When Jaimoe & Duane met
Jai Johanny in his own words
This is one of my favorite stories in Allman Brothers lore: how Jaimoe came to meet Duane Allman.
Some quick backstory
Jaimoe was in Macon to join a house band Phil Walden was assembling. The invite came because the drummer had befriended Twiggs Lyndon on the R&B circuit. Walden’s dreams of a studio rhythm section a-la Rick Hall’s FAME Gang ended when he bought Duane’s contract from Hall. All of his efforts went towards Duane and his band.
“I had played on a songwriting demo of songs written by my friend Jackie Avery, and he got them to Duane to consider,” Jaimoe said.
Avery: “He listened to the whole thing…and all he asked was, ‘Who’s the drummer?’1 I went back to Georgia and Jai was playing at some roadhouse in the woods with [blues guitarist] Eddie Kirkland2 and I told him that I thought he should get over to Muscle Shoals, that I thought this guy was going to be something.”3
Jaimoe heads to northwest Alabama4
“I get this call from Jackie Avery.
‘Man, I’ve been trying to get in touch with you. Phil wants to know if you want to go down to Muscle Shoals to play in Duane Allman’s band.’
And I said, ‘I don’t know, man. I’m getting ready to go to New York. Because I’m starving to death not working. And since I love jazz music and I’m starving, I figured I might as well go to New York, play jazz, do what I wanna do.’
And Avery said, ‘Jai you should go down, talk to Duane Allman, stay a couple of days and y’all play or whatever. And then if you want to go to New York, then go ahead.’
He said, ‘Jai, I ain’t never seen nobody play guitar like this. This guy, he’s a skinny little white boy with stringy hair and he’s a hippie. I ain’t never heard nobody play guitar like that.’
And I’m going, ‘You ain’t never heard nobody play guitar like that?!’ Shit, Avery has heard everybody...you name it and he’s heard ‘em.
So I got on the bus and I went down there. I get in there about 6 or 7 o’clock in the morning. I get a taxi, put my drums in the car. I go over to FAME.
‘Hey man, I’m looking for Skyman.’5
‘He’s in that other studio over there.’
So I go in. There are two or three people stumbling around in there.
And there’s this little guy standing over there messing with his amplifier. I looked at him and said, ‘That’s gotta be Skyman!’
So I walk over to this table where he’s got his guitar amp. And I said, ‘Hey man, are you Skyman, Duane Allman?’
And he looked at me and he goes, ‘You’re Jai Johanny Johanson.’
That was it.”
More on Jaimoe
An excerpt from Play All Night! Duane Allman and the Journey to Fillmore East
Lagniappes
Duane Allman "Dimples" from FAME Studios, Muscle Shoals solo sessions.6
We 3 “Left Turn” Jaimoe with Lamar Williams and Chuck Leavell just before they formed Sea Level.
Is there any greater line than this? Duane listening to a demo and homing in on the drummer, soon to be his drummer?
Otis Redding’s guitarist.
Source: Alan Paul, One Way Out, 13-14.
Jaimoe Johanson, Mississippi Moments, Center for Oral History and Cultural Heritage, University of Southern Mississippi, 2012.
“Skyman” merged with “Dog,” Duane's other nickname, into “Skydog.”
Jaimoe did not play on this, drummer is Johnny Sandlin.