Gary James' Interview With Allman Brothers Archivist
John Lynskey



John Lynskey is working hard to preserve the legacy of what some people refer to as "The Greatest Blues Rock Band Of All Time," The Allman Brothers Band. John is The Allman Brothers Band archivist. July 15th, 2022 saw the release of The Allman Brothers' live album/CD "Down In Texas '71". It was recorded on September 28th, 1971 at the Austin Municipal Auditorium in Austin, Texas. The Austin show presents the band's original lineup, Duane Allman, Gregg Allman, Dickey Betts, Berry Oakley, Butch Trucks and Jaimoe. The recording was made just one month before the untimely death of Duane Allman in a motorcycle accident in October, 1971.

Last year (2021) saw the release of "The Allman Brothers Band: The First Note". Recorded on October 17th, 1971 at Painters Mill Music Fair in Owing Mills, Maryland, it was Duane Allman's final show with the band. Twelve days lager, on October 29th, Duane Allman was dead. In this interview we spoke with John Lynskey about both CDs/albums "Down In Texas '71" and "The Final Note".

Q - So John, you are The Allman Brothers archivist?

A - Archivist. Historian. Something like that, yes.

Q - That sounds like quite an impressive title and responsible position to hold.

A - Yes.

Q - Were you a follower of the band in their earliest of days? I don't know how old of a guy you are.

A - I'm 62. I first started listening to The Allman Brothers when I was eleven, and yes, I was a lifelong fan. I was fortunate when they reunited in 1989. I had studied them religiously. I had a chance encounter with their tour manager, Kirk West, and he opened the door for me to get involved with the band. I ended up becoming the editor-in-chief of the band's music magazine, Hitting The Note. I did that from 1995 until 2014. I got into a lot of different things. I got involved with The Allman Brothers Band's museum from the very beginning in 2005. I've been on their Board Of Directors since that time and now I'm actually the Official Historian at The Allman Brothers Band Museum.

Q - Who runs this Allman Brothers Band Recording Company?

A - There are several different Allman Brothers recording companies, but the Allman Brothers Recording Company deals with the early years of The Allman Brothers Band, the original lineup. It's overseen by the band's longtime manager, Bert Holman.

Q - Did you ever meet Duane Allman?

A - I did not. The first time I saw the band was a few months after Duane died. I was fascinated by the triumph and tragedy and the joy and the sorrow that was The Allman Brothers Band. Everything that happened with that group is like a Southern Gothic novel that Faulkner would have written. Duane Allman is quite simply the most provocative guitarist I ever heard. I followed a lot of bands, but The Allmans were always my favorite. So, to become their historian at their museum means a great deal to me.

Q - I would guess that would be a dream job for a super fan of any group.

A - Yes. I work with great people, you know, longtime associates with the band, Kirk West, Bert Holman, Bill Levenson who produces all our releases, a Grammy Award winning producer. I work hand in hand with Richard Brent who is the Executive Director of The Big House Museum. So, that's the team that works on these releases. Kirk West is the tape archivist, live show archivist. Kirk has more tapes than anybody else. He collected for years. He was the band's tour manager for over twenty years. Again, Kirk is the one that got me involved. Bill Levenson won two Grammys with Eric Clapton, but every every release we've done, Bill has worked on sonically. I am the researcher, historian. I write all the liner notes to anything we do. Richard Brent has supplied us with lots of resources from the collection at The Big House.

Q - Sam Idas, an 18-year-old radio journalist, taped the last performance of Duane Allman onstage with The Allman Brothers.

A - Yes.

Q - Now, how did he tape that?

A - Here's what happened. Sam was 17 years old and he had been working down at a radio station in Baltimore, learning the ropes as a young kid. He actually was given the opportunity to interview Gregg after the show on October 17th, 1971 at Painters Mill Music Fair, outside of Baltimore. He had a hand-held cassette player and he had a decent seats, like the eighth row, middle. The intention was to interview Gregg. Well, he's sitting there. The show starts and in a very spontaneous decision he said, "Well, why not?" He hit Record and he got almost an hour or so of what turned out to be sadly Duane's last performance. Again, it's a hand-held cassette from the eighth row. What's interesting is he had that cassette. He recorded it. Then he put it aside and life went on. He went to college and everything else. He never lost the cassette, but he sort of lost track of it and how significant it was 'til a few years ago. One of his friends who was at that show said, "Hey, do you still have that cassette you made? That was Duane Allman's last show." Sam did not know that was Duane's last show or didn't remember. One or the other. Long story short, through his friends, Sam got in touch with Richard at The Big House and to Bert Holman. He said, "I've got this cassette." Obviously Gary, the sound quality; it's fifty years old. It's hand-held, but I actually went and got the actual cassette from Sam. I met him. Picked it up and we took it to Bill Levenson. Bill is a true master and Bill did everything he could to enhance this show. To go from a cassette fifty years ago that sat in a drawer to now an official release, it's a moment in time. It's a moment in history. That's how it needs to be listened to. Understanding it's the final notes that Duane Allman played onstage, hence the title, "The Final Note". It's a remarkable find. No, it's not going to win a Grammy for sound quality, but yes to any music aficionado of The Allman Brothers Band. It's historical value can't be over emphasized.

