In The Studio

Allman Brothers Band

redbeard — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 07:00:55 +0000

In the 15-month period between April 1970 and September 1971 , I was ever so fortunate to see and hear the original Allman Brothers Band twice . The first time just happened to be the first Earth Day , and though just 17 and still in high school , we snuck into the gymnasium at tiny Muskingum College in Central Ohio along with about 100 students . The first thing one noticed was that it was a large band, so much so that they set up the low riser stage across the long wall of the gym , and the Allman Brothers Band played to the bleachers on the opposite wall .There were two drummers , with two complete trap sets of drums , playing in perfect synch , something none of us had ever witnessed before . And two lead guitar players , too , often doubling each other’s fluid leads in harmony . The blonde haired lead singer hunched over the woody brown Hammond B3 organ rarely lifted his head ; if he had , we would have been surprised that the bluesy growl was emanating from a baby-faced Gregg Allman, younger brother of the tall blonde slide guitar player , Duane .

The entire audience from that April 1970 gig could have fit easily into the front row of the next place in which I saw the Allman Brothers Band play , an outdoor festival venue which only weeks before the mid-September 1971 gig had been a cornfield outside of Bowling Green , Ohio . Just two months earlier the breakthrough Live at Fillmore East double album had been released to universal acclaim , so now the Allman Brothers Band were playing to 3,000-5,000 as headliners . I can still remember being able to see Duane Allman’s breath in the glare of the stage spotlights in between songs as he rubbed his hands together for warmth and laughed in the cool Fall night air .

Sadly , only God Almighty knew then that a scant five weeks later , Duane Allman would perish in a motorcycle accident . But then again ,as the Brothers prepare for the annual two-week residency at New York City’s venerable Beacon Theater , only God would not be surprised at the steely resolve that the collective ABB would go on to exhibit for another four decades of excellence .-Redbeard

Boz Scaggs Best pt 1

redbeard — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 23:15:55 +0000

More accurately this Boz Scaggs interview falls under “Ultra Rare” , as the Dallas Texas native, long residing in the San Francisco Bay area , has led one of the most private lives in contemporary music . Part one of three includes “Loan Me a Dime” with guitar solos by a young Muscle Shoals session guitarist in 1969 by the name of Duane Allman .- Redbeard

Boz Scaggs Best pt 2

redbeard — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 23:14:08 +0000

Boz Scaggs was practically the only white rock/ rhythm ‘n’ blues musician to walk on the water of the U.S. disco fad and not drown . After all , Rod Stewart paid dearly for ” Do You Think I’m Sexy” , whereas Boz Scaggs merely got paid for the massive hit album Silk Degrees in 1976 . This segment , part two of three, includes Scaggs playing his monster hit ” Lowdown” during the interview . -Redbeard

Boz Scaggs Best pt 3

redbeard — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 23:13:04 +0000

The conclusion of my three-part interview with Boz Scaggs , including a superb live performance of the soul classic “Drowning in the Sea of Love” , plus the title song to 1994′s Some Change as well as a smokin’ version of Earl King’s “It All went Down the Drain” from Come On Home .-Redbeard

American Black History Month In the Studio

redbeard — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 15:44:17 +0000

As a boy growing up in the segregated South around Daytona Beach , Florida in the 1950s and early 1960s , the younger of the Allman brothers , Gregg , had a friend named Floyd Miles . “He took me , literally, across the (railroad) tracks of town ,” Gregg told me .” Back then , maybe 1960 , it wasn’t cool to go over to’Black Town’ .You know what I mean? He took me to this combination drugstore-barber shop-7/11 convenience store-record shop. All in one room. And there was this big bin in there full of records , and they were on sale for , I think , like a buck ! And he (Floyd) started going through them , saying ‘ This is Sonny Boy Williamson , and this is Jimmy Reed, this is Otis Redding , this Howlin’ Wolf.’ And the music was gutsy , man , and it had something to hold onto . I just became totally infatuated with it . And every dime I got went to that record store . And I’d set at home learnin’ them licks , learned to play .”

Had the plane carrying Georgia soul singer/writer Otis Redding and several of his band members not plunged into that icy Wisconsin lake in December 1967, it’s highly unlikely that Redding’s Macon-based manager Phil Walden would have been actively looking to develop new , unknown bands in 1969 . Redding was poised to cross over from the soul / r & b world to a wider ( and yes,whiter) mainstream audience at the time of the tragic plane crash , evidenced by his “Sitting on the Dock of the Bay” going #1 on the pop charts in early 1968.

