Greetings from Nashville and welcome back to Long Live the ABB: Conversation from the crossroads of Southern music, history, and culture.
Today’s post is brought to you by the Allman Brothers Band’s Dreams box set and one of my all-time favorite photographs of the original band, taken 1/27/70 at the Grand Canyon.
I love this photograph
This photo was on the first page of the booklet that came with the Dreams box set—a killer historical overview of the band that spurred my interest in the band’s history.
I’ve had this on my wall for close to 30 years now. It’s a magazine ad (not a poster) I bought on ebay. I’ve had it reframed at least twice.
Dreams (I’ll Never See)
Traveling the nation as an integrated band of hippies was a hard road, something I talk about a bit here (I have it queued to my main point).
I’m not sure if it’s the photograph itself, the accompanying text (see below), the name of the box set, or the song itself, but his photo has always evoked “Dreams” to me.
And specifically, it’s this version I think of when I see the photograph: “Dreams” 4/4/70 Ludlow Garage.1
The photo captures both the despair of the first verse
Went up on the mountain,
to see what I could see.
The whole world was falling,
right down in front of me.
and the resolve of the second
Pull myself together,
put on a new face.
Climb down off that hilltop,
get back in the race.”
The Backstory
Twiggs Lyndon, the ABB’s first road manager, snapped the photo on January 27, 1970.2
The band was on its way home to Macon from California.
Twiggs was quite the character. He had served as road manager for Little Richard, where he met Jimi Hendrix, and R&B stars, where he met Jaimoe well before they signed on with the Allman Brothers Band.
Twiggs was also an incredible photographer.
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