Q - When Sam was taping that show, there was no one around from the band to say, "Hey! You can't do that!", was there?

A - No. Rules were completely different in 1971. A seventeen year old kid just hit Record. Fortunately, he was in a pretty sweet spot. If you're gonna use a hand-held cassette, he was probably in the best spot you could be. But again, no one understood. He didn't understand this was gong to be a Holy Grail of Duane Allman tapes. He was really there to do an interview with Gregg. It's funny how things turned out.

Q - Did he have enough space on that cassette to tape the interview he did with Gregg?

A - He actually used another cassette for the interview. So, there's a couple of cuts in the performance 'cause he had to flip the tape. The fact that it exists at all and made it to release is a miracle.

Q - Sam did not grant interviews in support of that CD, did he?

A - Sam really wasn't interested in that. The liner notes to "The Final Note", which I did, it's really the only interview I'm aware of that Sam did. So, if you read the liner notes, the essay, you get Sam's account. It's kind abridged, but you get his account of how it happened and how the cassette ended up in our hands and ultimately released on CD and vinyl for that matter.

Q - Let's talk about "Down in Texas '71", which was recorded September 28th, 1971 in Austin Municipal Auditorium. Did a fan tape that show?

A - No. That's a little bit different. That was recorded by the band. A soundboard tape. It was not like The Grateful Dead. They didn't have tremendous recording equipment. They did have their sound man record the shows. There was a vast collection of early Allman Brothers sound boards that unfortunately were stolen later in the '70s and disappeared. So there's not, unlike The Grateful Dead, there just aren't that many original Allman Brothers Band sound board recordings. This one, again Kirk West is the band's tape archivist, collected anything and everything. We put out a series of archival releases from the '90s into the 2000s from the sound boards that we did have. And again, it would be Kirk and me and Bert representing the band and Bill Levenson working on these things. Then Kirk came across this tape and all it said was "Texas '71". That's all it said. No venue. No nothing. And it was pretty good sound quality. We did not put it out yet. It was a single disc and we were kicking it around during COVID. We should do something with this. And the notion was, and give Bert Holman credit for this and the band, that we issue it and it would be a Big House exclusive to help raise funds for The Big House during COVID, during the lockdown. We didn't know what show it was. So, doing our detective work, Kirk and myself and Richard started digging. At first we seemed have narrowed it down to Houston, which was two days before Austin, but we still weren't sure. So, Bert sent out a request via the band's website, AllmanBrothersBand.com, "If you have anything at all from the Texas run into late September, please send it to us." And so, the fans being good fans that they are, somebody sent us a copy of a show review from Austin, okay? Richard is reading it and funny enough there was an incident with the Fire Marshal that night where the crowd was jamming up the stage. Duane made some remarks from the stage, "You gotta move back." The guy that wrote the Austin review mentioned Duane's remarks about the Fire Marshal. That's how we determined it was Austin, from that article and from Duane's stage comments. So now we know what show it is. We found the poster from that evening and it's very good sound quality. And it was a month before Duane died. You can still hear the band evolving. Duane and Dicky Betts were still being creative. The rhythm section was still driving and Gregg was still developing even further his voice, and it's just hard to believe that a month later Duane would be gone.

Q - I don't suppose anybody in management ever told Duane that riding a motorcycle is dangerous, did they?

A - It's the early '70s. Duane was 24. They were all in their early twenties and you know, they lived life to the fullest. They played hard. Duane Allman lived life at one speed, full speed, all the time. That's how he played onstage. That's how he approached life and that's how he approached riding his bike. And so no, no one was going to tell Duane Allman, "Don't get on that bike."

