Music News Net

Allman Brothers Band 1969 Recording Surfaces!

MUSIC NEWS- Way back in March of 1969 guitarist Duane Allman went back to Jacksonville, FL after a succesful run as a  session player in Muscle Shoals, AL.  Mr Allman quickly put together a group that would soon go on to become The Allman Brothers Band, with guitarist Dickey Betts, drummers Jaimoe and Butch Trucks, bassist Berry Oakley and Reese Wynans (keyboards), and a whole new music genre was begun.  This new group had just some jam sessions and played a few gigs before Duane asked brother Gregg to replace Wynans.

It's rare to come accross recordings of the Allman Brothers Band with Wynans, so when JamBase spread the news of this new find, we couldn't wait to check out what's supposedly a live show of the pre-ABB group from March 30, 1969.  Give a listen...

Bad Company Announces 40th Anniversary Tour

MUSIC NEWS - Rockers, Bad Company have announced plans to hit the road for a 2013 North American summer tour that will include a co-headlining run with Lynyrd Skynyrd. Tour will kick off on June 15 in Rancho Mirage, CA and will including 22 dates, concluding on August 3 in Orilla, Ontario. The band will take to the road as part of their 40th Anniversary celebration.

 "When Mick and I formed the band we were amazed at the instant success. It didn't hurt to have Led Zeppelin behind us, and we wrote some decent songs that still resonate. This one is for the fans."

Southern Rock Guitarist, Dan Toler, Dead at 64

MUSIC NEWS -  Dan Toler, better known to many as Dangerous Dan Toler passed away today.  Guitarist Toler became popular in the late 1970s as a member of Dickey Betts & Great Southern and was featured on the albums Dickey Betts & Great Southern and Atlanta's Burning Down. He went on to become a member of The Allman Brothers Band with Betts from 1979 thru 1982 appearing on Enlightened Rogues, Reach for the Sky and Brothers of the Road.

Toler and his brother David (Frankie) Toler were members of the Gregg Allman Band in the 1980s, featured on his albums I'm No Angel (1987) and Just Before The Bullets Fly (1988) as well as a reformed version of Great Southern in the 2000s. Dan played with jazz fusion multi instrumentalist Mark Pettey in Sarasota, FL in the early 1990s, recording a short demo, and performing live shows in the Tampa Bay area. Mark and Dan continue to collaborate on jazz influenced projects together.

Allman Brothers Band Announce Their Second Annual Peach Music Festival

MUSIC NEWS - The Allman Brothers Band (ABB) is proud to announce The Peach Music Festival is returning for a second year to the Toyota Pavilion at Montage Mountain and Sno Mountain Ski Area & Water Park in Scranton, PA. For 2013, The Peach will take place Thursday, August 15 to Sunday, August 18 and include 4 days of camping, multiple stages, music and so much more! The first-ever ABB-inspired festival in the Northeast Pennsylvania region; which debuted in August 2012 with over 30,000 fans in attendance, returns with a line-up that includes; The Allman Brothers Band (performing 2 nights), Bob Weir & RatDog (performing 2 nights), The Black Crowes, Grace Potter and The Nocturnals, Jaimoe’s Jasssz Band with more still to be announced.

ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND Adds Eleventh, and Final 2013 Beacon Theater Show

MUSIC NEWS - The ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND have announced their 11^th, and final show at the 2013 installment of their March residency at New York City’s Beacon Theatre, an annual tradition that started back in 1989.  The iconic Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees and Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award-winning group have added a special St. Patrick’s Day (Sunday, March 17) show, with an early start time of 7:00pm.  The group’s annual NYC residency will now encompass 11 shows at the Beacon between March 1 and 17. 

As a special treat for concertgoers, the first 2200 fans who have not already read GREGG ALLMAN’s best-selling autobiography MY CROSS TO BEAR will receive a free copy, courtesy of MSG and LiveNation.  Released 5/1/12, the revealing and poignant book tells the whole story of the legendary ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND founder, and was cited by Rolling Stone at #20 in their “25 Greatest Rock Memoirs Of All Time” piece last year.

