The dude onstage with his hands above his head and clapping is Thom “Ace” Doucette, harmonica player and nominal seventh member of the original Allman Brothers Band.
Duane offered Doucette a permanent spot in the group. Thom turned them down; he did not want the hassle of being in a band. “Duane was interested in having me in the band full-time, but I didn’t really want to. We were close and it was a lot of fun.”
In 1970, he made his first appearance on record with “Don’t Keep Me Wonderin’” from Idlewild South. He appeared twice on At Fillmore East: “Done Somebody Wrong” and “You Don’t Love Me”—though his solo on “Stormy Monday” was cut for the album.
Ace was a magnificent fit with the Allman Brothers Band, which is obvious on At Fillmore East. Doucette and the band were well-rehearsed. “In February, we went to an island off the Georgia coast. We rented a crib and rehearsed for Fillmore and then went there and did the album.”
Ace was all over the sessions that weekend, including this smoking version of “DKMW” that first appeared on Duane Allman Anthology 1 (1972) and later on The Fillmore Concerts (1992).1
Thom “Ace” Doucette
Thom was more than just a player and part-time member of the group, he was a also a huge fan of the Allman Brothers Band. Their music was special to him, as was the time they played together.
The music was incredible. And you’d have a night where it was like, God, I cannot play. I’m just beat to shit. You drag yourself up there and see one or two other guys, they’re dragging, and you figure, “We’ll just try to get through this.”
Well, that fucking first chord would hit and forget it, man. It was like doing a fucking speed bomb.
And there would always be one guy in the band who would have a little extra pop that would push the next guy and he’d get some pop and it would start off a chain reaction.
I don’t know how many dates I did with those guys, I guess 100 or so. And I never heard them play even remotely bad ever. I’ve never played with anyone like that who did it every time. Not just musically correct, but energy and creativity every time.
You play with guys like that, you play stuff not only have you never played before, you never to play it before, and chances are you never heard it before, so you walk off that stage wondering, “Where in the fuck did that come from???”
You come off. Your feet are not touching the ground at all. You’re just completely floating, and everybody looks at each other and goes, “Yeah!” It was unbelievable.
Thom WAS NOT the seventh member Duane mentioned in an interview
In December 1970, Duane sat for an in-studio interview with WABC in New York City. He was more than a little drunk and dropped a bombshell.
We’ve just hired a seventh cat. I ain’t gonna talk about that now. That ain’t none of nobody’s business yet. Cause it might hurt the cat we hired you know. Because he’s got a little money coming from where he’s at and it might screw it all up, man. So I ain’t gonna do that out of respect to the cat. But he knows who he is….
I’m real enthusiastic about this new person we’ve hired, man. Obviously. Really, man. He is so hot, man. He is so good, man….
It’s getting to be a full orchestra. Full orchestra. That’s what I’m looking for, man. If I can find them right cats, man. I don’t care how many it is. It don’t matter how many you got doing it. It’s as long as they’re all doing it and all the pieces fit.2
That seventh member was not Doucette, but drummer/percussionist Bobby Caldwell, who was playing in Johnny Winter’s band.3 Duane didn’t let fly Caldwell’s name, and for years the conjecture was Duane was referring to Doucette. But Thom had already declined an invitation to join the Allman Brothers.
Ultimately, the band rejected Duane. Caldwell didn’t end up joining the Allman Brothers and instead founded Captain Beyond with Larry “Rhino” Reinhardt, former guitarist for Dickey and Berry’s band the Second Coming.4 Captain Beyond recorded a self-titled album for Capricorn Records in 1972 and Caldwell still tours with a version of the band.
Doucette stopped recording and touring with the Allman Brothers in the aftermath of Duane’s death. Beginning in the 1990s, he made appearances onstage and record with the band: on An Evening with the Allman Brothers Band First Set (1992) and Play All Night (2014) from a 1992 run at the Beacon Theatre. He was also in the lineup for the Atlanta Pop Festival July 3 and 5, 1970 released in 2003.
Lagniappe: Ace Doucette playlist
Tried to give y’all a few things you might not have heard in a while (if ever): eight different songs, thirteen versions.
YOUTUBE PLAYLIST
“Done Somebody Wrong” and “You Don’t Love Me” from At Fillmore East
Of course his two tracks on the ABB’s landmark album made the playlist.“Don’t Keep Me Wonderin’” Atlanta Pop Festival 7/5/70 and Fillmore East 9/23/70
I chose these two specifically because it’s some of the very scant video we have of the original band.“Trouble No More” Atlanta Pop Festival 7/3/70
Chose this one simply because it wasn’t DKMW, DSW, or YDLM 🍄. Atlanta Pop Festival was the largest audience Duane played in front of.“Don’t Keep Me Wonderin’” Fillmore East 3/13/71 early show and Idlewild South
This live take is a longtime favorite. And the playlist is incomplete without Doucette’s only studio appearance with the Brothers.“Stormy Monday” The Fillmore Concerts and The 1971 Fillmore East Sessions
Here’s the full version, with Thom’s harp solo restored in all its glory.“Get on with Your Life” and “Southbound” from First Set
“Get on with Your Life” is a gorgeous (and overlooked) Gregg original slow blues in the “Stormy Monday” vein. And y’all know “Southbound” from Brothers and Sisters,5 this version is slightly different than that, and with Dickey on vocals.“You Don’t Love Me” and “Statesboro Blues” Play All Night (1992) and “You Don’t Love Me” Beacon Theatre 3/22/03
These tracks give a sense of Doucette’s presence with the band in the latter half of its career.
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Which also included the full version of “Stormy Monday,” Ace’s harp solo and all. More on the various versions of At Fillmore East, including The Fillmore Concerts, here.
Doucette and Jaimoe each said Duane would’ve continued expanding the band had he lived. I’m convinced he had in mind what Derek Trucks has created with Tedeschi Trucks Band—though with a different flavor, of course.
For a sense of what Duane envisioned, listen to Caldwell’s sit-ins on “In Memory of Elizabeth Reed” during the At Fillmore East sessions.
Leaving yet another circle unbroken. A later lineup of Captain Beyond included Reese Wynans, who played keys in the Second Coming and was at the jam that birthed the Allman Brothers Band March 23, 1969. He also played keys for the Brothers at Madison Square Garden gigs in 2020 and 2025.