Q - You said that some of these recordings from the sound board are missing. Who would take them and what would they do with them?

A - That's a very good question, Gary. I don't really want to get into the details of why these tapes disappeared, but just suffice it to say that unfortunately the large amount of Allman Brothers sound boards were lost. We'll just leave it like that.

Q - That's a story itself.

A - Yeah. It is.

Q - This September 28th, 1971 recording, being released on July 15th, 2022 will mark the first time this CD will hit retail stores.

A - Correct.

Q - Is it expected to be a big seller? The Allman Brothers must have a huge fan base.

A - Yes. While it's been available through The Big House Museum and our website and gift shop, the fact that it's hitting retail will garner more attention. The Allman Brothers are as popular today, if not more so than when they stopped playing in 2014. What's amazing Gary is Duane Allman's legacy. Duane has been dead twice as long as he's been alive, yet fifty years later young people are still drawn to his music, to his band's music. And so, yes, we think this will do well and continue to spread the legacy of Duane Allman and the original Allman Brothers Band. Of note Gary is on the nine tracks, there is a guest saxophonist on six of them, a guy by the name of Rudolph. "Juicy" was his nickname, Juicy Carter. Juicy Carter sits in on six of the nine tracks. That's the most guest appearances available with the original Allman Brothers Band live album. That itself makes it notable. And just a real quick background on Juicy. Juicy was very good friends with Jaimoe, one of the drummers of The Allman Brothers. They had played together in Percy Sledge's band, pre-Allman Brothers. And it was actually Juicy Carter who gave Jaimoe his nickname, Jaimoe. Jaimoe was born John Lee Johnson. Juicy coined his Jaimoe and it stuck ever since. So, whenever Juicy showed up, he'd sit in with the band and sometimes it worked and sometime it didn't, but in this particular case you can hear the band, because they were so adept working around Juicy's improvisational notes. Juicy knew some of the songs better than some of the other songs. So when you get up there working without a net, it is a high wire act. (laughs) And they made it work. So, with all those things, yes, we do think it's going to do well in the retail market.

Q - Have you been walking through a mall when "Little Martha" starts playing over the speakers? It's an eerie experience.

A - It is. The band did not play "Little Martha" when Duane was alive because it was recorded during his last sessions to the "Eat A Peach" album. It was among the last things he ever played on. It was not released until after Duane died. So we never got a chance to hear Duane play it live. However, that being said, it did become a great tradition to end every Allman Brothers concert with "Little Martha" playing through the P.A. And yes, it's a gorgeous song and a complex song which just shows the great "What if?" Duane was dead at 24. What would he have gone on to do? When you write a song that complex and what he and Dickey did together on that song; Yes, it's two minutes long, but it's an amazing two minutes. Jazz, sure. Heavy Metal, maybe. We'll never know. The man packed a lot of living and accomplishments in twenty-four years. That original lineup did a lot in two and half years.

Q - There's never been another Allman Brothers Band, has there? You were either around to see them or you weren't. Don't expect to hear that music being played today.

A - You know, that's a great point Gary. To the credit of musicians knowing their limitations and knowing when something is unique. Are there other bands that have followed in the genre? Sure. Although the band never liked the term "Southern Rock." They didn't view it that way. What Skynyrd did was great. Marshall Tucker was great. But there's only one Allman Brothers Band, Gary. And they were much more than Rock 'n' Roll. It was a witch's brew of Rock and Blues and Jazz and R&B and Country. And yes, the sum was greater than the considerable parts. They were just the right guys playing the right music at the right time. That being said, although they lost Duane Allman and Berry Oakley a year later, The Allman Brothers Band has always found a way to maintain musicianship all the way through the rest of its existence. You had tremendous players. Warren Haynes and Derek Trucks. No one is ever going to match Duane and Berry, but Warren Haynes and Derek Trucks found their own dual guitar sound. Chuck Leavell on keyboards. Now with The Rolling Stones. Oteil Burbridge, who's now with Dead And Company. They always found the best musicians. This is something a lot of people don't realize, in Rolling Stone's list of The Top Guitarists Of All Time, four members of The Allman Brothers made the list. No other band had more than two. The Allman Brothers had four.

Q - Quite an accomplishment!

A - There you go. Yes sir.

Q - Some people have said that The Allman Brothers Band are the greatest Blues Rock band of all time. You would say they're beyond Blues Rock.

