Gregg had no issues adding the song and broadening the band’s range. and ask if he wanted to cut it,” he said. “I was going to show it to Hank Williams Jr. Betts said the Hank Williams song of the same name inspired his initial idea, with Dickey’s lyrics adapting Williams’ “when the Lord made me, He made a ramblin’ man.”īetts originally thought he’d offer it to a country artist but was surprised to learn that he was the only guy in the band who thought it was too country for the Allman Brothers Band to record. “Ramblin’ Man” was much closer to being an actual country tune. The group almost immediately knew that they had hit on something beautifully different It could have been done by Poco or the Dead.” “It was more of that country/rock thing that was popular at that time. But “Blue Sky” wasn’t all that country, as Betts would note. The only thing close was “Blue Sky,” another major-key song with a country bounce. “Ramblin’ Man” was different from anything the band had ever recorded before. “I just followed my ear and played what seemed appropriate,” Leavell said. He wasn’t particularly influenced by country music, but his instincts naturally took him to some traditional playing on “Ramblin’ Man,” bringing to the song a genuine country swing. His sound is singular, even as you hear elements of the musicians the pianist cites as his prime inspirations: Ray Charles, Nicky Hopkins, Dr. The song kicked off the sessions with swagger, which continued in a totally different vein with “Ramblin’ Man.” The two songs, one an Allman rock blues, the other a Betts country rocker, are entirely different but sonically linked by Leavell’s honky-tonk bravado. Your wasted words, so absurd / Are you really Satan, yes or no? Don’t ask me to be mister clean, baby, I don’t know how. Well, I ain’t no saint and you sure as hell ain’t no savior…. The lyrics of the song are a brutal kiss-off to Gregg’s first wife, Shelly Winters (not the actress), including his own admission of failure: Betts’ slide line sounds like it was inspired by what Winter had played on the demo.

Gregg had recorded a demo of “Wasted Words” in Los Angeles on August 9, with Johnny Winter on guitar and Buddy Miles on drums. The recording of the Allman Brothers Band’s “Ramblin’ Man”Ĭhuck Leavell’s musical imprint is unmistakable on the first two tracks the band recorded, Gregg’s “Wasted Words” and Betts’ “Ramblin’ Man.” He added a bounce that elevated “Wasted Words,” undergirding Betts’ slide guitar, which was less fluid and expansive than Duane’s and more attuned to playing a defined melodic part.

In this exclusive excerpt from Brothers and Sisters, we present an inside look at the group’s recording session for “Ramblin’ Man.” The action picks up shortly after the group hires keyboardist Chuck Leavell, fresh from his sessions for Gregg’s solo debut, Laid Back, and brings in guitarist Les Dudek to assist Betts. Martin’s Press, the book is the much-anticipated follow-up to Alan’s New York Times bestseller, One Way Out: The Inside Story of the Allman Brothers Band, the definitive biography of the celebrated group. This era in the Allman Brothers Band’s history comes to vivid life in Alan Paul’s new book, Brothers and Sisters: The Allman Brothers Band and the Inside Story of the Album That Defined the ’70s. The Allman Brothers Band dissolved in 1976, ending the first chapter in their long run.

But the good times were marred by tragedy, from the death of bassist Berry Oakley shortly after the band began recording Brothers and Sisters, to the drug-fueled lifestyle that followed.

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