The Beginnings of the Southern Rock Sound via the BBC

MUSIC NEWS -  Southern Rock history via the BBC.   A UK documentary about the beginnings, influences and popularity of Southern Rock music. With members of The Allman Brothers, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Charlie Daniels Band, Marshall Tucker Band, .38 Special and many others.

 

Guitarist Stuart Swanlund of Marshall Tucker Band Dead at 54

MUSIC NEWS- Southern rockers, the Marshall Tucker Band lost another member as guitarist Stuart Swanlund has died at 54. Publicist Don Murry Grubbs said Monday night that the guitarist died in his sleep of natural causes on Saturday at his Chicago home.

Swanlund joined the band back in 1985 after MTB had split up and later regrouped. He was the longest running member of the legendary southern rock band, with the exception of founding member Doug Gray.   Swanlund had taken a break from touring recently due to health issues.  MTB is best known to most for their 1977 Top 40 hit "Heard It In a Love Song."  Still touring, their sound is a blend of rock, country and gospel.

Swanlund's slide guitar work added a new dimension to the band; on newer material as well as standards like “Searchin’ For A Rainbow,” “Can’t You See,” and “Fire On The Mountain.”funeral will take place Saturday at the Good Shepherd Memorial Park in Boiling Springs, SC.  He's survived by his sister, three grandchildren, a son, William "Billy" Swanlund, and his lifelong partner, Stacey Schmaren.

 

Allman Brothers Band Add Summer Concert Dates, Including Co-headline Shows with Santana

MUSIC NEWS -  With Gregg's My Cross to Bear book promo tour re-booked to start up on May 8 in Atlanta, GA, news out today is the Allman Brothers Band have added more shows, including a  summer 2012 "shed" tour with Santana.

After playing a previously announced show at the All Good Music Festival July 21 in Thornville, OH, the shows with Santana begin July 22 in Darien Center, NY at Darien Lake Performing Arts Center.  The rest of the co-headline shows include Wantagh, NY, at Nikon At Jones Beach Theatre July 24; Holmdel, NJ, at PNC Bank Arts Center, July 25; Saratoga Springs, NY at Saratoga Performing Arts Center July 27; Hartford, CN, at Comcast Theatre July 28; and Columbia, MD, at Merriweather Post Pavilion July 30.

 

Gregg Allman Postpones Book Tour Due to Health Issues

MUSIC NEWS- Rock & Roll Hall of Famer and southern rock music legend Gregg Allman will undergo diagnostic cardiac testing stemming from his recent hernia operation and is postponing his promo book tour as a result. The procedure, scheduled for April 27th at Mayo Clinic's campus in Jacksonville, FL, (where the singer previously received a liver transplant in June 2010) will determine what, if any, additional medical attention may be required.

Given these circumstances, William Morrow, Allman's book publisher, today announced a temporary delay of the publicity tour to promote his forthcoming May 1 releasing memoir, MY CROSS TO BEAR. 

 

ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND Announce 2012 Beacon Theater NYC Run

MUSIC NEWS - Rock legends the Allman Brothers Band has confirmed their annual residency at New York City's Beacon Theater.  For 2012 the group will perform ten shows (so far) in March. The band confirmed the Beacon dates are March 9, 10, 13, 14, 16, 17, 20, 21, 24 & 25 with potentila for additional dates to be added.

Tickets for the shows will go on sale Friday, January 6, 2012 (earlier for club members). The Brothers returned to the Beacon in 2011 after a year uptown at New York’s United Palace Theatre due to Beacon scheduled conflicts with a CIrque De Soleil show.

