Long Live the ABB: Conversation from the Crossroads of Southern music, history, and culture with historian Bob Beatty

About Long Live the ABB: Conversation from the Crossroads of Southern music, history, and culture with historian Bob Beatty

Conversation from the Crossroads of Southern music, history, and culture with historian Dr. Bob Beatty, author of 'Play All Night! Duane Allman and the Journey to Fillmore East' www.longlivetheabb.com (https://www.longlivetheabb.com?utm_medium=podcast)

Publisher

Long Live the ABB

Category

history · music

Language

en

Explicit

Yes

First episode

2 Dec 2024

Latest episode

19 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

83 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   19 Oct 2026

   The 1969 Woodstock Festival: “The hype about the peace and love, that’s not hype. That was real.”

   Episode Overview Woodstock alumni Gary Barrett (with a cameo from his wife Camille, also a Woodstocker) joins me at the Crossroads to talk about his memories of the festival. This is part 2 of my Woodstock series. Part 1 was Tom Pragliola. Our Crossroads Gary and I first bonded in the late 1990s over a shared love of the Allman Brothers Band. We were members of a 1,000ish member ABB listserv that contained an amazing group of people, some of whom, like Gary, have become dear friends. Our connections extend far beyond the ABB and into jazz, fatherhood, friendship, and all of the things that make life what it is. The Conversation Getting tickets. Gary learned about Woodstock on WNEW-FM and through the Village Voice. He bought tickets for Saturday only, figuring he’d buy Sunday tickets onsite if he needed to. Turns out he didn’t need them for Saturday either. The journey to Bethel, NY. Gary made the decision to attend late Friday evening, his friend Alan convincing him over a bottle of Thunderbird. They recruited Camille and a friend and left Budd Lake, NJ, before dawn Saturday, August 16. They parked at a stranger’s house, and hiked to the festival site. The crowd at Woodstock. Listen to Gary talk about his strategy for getting close enough to recognize Grace Slick, and far enough away from a potential collapse of a giant speaker tower. They fell in with a crew from Pittsburgh who gave them watermelon soaked in booze. Gary kept one strict rule: watch what anyone hands you. The music. Santana was a highlight. As was Canned Heat. The Dead put him to sleep, and he considered leaving for home when Creedence Clearwater Revival woke him and everyone else up with “Born on the Bayou.” Janis, Sly, the Who followed. On Sunday, Joe Cocker started the day and brought the heavens down. Gary’s memories of what followed are hazy. He remembers Johnny Winter, losing a shoe in the mud, and watching Jimi Hendrix from the top of the hill. Arriving home. Gary missed his Monday shift at the RCA warehouse and lost the job, two weeks before he planned to quit anyway. He and Camille both remarked how Woodstock changed them immeasurably. Upgrade to support the Conversation from the Crossroads. 🍄Play All Night! Duane Allman & the Journey to Fillmore East (https://www.amazon.com/dp/0813069505)🍄 BUY PLAY ALL NIGHT (https://www.amazon.com/dp/0813069505) Brought to you by the paid members of the Long Live the ABB community. 🍄MUSHROOM🍄MAGICIANS🍄 Craig Stevens, Ken Lupson, Laura McCarty, Steve Marshall 🍑 PEACH 🍑 PALS 🍑 Allen Barnes, Art Dobie, Baileys Mike, Bob and Laura, Bob Johnson, Brent W. Hammond, Brent Pruner, Bruce Miles, Buddy Lewis, Cabinetsales, Caroline Doolittle, charlie2541, Chuck Zumwalt, Clay Hall, Clifford Morse, Cwktwo, Danbookin, David Manes, Dennis Newton, Denny, DJ Brown, Ed Ashton, Ed Pokorny, F. D., Frank Young, Gary Nagle/Chairman Wonwayout, Gary Smith, Gary Williamson, George Holman, Hlnbkt, Irishbeatz, James Reynolds, James Yerrill, Jason Hecht, Jcsarphie, JD Guitar, Jeff Kushmerek, Jeff Schein, Jerry K, JoaquinDinero, Joe Sokohl, Joel Berger, Joel Tanzer, John Delaney, John Dolan, John Haughey, Jordan David, Joseph Lilly, jukkinfan901, Kenton Lee, Kevin Harper, Kevin Walker, Kurt Nielsen, Mark Leitner, Martha Haynes, Mike Clark, Patrick McKeary, Peter Poulos, Phillip Page, Preston Root, Randy Woodall, Ray Tillman, Robert Porter, Rose Brandt, Scott Green, sswoger, Stanleyglennie8, Steve Teodeki, Surrender Cobra, Taylor Kropp, Tim Langan (Hot ‘Lanta Tim), Tina Christopher, Tom Pragliola, Tony Dobek, Tony Gioia, Wade McCurdy, William Ayers, Wiszowa 🍄🍑MERCH (http://merch.longlivetheabb.com/)🍑🍄 Jimmy Carter reppin’ the ABB July 4 weekend 1976. (https://longlivetheabb.printful.me/) Ad for ABB’s March 1971 run at Fillmore East. Here’s the original ad—with Johnny Winter at top of the bill (https://longlivetheabb.printful.me/). This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.longlivetheabb.com/subscribe (https://www.longlivetheabb.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2)

2. 

