In Memory of Elizabeth Reed,” the band’s first original instrumental to feature the dueling lead guitars of Duane Allman and Dickey Betts—the greatest lead-guitar tandem in rock history. The album is a document of the group at its very best: Gregg Allman nails the balance between sultry and mournful in his vocals, Betts and Duane play together so intuitively that it seems like they were the brothers, and the double-drummer rhythm section holds the whole thing together with impeccable skill. Recorded over two nights at Bill Graham’s storied New York ballroom, At Fillmore East showcased the band’s preternatural facility for deep blues (T-Bone Walker’s “Stormy Monday”) and progressive jazz improv (the sprawling “Hot’ Lanta”), making them the premiere purveyors of this rapidly ascending strain of Southern-based rock music. Along with The Grateful Dead, whose tripped-out take on traditional American music had made them stars on the West Coast, the Allmans were blazing a trail for every road-tested band whose stock in trade was its live show, not its studio recordings. With just seven songs stretched over 78 minutes, At Fillmore East was a masterclass in all the ways rock music was being adapted and reshaped by a new generation of torch bearers, with the emphasis split between honoring the origins of the music and pushing it forward to heretofore unknown heights of instrumental magic. The album is also historic for its presence as Duane Allman’s farewell: he died in a motorcycle crash in October 1971, three months after its release. Betts would later call At Fillmore East the Allmans’ “pinnacle.” In that case, it’s also the pinnacle of this thing we call Southern rock.

Wait--Whipping Post is painful? explain before I kick your ass.

This is of course the best album ever made by anyone any time.

But for this series note that Duane hated being called "Southern rock" and proudly pointed to their commitment to a multiracial band--that no doubt reinforced with his Muscle Shoal days.  He noted that with long hair and mixed race they couldn't stay anywhere--but they insisted mon never splitting up at night.

The remix of Fillmore East combines the best versions from each night and in one cut, blends the song that was best at the beginning one night and the  end the other night.

What brought me to Lockn was ABB playing Fillmore East as their set list. No matter all the cancellations i would be there--along with a cadre who shared the reverence for Fillmore East.

stumbled on this one today. Rachel Price "Can't Find My Way Home" a very hard song to sing. Performed on the erstwhile "Live from Here" radio show hosted by Chris Thile--a COVID victim (the show, not Chris)

I'm in love with Rachel Price, not gonna lie. I have been since the first time I saw her with the Jefferson Airplane celebration at LOCKN. Lake Street Dive in Richmond last year was one of the best shows I've seen in years. If I wasn't married and she wasn't married, well who knows...

1976 - Studio Album

A tribute to Dennis Hopper

Not if I break your stride with a firewood chunk and go after her my ownself

You guys got me thinking of one of my favorite LSD videos.