Joel "Taz" DiGregorio of Charlie Daniels Band Dies in Car Crash

MUSIC NEWS- Charlie Daniels says his longtime keyboardist, vocalist, and co-writer of "The Devil Went Down to Georgia", Joel "Taz" DiGregorio, 67, was killed Wednesday night in a single-car accident on Interstate 40 west of Nashville, TN while on the way to Georgia for a Charlie Daniels Band. booked for October 13 at the Cumming Country Fair and Festival.  Taz was alone in his SUV when his vehicle flipped over going around a curve, Daniels said.  "He was an intricate part of our sound for 40 years," Daniels said on Thursday. "If you listened to our records, you could hear Taz all over them. He had a riff in `The Devil Went Down to Georgia' which was his idea.   "Wearing an ever present cowboy hat and always to Daniels' right on stage, DiGregorio was a fixture of the band's rocking persona."He just fit in with our music for 40 years. It won't be easy without him," Daniels said.

ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND To Wrap Up 2011 With Six Shows

MUSIC NEWS - After being forced to cancel some shows over health issues, the ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND gave us some big news today with the announcement of six final shows for 2011.   The dates will include two nights scheduled in Philadelphia, well, Upper Darby, PA at the Tower Theatre on November 26 & 27 and four big nights in Boston, MA at the Orpheum Theatre on November 29/30, December 2/3.

These will be the last of a mere twenty shows this year for ABB;  Gregg Allman (vocals and keyboards), Butch Trucks (drums and tympani), JAIMOE (drums), Warren Haynes (vocals, lead and slide guitar), Derek Trucks (slide and lead guitar), Oteil Burbridge (bass) and Marc Quinones (congas and percussion) as the band members worked on other projects and Gregg recuperated.  In 2011, Mr Allman released Low Country Blues, Warren Haynes' band released Man In Motion and Derek Trucks and his wife,  Susan Tedeschi's group The Tedeschi Trucks Bands released their first album, the wonderful Revelator.  We hope for a more productive 2012 for ABB.

LYNYRD SKYNYRD Cancels Shows Due to Johnny VanZant Health Issue

MUSIC NEWS - Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Johnny Van Zant's health problems have forced the group to cancel several concert appearnaces. A post on the band's website explains that the 51 year old singer was hospitalized last weekend as a result from complications from a previous surgery. The site reports;

“Johnny Van Zant was admitted to the Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis, MN on August 6, with a surgical site infected cellulitis which required hospitalization with IV antibiotic treatment. Van Zant has a severe Staph infection and multiple symptoms related to infection. Johnny Van Zant is to remain out of work and recover until cleared by his primary physician.”

So far, the affected tour dates are limited, and are listed below. Lynyrd Skynyrd plans to resume their tour schedule with the Doobie Brothers on Friday, August 19, in Bethel, NY at Bethel Woods Center for the Arts.

Illness Forces GREGG ALLMAN To Cancel Tour Dates

MUSIC NEWS - More health problems force southern rocker GREGG ALLMAN to cancel his North American concerts dates through September.  His ailment is again the upper respiratory infection that resulted in him canceling a June shows on his European tour.  Back then his doctors believed a few days of rest would take care of the problem.   We guessthe bug was stronger than anyone thought, doctors have ordered him this time to rest for four to six weeks.

Allman will appear at South Dakota’s famous Sturgis Rally at the Legendary Buffalo Chip on August 10, but canceled dates include -

Gregg Allman to Publish His Memoir

MUSIC NEWS - Gregg Allman, solo artist and frontman for the legendary Allman Brothers Band, has signed with William Morrow with plans to publish his untitled memoir in the spring of  2012.  The news arrives just two days after Pete Townshend of The Who signed with HarperCollins (which owns William Morrow) for his memoir, and as bestsellers by Steven Tyler, Sammy Hagar and Keith Richards remain active in bookstores and libraries.

William Morrow describes the work as an "unflinching" look at his life. In a statement announcing the deal, Allman said, "When I got out of high school, I thought, I'll take a year or two off and play the clubs, get this out of my system and then go to med school. More than 40 years later, I figure it's finally time to write about this crazy journey that's taken me around the world and back."