http://jasobrecht.com/john-hammond-remembers-friend-duane-allman/
(June 23, 1981)
(READ) :
Do you recall the first time you met him?
The first
time I met him was in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. I was down
there to record with the band down there. It was being
produced by Marlin Greene, and it had Barry Beckett, Roger
Hawkins, Jimmy Johnson, David Hood, Eddie Hinton. And when I
got down there, they thought that I was gonna be black, and
I thought they were gonna be black. So they got pretty cold
to me, you know. I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know
what to make of the scene. I was told that this was the band
that recorded behind Aretha and all these people. So after
about two days, we’d cut about four tunes or something. It
was not going well.
On the
scene arrives this guy with long red hair down his back,
eyebrows that crossed, and a moustache that went all the way
into sideburns. He was wearing a T-shirt that said “City
Slickers” on it. He arrived in this abandoned milk truck.
And everybody said, “Hey, Duane! How ya doin’ man?” He said,
“Where is this John Hammond guy? I wanna meet this guy! I
really dig him.” They said, “You do?” And they all
looked at me with new respect. I was introduced to Duane,
and Duane said, “Man, I sure dig your stuff! Boy, and I sure
would love to play on your record if it’s okay.” I said,
“Sure, I guess so.” I had never heard him play before, but
these guys worshipped him. As soon as Duane gave me the
okay, the session went fantastic. The album is
Southern Fried.
This was
in ’69. Not long after that, he put together the Allman
Brothers Band. They had worked some jobs under the name the
Allman Joys before that time. And then the next time I saw
them they opened the show for me in St. Paul, in the winter.
It was, like, 35 below zero, at the Union Labor Temple
there. This was in late ’69, and it was very, very cold. We
got together and we had a jam that night, and it was just
terrific. It was the beginning of a long relationship I had
with him. Duane got me together with the Paragon Agency, and
I worked for them for about four years. I was on many shows
with them. Duane was at my house the night before he died.