   15 Oct 2026

   “Like words in the telling of a story, every note is of essential importance.” Dickey Betts on instrumentals

   This post offers several levels of goodness: a video from my conversation with Lamar Williams Jr. (https://www.longlivetheabb.com/p/crossroads-lamar), Dickey’s thoughts on composing, and a deep dive into my second favorite ABB instrumental, “High Falls.” Let’s start with that Dickey quote in its entirety. This is Dickey in 2017: In writing instrumentals, you have to decide what you are trying to do, and then see if you can make it happen. These are the mental tools I use to help guide me through, to find the proper direction for whatever piece of music I am working on. I used this approach for songs like “In Memory of Elizabeth Reed,” “High Falls” and “Revival.” Just like the use of words in the telling of a story, every note is of essential importance in crafting a successful instrumental. Here’s Dickey in 2002: I try to keep the audience firmly in mind. I like to imagine that they are right there in the room with me, listening to the piece of music as it progresses. This is one of my most valued considerations while I am developing a song. I’ll be thinking, “How will someone receive this? How will each element affect the person who is listening to it?” Keeping this concept in mind offers me a highway to follow, however intangible it may be. This frame of mind creates an ideal as to how I imagine the music will make the audience feel, and that ideal guides the creative process. A good instrumental will take the listener on a journey; the way I keep an adherence to the path of the journey is by staying aware of where the audience is being taken as the song progresses. And that is really the whole reason for writing the stuff in the first place. And here’s Betts in 1975: When I write something that I’m proud of, like “Elizabeth Reed,” where does that melody come from? Do you think I write one note after another saying, Oh boy, this is catchy?! No. That melody is given to me because I’ve dedicated myself so much to that guitar. Where it comes from I do know, although I will not say. High Falls I hear all of this inspiration when I listen to “High Falls.” Released on the otherwise desultory Win, Lose, or Draw (1975), “High Falls” is the longest studio instrumental in the catalog. It’s also an ideal representation of the Chuck/Lamar era band: a Dickey instrumental written specifically for this lineup and everyone—everyone—shines. “High Falls” is like a classical composition, with an extended intro and multiple movements. Dickey named the song for a Georgia State Park northwest of Macon. The tallest waterfall in middle Georgia, High Falls is not a thundering cascade. It’s long and flows gradually, much like the song itself. Dickey: I was there with Nick Nolte and Don Johnson, and they were doing a movie called Return to Macon County. I was hanging out with them, and I had my guitar of course. There was a lot of time that I wasn’t doing anything, so I just sat down there beside the falls and wrote “High Falls.” If you drive way back in there, there’s a beautiful waterfall back in there. When I hear “High Falls,” I legit hear the sound of the photo above. The opening section evokes the languid headwaters of the falls; the song unfolds as the Towaliga River cascades along the rocks. It ebbs and flows, with lyrical solos from Leavell and Betts. Undergirding it all is a rock-solid rhythm section anchored by Butch Trucks and two childhood musical mates reunited: Jaimoe and Lamar Williams. Dickey’s masterpiece That’s what writer Jim Pettigrew called “High Falls” in his 1975 Circus cover story, when producer Johnny Sandlin played him a preview of the track. One can only guess at Sandlin’s inner satisfaction at watching the intruders being blown away as the next song passes over the giant playback heads. Here, with the instrumental “High Falls,” Richard Betts—author of masterpieces like “Elizabeth Reed” but still partly put down by some critics as the Allman Brothers Band’s ‘Aw, shucks, country boy’—has outdone himself as a composer and master arranger. The intro is a jazzy, semi-atonal foreplay with high hats, cymbals, and hints of congas; a barest breath of what’s to come. A cannonade of guitar lines then introduces the main theme, which falls apart like a jazz-rock jigsaw puzzle to be deftly put together again, slowly and lovingly, like two longtime lovers on a lazy afternoon, as the members one by one take flight, make their statements, and then return. Betts, obviously at the pterodactyl’s reins, drifts in here with a series of muted minor chords; then, like a vengeance-maddened nightrider, he comes back with an explosive ‘sonata allegro,’ only to have his frenzy pacified by Chuck’s lilting fills and passes. Each member has a chance here to strut his stuff. Jai and Butch trade off and weave together as Lamar tortures and then soothes his bass in an S-M fantasy. Dickey toys with sparse notes and re-introduces the theme. The simile here is too apparent to pass up. Just as two in-tune lovers stave off the inevitable climax, the Brothers ever so slowly come back and build to an imminent finale you know is at hand, but the moments of hesitation are nearly excruciating. And then it’s over. Johnny Sandlin, who’s been pretending to study the small video screen which shows anyone at the front door, lets a slight grin slip across his face. Sam Whiteside leans over the 8-foot control panel like some longhaired Cheshire Cat. “Jeazus!” someone mutters from behind in the darkness. Old friend Tony Glover also sang its praises in Rolling Stone: The instrumental, “High Falls,” runs almost 14 minutes—but it seems more like four. Another Betts composition, it’s a perfect example of the kind of dynamics that sets the Brothers instrumentally so far above most bands. The guitarist’s theme sounds like it could be a soundtrack for an Italian movie or a big-sky Western—Betts has a knack for finding new but instantly familiar riffs that you’d swear you’ve heard before but haven’t. Like most of their instrumentals, this is kinetic; the theme is stated, improvised on, abandoned, rediscovered, intensified and finally mellowly resolved. (Especially smokin’ bass by Lamar Williams and building keyboard rides by Chuck Leavell.) My second favorite Dickey instrumental, it’s an exquisite composition masterfully played by a band fraying at the seams. A year after the release of Win, Lose, or Draw, the band broke up. Though Dickey played “High Falls” with all iterations of Great Southern (https://youtu.be/06FckwFl_DU?si=y8JPgT2pHtT7dJ4J&t=84), the song fell out of the ABB’s rotation from 1976 through 1997, when the band busted it out at Warren & Woody’s final Beacon run. It stayed in setlists for 4 years and 4 different guitar tandems: Dickey and Jack (1997-99); Dickey and Derek (1999-2000); Derek and Jimmy Herring (summer 2000); Derek & Warren (Beacon 2001, with Chuck Leavell). “High Falls” had one official release, on Peakin’ at the Beacon (2000). It’s not one of my favorite versions. Lagniappes 3 different versions of “High Falls”—two with Dickey and one without. * Beacon Theatre, NYC March 22, 1997: with Warren & Woody (https://youtu.be/ml8B7fljaYw?si=3flgFj3iQHwb8JQV) * Camden, NJ June 24, 1997: Dickey & Jack (https://youtu.be/UtV4dUn2Bx8?si=3xhqNgY_kAuIGiXR) * Beacon Theatre, NYC March 24, 2001: Derek & Warren & Chuck Leavell (https://youtu.be/LZ14Nw6ocQM?si=UY9N4rT2PJjLL3JT) Support the Conversation from the Crossroads of Southern music, history, & culture. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.longlivetheabb.com/subscribe (https://www.longlivetheabb.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2)

