THE ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND BACK ON THE BILLBOARD CHARTS WITH “LIVE FROM A&R STUDIOS: NEW YORK, AUGUST 26, 1971”

Iconic Grammy-winning and Rock & Roll Hall of Fame rockers THE ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND are excited to be back on the Billboard charts with a live album recorded almost 45 years ago.  Live From A&R Studios: New York, August 26, 1971, released April 1 via the band’s Allman Brothers Band Recording Company label and Red Distribution is a hit with fans.  This week, it entered these charts:

This period in the ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND–Duane Allman, Gregg Allman, Dickey Betts, Jaimoe, Berry Oakley and Butch Trucks–is a pivotal one.  They had just recorded their breakthrough At Fillmore East in March of that year, and released it one month before Live From A&R Studios was recorded at Phil Ramone‘s Manhattan studio.  Broadcast live on WPLJ radio in NYC–the set has been widely bootlegged but never officially released–A&R would prove to be guitarist Duane Allman’s last NYC performance. At Fillmore East would launch the band to superstardom, so the A&R session is a true musical testament of the band’s power at that historic time.

RollingStone.com recently debuted the lengthy “You Don’t Love Me”/”Soul Serenade” jam from Live From A&R Studios.  You can hear it here.  In the Rolling Stone piece, ABB co-founder Butch Trucks talks extensively with David Fricke about this recording, the band’s legendary live shows and his relationship with the late Duane Allman.  “Oh, man, I’ll never forget that one,” he says of the A&R Studios recording.  “We were set up in that studio just like we did on stage. But it was better.  Rather than having their backs to me, the front line – Duane, Dickey and Berry – was facing us in kind of a semi-circle, which made it even easier to communicate. When I play, I stare at the left hand of whoever is playing lead. And I get to know what people are playing well enough that when they start going somewhere, once they arrive, I’m already there.”

Meanwhile, fans of the ABB’s music will make their way to the 12th annual Wanee Festival this weekend in Live Oak, FL, where a wide array of like-minded musicians will congregate.  Founded by the ABB in 2005, this year’s festival includes ABB veterans like GREGG ALLMAN, LES BRERS (a new group featuring founding ABB members BUTCH TRUCKS and JAIMOE (drummers), longtime members OTEIL BURBRIDGE (bass) and MARC QUINONES (percussion), former ABB guitarist JACK PEARSON, frequent ABB guest BRUCE KATZ on keyboards, singer LAMAR WILLIAMS JR. (son of the former ABB bassist) plus guitarist PAT BERGESON (Chet Atkins, Lyle Lovett, Suzy Bogguss) as well as others like Jaimoe’s Jasssz Band, Warren Haynes (also performing with his band Gov’t Mule) and Oteil & Friends.  Other highlights include Widespread Panic, Billy & The Kids (Grateful Dead’s Bill Kreutzman) and North Mississippi Allstars & Anders Osborne.

RED has taken over the distribution of several other live shows the band has released over the last few years, including American University (12/12/1970), Stony Brook, NY (9/19/1971), Macon City Auditorium (2/11/1972), Nassau Coliseum 5/1/1973) and Boston Common (8/17/1971).

Since giving their final live performance in 2014, the ABB have remained very active, including various band members taking part in the band’s two signature festivals.  They host the Wanee Music Festival in April in Live Oak, FL and the Peach Music Festival, held in August in Scranton, PA.

LIVE FROM A&R STUDIOS: NEW YORK, AUGUST 26 1971 track list:

–Statesboro Blues

–Trouble No More

–Don’t Keep Me Wonderin’

–Done Somebody Wrong

–One Way Out

–In Memory of Elizabeth Reed

–Stormy Monday

–You Don’t Love Me/Soul Serenade

–Hot ‘lanta