Songwriter/organist/singer Gregg Allman and his older brother , guitarist Duane , were at the creative epicenter of the Southern Rock genesis , forming the Allman Brothers Band in March 1969 with a repertoire of blues standards by Muddy Waters , T-Bone Walker , and Willie Dixon – black Americans all . It’s clearly evident that the ABB was integrated from the outset , musically and otherwise ,which continues to this day . While true that the group would soon become augmented with original songs by the 21 year-old Gregg , how ironic that the Southern Rock movement , led by the Allman Brothers Band on Walden’s Capricorn Records , and later often associated with white Dixie flag-waving good ol’ boys , was actually borne from the musical success and misfortune of Otis Redding , a black American . – Redbeard

Fleetwood Mac Lindsey Buckingham

redbeard — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 07:00:49 +0000

When the reclusive Lindsey Buckingham surprised us with a visit to my Dallas/Ft.Worth radio show in 1992, it was understood that the conversation was in support of his third solo album , Out of the Cradle . But when Buckingham offered up this live performance of his composition “Never Going Back Again” , made famous on the Rumours Fleetwood Mac album 15 years earlier , it signaled that his reticence to discuss those emotionally-charged years had lifted , at least enough to grant the interview found elsewhere in our Classic Rock Interview archive. But true to form , Lindsey made me wait almost another 15 years for that opportunity . -Redbeard

Fleetwood Mac

redbeard — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 07:00:03 +0000

When California musical duo (and lovers) Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks joined British blues-rock veteran band Fleetwood Mac, their first collaboration in 1975 (their “white album” ) sold more copies than any previous album in the long history of their label . No one was in any way prepared for this new line-up’s stunning initial success , so you can imagine the in-house anticipation for Fleetwood Mac’s next effort . They had to wait a full year for it , however , as four of the five members were breaking up literally in the studio while Rumours was being recorded . Fleetwood Mac co-founder drummer Mick Fleetwood joins Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks with me In The Studio for the 35th anniversary of one of history’s most popular albums ever at around forty million sold worldwide ( half of that U.S. sales ), an album that Rolling Stone magazine ranks at #25 on their Top 500 All Time list .- Redbeard

Pink Floyd The Wall box set

redbeard — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 18:00:25 +0000

The keys to the adult theme park…a peek behind the curtain of the Wizard of Oz . Pink Floyd‘s iconic The Wall now gets the “kitchen sink” treatment as an “Immersion” box set , the big enchilada in the band’s multi-tier catalog reissue series .The #4 top-seller of all time in the U.S. at more than 23 million , and that’s a double album . You heard the original album ; possibly were one of the lucky few to have seen the limited live shows following the late 1979 release ; seen the movie starrng a pre-Live Aid knighthood by Bob Geldof ; heard the historic performance of The Wall by composer Roger Waters and superstar guests at the Brandenburg Gate at the fallen Berlin Wall in July 1990 . “What more could there be, Obewan ?” you say . Well , as Roger Waters prepares to tour The Wall concert extravaganza to an arena near you again this year , we will ask Mssrs.Waters , drummer Nick Mason , and guitarist/singer David Gilmour what brought them all together again to perform “Comfortably Numb” at London’s O2 Arena last year . And with them In The Studio for back-to-back weeks , that’s just for starters . -Redbeard

Peter Gabriel So

redbeard — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 17:00:57 +0000

As a kid I rarely read comic books,with the exception of the few minutes waiting down at the corner barbershop for a haircut.The concept of a person inexplicably endowed with superhuman powers of strength, speed, flight, sight,or intellect that they could use for either good or evil, seemed just too absurd .The books my parents encouraged me to read about the universe, from deep sea to deep space, were more than sufficiently fantastic for me. And that stuff was real. It was not until stumbling into the broadcast media/entertainment business that I got to witness, up close and personally, individual musicians who have been given enormous powers of influence ,through the modern phenomenon of celebrity, by the very people who they entertain. Case in point is this classic rock interview : 25 years ago, ex-Genesis lead singer Peter Gabriel had a cult following after four studio solo albums, with his most significant creation being the ground-breaking “Shock the Monkey” video. But with the May 1986 release of So (#1 UK,#2 U.S., over 5 million sold; 4 Grammy nominations including Album and Record of the Year for the #1 hit “Sledgehammer”), Peter Gabriel was vaulted into international pop stardom with all of its attendant door-opening , barrier-eliminating amenities. Like certain other entertainers who had reached elite status in the fame game, Gabriel chose to use his newly-found powers for good (think Bono, Sting, Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young) rather than not-so-good (think Kanye West, Charlie Sheen) through several international human rights organizations including Amnesty International, Peter’s own World Music charity WOMAD, and a death row/capital punishment project (watch the film The Exonerated) . In one of the most personal, powerful, thought- provoking interviews ever in the 24-year history of the In The Studio rockumentary series, Peter Gabriel reveals candidly why he agrees with Jesus Christ in the Book of Luke that “to whom much is given, much is required”. -Redbeard

Sting Message in a Bottle

redbeard — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 07:00:56 +0000

This solo performance by Sting (his first ever) of “Message in a Bottle” at the second Amnesty International fundraiser in London 1981 , known as “The Secret Policeman’s Other Ball”, is extremely rare on compact disc , but thankfully many of the stellar performances over the years have been collected now on DVD .”…Love can mend your life, But love can break your heart…” -Redbeard