3. 

   13 Oct 2026

   “I'm cold, I'm tired, I'm hungry, I must have had a great time.” Three days of peace & music in the mud at Woodstock

   I spent the last weekend in August with a group of pals in Bethel, New York, site of the 1969 Woodstock Music and Arts Festival. Among them was Tom Pragliola, a paid member of (https://www.longlivetheabb.com/subscribe)Long Live the ABB: Conversation from the Crossroads (https://www.longlivetheabb.com/subscribe) and also a veteran of Woodstock. Episode Overview This one is 100% Tom’s story of Woodstock. He’s one of the very few who saw the entire thing, from Havens to Hendrix. Our Crossroads Our shared love of the Allman Brothers Band extends well beyond just listening to the music. We’ve met up at countless events from my hometown of Stuart, Florida, to Macon, NYC, and the Catskills. Tom’s got an ABB cover band, Highway 41. And it was on his recommendation I attended Roots Rock Revival, the camp Butch Trucks founded with Oteil Burbridge and Luther and Cody Dickinson. We’re also both avid readers obsessed with detail. The Conversation Getting to Woodstock. From rerouting along the way from NYC to pick up a ticket he never needed, to navigating the miles-long backup on the only road leading to Bethel, the trip itself was quite the journey. Tom estimates a 5-mile walk from his car to the festival. He arrived just as things were starting. The lineup. Tom was there from Richie Havens’s opening set on Friday afternoon through Jimi Hendrix’s set at 9am on Monday morning. His memories of Santana and Sly and the Family Stone are pretty great. Leaving the festival site. This is a really great story. On Friday night after the music ended, Tom drove a young female friend to a family friend’s house as promised. When he saw Woodstock on the 11pm news, he realized he was part of something big. Surviving the elements. Rain and mud. Scant food. Orange sunshine and a film cannister of hash. Visiting Woodstock in 2026. Tom and I reminisce about our August visit to Bethel and the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts. Tom has an ABB tribute band called Highway 41. Check ‘em out on Youtube. In Memory of Elizabeth Reed (https://youtu.be/lSsp8mrZZoY?si=9WPQoO8L5vyYQ-n_) End of the Line (https://youtu.be/OxmcvZV0q6s?si=ZrYn30kApAjoYLg5) This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.longlivetheabb.com/subscribe (https://www.longlivetheabb.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2)

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Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

3 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

4 ratings

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