Long Live the ABB: Conversation from the Crossroads of Southern music, history, and culture with historian Bob Beatty

Last night, I attended Cameron Crowe’s book event at the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville. It was one of the most loving tributes to the Allman Brothers Band I have ever been a part of. A pre-event photo montage set to music included Gregg’s “These Days” along with a bevy of photographs from that era . Crowe began with an emotional reading about his time with the Allman Brothers, his favori...

Antebellum cemeteries in the heart of cotton country are about as Southern gothic as you can get. I posted video from my most recent Rose Hill visit on social media. A Tik Tok follower commented about how serene it was—a sentiment I share. But the comment also got me thinking about the layers of history buried beneath the monuments at Rose Hill Cemetery. The commercial hub of middle Georgia in the...

In April 2024, the Clarke County Historical Museum in Jackson, Alabama, invited me to speak at a historical marker dedication for the Allman Brothers Band’s March 1971 arrest in Jackson, Alabama. Play All Night! Duane Allman and the Journey to Fillmore East is as much a local history as anything. I did my best to frame the conversation around the local connections. Not just the arrest, itself, but...

Welcome back to Long Live the ABB: Conversations from the Crossroads of Southern music, history, & culture. Today’s post features what I once thought was inarguable: Brothers of the Road is the ABB’s worst album. Even Dickey agrees: I make my argument in the video above. Here’s a deeper dive on the record that led to the band’s second breakup in five years. Support Conversation from the Crossroads...

Shared the photos with paid subscribers yesterday along with a story (above the paywall) from Willie Perkins about the Great Southern Company , the ABB’s merchandising arm: Support storytelling. Upgrade today. This morning, I put the photos together in a video (above) along with a quick look at the Win, Lose, or Draw tour program book and the ABB’s fan club offerings in 1975. Dig it. Thank you for...

Ringo turned 85 today (July 7). I had to stop and share with y’all how mind-blowing that is to me. He’s outlived both my parents—Dad 5 years older, Mom 5 years younger—by a decade+. Not my favorite Beatle (that's Paul), nor the most essential (also Paul, but I could make an equal case for John), nor the most mystical (George), just that rock solid drummer with a great sense of humor who fit into t...

It’s Berry’s birthday today: April 4, 1948. I thought I’d riff a bit on Berry while on a walk today. (Apologies for the wind noise at times.) I said a lot about Berry in Play All Night and am quite proud of the response I got from so many of y’all. One of the earliest “secrets” I learned all true believers shared, was an understanding of Berry’s immense importance to the ABB and how that carried t...

A quick note from the engine room… Documenting a little trek to my home state, the Sunshine State, where I got a wonderful (FULL) dose of music and the love it brings out of and nurtures within our souls. I recorded a couple of tracks with my band Jam Depression for a long-dormant project we’ve been playing around with for years. Followed that with the EPIC hang with the Steeln’ Peaches family. (D...

🍑Happy Eat a Peach Day🍑 Released February 12, 1972 DEDICATED TO A BROTHER, DUANE ALLMAN Completed in the aftermath of Duane Allman's death, Eat a Peach is the band’s second consecutive double album. It stands as a transitional yet cohesive musical statement, blending live performances and studio recordings to showcase the band's original sound and their evolution. The record spent 48 weeks on th...

I created a video to drive a little attention/traffic to today’s post “Home, home again.” I PACKED the post with all kinds of cool links from across the universe including some EXCITING new things in the hopper. Full post: This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.longlivetheabb.com/subscribe

When I heard Sam Moore, one half of the great Sam & Dave, had died, I immediately thought of his EXCELLENT take on Gregg’s torch song “Please Call Home” from the 2014 Gregg tribute show All My Friends. SUBSCRIBE TO: Conversation from the Crossroads The house band included one-time Allman Brothers Chuck Leavell and Jack Pearson. The video above is a 1min snippet, with Jackie P. wringing out a note...

I don’t usually post these videos here. I figure y’all prefer words on screen to me talking. But as I was editing this video violating one of the commandments, I thought I’d try something new and send it your way. Thou shalt not call the Allman Brothers Band Southern rock. There are a zillion reasons people get mad about this, most of them boiling down to a version of one of three arguments. * “Ho...