Gregg Allman On Stage Solo & As Guest Spotify Playlist

Veteran musician Gregg Allman last weekend returned to the live stage after a recent illness forced him to cancel a number of concerts. The namesake co-founding member of The Allman Brothers Band performed an acoustic set at Red Rocks with guitarist Scott Sharrard as part of his Laid Back Festival series of concerts and he has a number of solo shows on the horizon including a November residency at City Winery in New York City.

This week’s installment of Saturday Stream focuses attention on Allman’s live recordings outside of The Allman Bros. Two live releases make up the bulk of the Spotify Playlist – 1974’s The Gregg Allman Tour and 2015’s Gregg Allman Live: Back to Macon, GA .

The first album was recorded during concerts held in 1974 at Carnegie Hall in New York City and at The Capitol Theatre in Passaic, New Jersey. Keyboardist Chuck Leavell appears on the album, along with drummers Bill Stewart and Johnny Lee Johnson and members of the backing band Cowboy including guitarist Tommy Talton. Allman’s original “Queen Of Hearts” and his ABB favorite “Dreams” can be found alongside such well-known covers as “Turn On Your Lovelight” and “Will The Circle Be Unbroken.”

The second album was recorded 40 years later at Gregg’s concert at the Grand Opera House in Macon, Georgia on January 14, 2014. Backed by guitarist/musical director Scott Sharrard, bassist Ron Johnson, keyboardist Ben Stivers, drummer Steve Potts, percussionist and Gregg’s ABB band mate Marc Quinones, trumpeter Dennis Marion and saxophonists Jay Collins and Art Edmaiston, Allman again mixed solo works with selections from his days with The Allman Brothers Band. Compare versions of “Queen Of Hearts” from the two live LPs, while also spinning such classics as “Midnight Rider,” “Whipping Post” and “Statesboro Blues.”

There are also a few live tracks culled from various records including a 1987 version of “Melissa” and a 1998 performance of Jackson Browne’s “These Days from his 2002 greatest hits LP No Stranger To The Dark. Allman can be heard alongside Gov’t Mule on the Dub Side Of The Mule deluxe edition of the live album from New Year’s Eve 2006 playing ABB hits and covering Bob Dylan and others. There’s also Gregg’s appearance at the Love For Levon concert honoring Levon Helm and his contribution to T Bone Burnett’s Speaking Clock Revue. Finally, the playlist ends with Allman sitting-in with Lynyrd Skynyrd on “Tuesday’s Gone.”