Gregg Allman – Live: Back to Macon GA

“Macon serves as the home of a great group of fellows that played and lived laughed and cried and created and worked out and arranged and adjusted things together for 45 years now,” Gregg Allman says, introducing his latest, Gregg Allman Live, Back to Macon, Ga. Macon’s Grand Opera House was a fitting venue for the Jan 2014 show which presented Allman works in a grand, brassy manner that totally changed the tone and texture of many Brotherly classics.

Allman’s anguished soul man howl and B-3 burbling are intact on “Statesboro Blues,” but that’s the only familiar thing about it. The fill in around that is totally different from anything you heard from that group of fellows he mentioned earlier. More boogie-woogie than blues, fingerpicking from Gregg Allman Band musical director/ guitarist Scott Sharrard replacing Duane and Dickie’s greasy slide duels.

Even though the personnel in his band has changed completely since then, “I’m No Angel,” the title cut from his ’87 release covered by ex-wife Cher, is very familiar sounding, Allman in great vocal shape on the song that serves as his autobiography.

Between tunes on the DVD portion of the package, Allman does some reminiscing about the good old days in Macon. “Back then we had all that juice, all that inspiration,” he recalls. “We wuz 21 years old and bullet proof… lived in 3 large rooms in one apartment. In one room, there were 12 mattresses, the other had 2 chairs and a Coca-Cola machine fulla beer and” …he pauses to sift back through the haze of time before recalling….“oh yeah- in the third room, our stuff- all set up, ready to go.”

Allman joins Sharrard on guitar for Muddy Waters’ “I Can’t Be Satisfied,” from 2011’s solo studio album Low Country Blues that featured Doyle Bramhall and T Bone Burnette on dueling guitars. It was Allman’s first solo album in 14 years and considered one of his best, and on the version here he sounds relaxed and supple, playing laid back rhythm to Sharrard’s Brotherly sounding slide.

It’s odd to hear the Allman’s “Hot ‘Lanta” with a sax replacing the twin guitars from the ’71 classic Live at the Fillmore, but Allman’s jammy, jazzy burblings on the B-3 still keep it true to the spirit of the original.

Covering Wilson Pickett’s “I Found A Love” is a hard act to follow, but Allman delivers some crusty southern soul with a gospel feel that stands up well to the version Pickett did with the Falcons in 1962.

Allman picked up an acoustic guitar for a soulful take on “Melissa”, with a very special guest, son Devon siting in on electric, a sly grin on his face every time he glances at his father.

Sharing vocals with Sharrard, his acoustic replacing Duane’s, “Midnight Rider” sounds pretty much the way it did on ’70’s Idlewild South: lonesome, hungry and mean.

Switching  back to electric guitar, Allman rips through a version of Sharrard’s “Love Like Kerosene,” a raw, nasty, low-down rocker that doesn’t sound remotely like Allman Brothers material but fits Gregg’s voice and style perfectly.

Allman recalls how he first showed his output to the newly formed Allman band. “I brought 22 songs with me, showed ’em 9 without a bite, hit ’em with “Dreams,” and I was in! I belonged! Next night, I wrote ‘Whipping Post,’” he says, ripping into version that’s transformed so thoroughly from the original that you have to wait till the chorus to truly identify it. This one’s bouncy and jazzy, punched up with horns, whipping up a horn jam instead of a bluesy lament.

Devon comes back out for the finale on “One Way Out,” getting in some tasty solo licksbefore  going head to head with Sharrard for a cutting contest to the finish line.

On the DVD, you get three bonus tracks not on the two CDs in the set: soulful renditions of “Stormy Monday” and “Floating Bridge,” and a short feature, “The Greg Allman Band at the H&H,” with the band having dinner together and talking about how they all came to know each other.

By this point, you’re so stuffed with Allman fare you’ll probably want to take a break before tackling the CDs. But when you’ve digested the visuals, there’s still plenty more audible vittles to sink your teeth in, with only the spoken word interviews plucked out so there’s nothing but musical meat left to savor. Its a tasty treat you’ll want to sample again and again.

Grant Britt