Remembering Duane Allman With Rare Footage From 1970

The Allman Brothers Band’s illustrious career came to a close two years ago last night in New York City, where the group paid plenty of tributes to founding member Duane Allman. The show ended around 1:30 a.m. in the morning, which happened to be the 43rd anniversary of Duane’s death. While there’s not much footage of Duane on YouTube, the clips that do exist show off just how inventive of a guitarist Skydog was.

One of the oldest The Allman Brothers Band videos on YouTube contains 30 professionally-shot, blistering minutes of “Mountain Jam” from the “Woodstock of the South,” The Love Valley Festival in North Carolina on July 17, 1970. Duane puts on a clinic from the moment his fingers touch his famed 1957 goldtop Les Paul through the end of the half- hour jam session.

Apparently the promoters of the festival commissioned a documentary about the event in similar fashion to the Woodstock movie but budgetary restraints meant that they could only afford to film part of each band’s set. Thankfully this “Mountain Jam” was among the songs they decided to film. Duane’s signature tone and vicious attack were on full display throughout the 30-minute segment that even includes a little “Will The Circle Be Unbroken” jam. Then there’s Skydog’s slide work – it’s just ridiculously good. Hopefully video with upgraded audio surfaces at some point, but for now this will do:

Portions of “Whipping Post” also circulate:

As a bonus, watch the only pro-shot footage to surface of The Allman Brothers Band performing at NYC’s fabled Fillmore East:

Tracks: Don’t Keep Me Wonderin’, Dreams, Whipping Post