A - Yes. All of These little elements came together in such a unique way and certainly they're the best live performance band in American history. That's why "At Fillmore East" will be the live album by which all others are measured. You just could not compete with the improvisational power of The Allman Brothers. They played the same songs, but they never played 'em the same way twice.

Q - You told Goldmine magazine, "You never know what might turn up in someone's attic or someone's trunk."

A - (laughs)

Q - "We are always looking." You believe there's more Allman Brothers memorabilia that will surface in the years ahead.

A - You know, hope springs eternal Gary, and there's been enough gems pop up when you least expect it. It keeps you going. It's like the search for the Holy Grail. And yes, you just never know what's under somebody's bed. You never know what's in the attic. We don't have the big vault that The Grateful Dead has, but we're always on the look-out for more things and we have some things in the pipeline yet to come, but we're very happy that "Down In Texas" is going to see retail release.

Q - We've been talking in this interview about Allman Brothers recordings. You must also be looking for concert posters, photos, film.

A - Oh, absolutely. Clothing. Notes. Ticket stubs. We do now at the museum get calls where people will literally say, "You won't believe what I found in my old man's attic." The original fan base of The Allman Brothers is starting to age out and as they pass on you start going through people's stuff and all of a sudden here's this old poster. Here's this old t-shirt. Here's these old ticket stubs. People call us and say, "Are you interested in this? I found this. I found that." You know Gary, collectors are collectors, be it baseball cards or postage stamps or Allman Brothers memorabilia. People hold on to stuff.

Q - In recent years, guitars owned by Jimi Hendrix and Kurt Cobain have sold for incredible amounts of money. Are there Duane Allman guitars out there somewhere?

A - His daughter has two of his guitars. She's holding onto them. The guitar that he played on the first two Allman Brothers albums and the "Layla" album with Eric Clapton is on display at The Big House now at the museum. But it belongs to a private collector who's been nice enough to lend it to us. He paid 1.2 million dollars for it.

Q - Who would have believed when Rock 'n' Roll started that money like that would be paid for a guitar!

A - You're right. You think about what eBay and things like that have done to collecting. Now people get stuff signed all the time. When I was a kid you'd get something signed 'cause you wanted to keep it. Now people get stuff signed solely to sell it 'cause whatever the market will bear.

Q - Kurt Cobain's guitar sold for five million dollars.

A - Someone was willing to pay five million dollars. There is quite a market out there. It also helps us 'cause people are always looking for stuff.

Q - When the museum is approached about an Allman Brothers find, are they trying to give it to you or make a sale?

A - It depends upon the individual. Yes, we've had people give us stuff. We've had stuff that we've purchased. It all depends. I will say this, the majority of people, unless it's something really, really exceptional of course, just say, "Listen, this object," whatever it is, "Maybe belongs here," and so they donate it.

Q - That's the right thing to do.

A - It is.

Q - Share it with the fans of today and tomorrow.

A - I couldn't agree more. Their gift of music has lived all these years. So, it's something to be shared, not profited from. So yes, it's a very organic thing. Fans of The Allman Brothers come to The Big House from all over the world, not just all over the country, all over the world. From Australia, Japan, Finland, France, Germany, Sweden, Brazil. And then they get here it's like they just arrived in Mecca. To visit the home where the band lived in the early '70s and see their instruments... There's no other museum like it in the world, period.

Q - Did Duane Allman autograph photos?

A - There's a few. It's ironically sad that "At Fillmore East" achieved Gold Record status four days before Duane died. So, Duane lived long enough to see that his band, his vision, was actually succeeding. So, there's not a lot of Duane Allman autographs because they weren't that well-known yet. Autograph seeking wasn't what it is today and they'd only had two records out up until that point. The best place to get a legit Duane Allman autograph is either on the back of a canceled check or on a contract. People sign stuff all the time now, it just didn't happen back then. A Duane Allman autograph is pretty rare.

Q - You must have had access to whatever it is The Allman Brothers' record label Capricorn Records had.

A - Correct. When Capricorn went bankrupt there was a tremendous amount of paperwork sold or given away or thrown away. Again, Kirk West got a lot of it. Willie Perkins, the band's first tour manager held on to a lot of it. There was a lot of paperwork involved. But in terms of a fan having a legit Duane Allman autograph, an actual Fillmore East autograph of Duane Allman, that's a very, very, very rare thing indeed.

Official Websites: AllmanBrothersBand.com and TheBigHouseMuseum.

© Gary James. All rights reserved.



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