Re: Midnight Rider

This clip sums up why talent cannot remain hidden forever. It’s simple, profound, touching, and deeply human…

Olivier Chastan

1

You could never know this guy. He was too laid back, too cool, and back then there was no access.

Even more you wanted to BE this guy. Cool with charisma. You were a mirror star, but in truth you were nothing special, nobody noticed you, you lived in your own world where the music completed you, it was the only thing that understood you.

They don’t make ’em like this anymore. Musicians.

That’s what they say they are, but most are not.

Today not only do you believe in brand extensions, oftentimes you can neither play nor write. You’re a construct for cash, a monetary effort.

But once upon a time, it was different.

We tingled. Because there was no personal access, just to be in the room with these cats was a peak experience.

Used to be there came a point where you decided whether you were going to go pro or stay in school, get a day job. And if you took the road less traveled, it was not easy. Sure, you’d eventually cut and shop a demo, but that was after years of paying dues.

So if you were a musician… You’d already spent years learning your instrument, not that you did not continue to practice. If you were lucky you had enough of a rep that you could go on the road. In a van, or like the Allmans, a Winnebago. You got high and played your heart out on stage. Trying to win over mostly people who did not know you, never mind the material.

And if you did it enough, maybe you broke through.

You’ve got to know the musicians of yore were different from those of today. Because they were making it up as they went along. That picture in “Rolling Stone” of Duane Allman’s guitars belted into the seat next to him on the plane… It wasn’t like you could buy a manual, even go to Guitar Center, you worked things out through trial and error. And when you broke through the devotion of the fans…

Was not like being a Swiftie. Or a K-Pop fan.

It was the way the music made you feel. And when you went to see the band live it was just the band, no tapes, the sound they made on stage was all you got. And the Allmans were legendary because of the sound they made, but unlike today’s acts they neither demanded to make it immediately nor did they achieve this status. It took a while for the audience to catch up with them, for word of mouth to spread.

2

The come and go blues… I’ve experienced them.

You’ve gotten beyond crush status. You actually know them. You’ve gone places together, but they’re still going places with other people. They’re fully present when they’re here, but they’re not always here, what do you do?

LISTEN TO A RECORD!

“People say that you’re no good

But I wouldn’t cut you loose, baby, if I could”

There might have been a few women at my high school who were no good, but in the suburbs everything was truly average, safe. But these musicians…they were involved with a whole ‘nother level of person, one unavailable to us, one we could only dream of.

And the musicians were in a completely different category from the actors. Because the musicians WERE their songs. They wrote ’em and played ’em from their heart.

“Well I seem to stay down on the ground

Baby I’m too far gone to turn around”

But when you’re infatuated, they’re all you can think about. Everybody tells you to move on, you might even acknowledge their truth, but you just can’t.

“Oh, if only you would make up your mind

Take me where you go, you’re leaving me behind”

You want to have an honest discussion. But you’re afraid of falling flat, professing your love and finding out they don’t see you that way, that you’re just a “friend”… And then you run away and avoid them in the future.

“Lord, you got those come and go blues”

I’ve had ’em in high school, I’ve had ’em as an adult, and I wish I could give you some advice, but I can’t, it’s a private hell.

3

Now “Eat a Peach” was a huge seller, but it didn’t have the feel of a breakthrough, it was more of a holding pattern. One studio disc, one live disc. Another double album. It seemed like a continuation of “Fillmore East,” then again the band had been through a tragedy. Duane couldn’t be replaced, and they didn’t. “Eat a Peach” was everywhere, the studio cuts had impact, but mostly it was people who were already fans.

And then came “Brothers and Sisters.”

It was all new studio work. The fans ate it up immediately.

But “Ramblin’ Man” crossed over to AM, when that was still a thing, and the Allmans had never done this before. Which mean that a whole lot of people bought an Allman Brothers album who never had before. The Allman Brothers, as big as they had been, were no longer just owned by those who’d been with them through thick and thin, but EVERYBODY!

And when you dropped the needle on “Brothers and Sisters” you heard a statement, “Wasted Words” was in your face, the band was a freight train, firing on all cylinders. This was not “Ain’t Wastin’ Time No More,” the opener on “Eat a Peach.”

“Ain’t Wastin’ Time No More” started with a piano, it was slow, in a groove, there was gravitas, there was meaning. This was the “Idlewild South” sound, the trademark Gregg Allman number. 

But on “Wasted Words” Gregg was no longer reflective. He was up front, he was all in, he was back.

But he only had two originals on “Brothers and Sisters.”

And what happened to that magical, introspective sound that hooked us just as much as the twin guitar tears?

Well, once you finished with “Ramblin’ Man,” the second cut on the LP, you got a Gregg Allman classic, “Come and Go Blues.”

The piano was akin to a slide, taking you immediately into the water.

The guy singing this cut… He was experienced, unlike us, he was full of wisdom, and we couldn’t stop listening to him.

And the way he became more intense in the chorus, and the piano in that section, it was so infectious.

But “Come and Go Blues” was just an album track, I never heard anybody talk about it. And did I mention the dynamite piano playing in the breaks? Straight out of a roadhouse, where most of us had never been. We were waiting to live, and that’s all they’d been doing down south from the date of birth. They weren’t thinking long term, just about today. It wasn’t forever, just for now. And therefore the music had a completely different feel, we were outsiders, these were not New York bands, we just wanted to get closer, we wanted to live in this sound, this environment that was foreign but as American as apple pie.

4

People send me YouTube videos all the time. Spotify tracks too. If I just pay attention, I’ll get it, immediately. They love it, I should too.

But that’s not how it works. Most people have lousy taste, which they’re entitled to, but then there are those you can trust.

And you learn who they are.

Olivier Chastan has a history of sending me winners, and when he wrote the above e-mail, I checked out the clip.

It was so quiet. Gregg stopped to pull something from his teeth. He was completely comfortable with his instrument, it was a part of him, and then he sang as if he had no problem, as if this was really him, in an era where many stars can’t, sing. And those who can rarely write great songs.

But it’s when the camera focuses on Gregg’s face that it strikes you… Who is exactly is this guy? He definitely doesn’t seem safe. He’s the kind of guy you’d avoid in a bar, but the girls would flock to.

But he’s effortlessly playing this classic number. Not worried about matching the record, because the song is in him, he’s just letting it loose.

This is not the bedraggled Gregg Allman. This guy has some miles on him, but he’s fully alive, then again is he stoned?

And this organ player can pick those notes, play that guitar.

And the way he stops for just a second to tune his guitar…

This is the magic that infected us, that kept us going for decades, which is gone now.

First and foremost, there’s no mystery. Not only are you omnipresent, we know everything about you. Charisma is nearly impossible to maintain.

And musicians are not the peak of society. They may be stars, they may be rich, but they’re not as rich as the techies and the bankers, they don’t influence the culture as much, they’re chasing as much as leading.

And Gregg Allman is leading in this clip almost effortlessly.

Where’d he go after this?

How long was he even there?

You don’t see hair and makeup, all the handlers. It’s just him.

And he’s playing a song better than almost everything in today’s hit parade. Acoustically, he don’t need no stinkin’ help.

It’s all in this clip.

And it’s all gone, that rock and Gregg himself.

But he’s so alive here.

It’s just like Gregg and his band feeding on the music of the Delta bluesmen.

These are our classics.