In Memory of Elizabeth Reed

“Who is Elizabeth Reed?” She’s more than just inspiration for a song title is my most popular post at Long Live the ABB.¹

The entire “In Memory of Elizabeth Reed” tale is straight from Southern Gothic central casting.

A widow of a Confederate veteran, Elizabeth Jones Reed Napier married into a family that became one of the largest donors to the rebel cause. She is buried at Rose Hill Cemetery, where the Allman Brothers found inspiration and where Dickey Betts and Carmella Scaggs (Boz’s wife) met for trysts.

It’s one of the finest songs in the Allman Brothers Band’s canon, and Dickey Betts’s signature instrumental, from a guy who’s penned a slew of them.

What makes “In Memory of Elizabeth Reed” an Allman Brothers classic? It’s jazz influenced and carries elements of classical music. It’s a blues. It’s psychedelic. It’s different than anything anyone was doing at that point. “Elizabeth Reed” is also an evolution in songcraft. On Eat a Peach, they're writing completely original stuff: “Melissa,” “Ain’t Wastin’ Time No More,” “Les Brers in A Minor,” “Stand Back,” “Blue Sky,” “Little Martha.” It’s a pretty astounding leap on the songwriting front in two years.

Lagniappe

I’m a huge fan of “In Memory of Elizabeth Reed” from At Fillmore East. It’s ABBsolutely perfect in every way: from Duane’s introduction, to Dickey’s intro —the soloing, the comping, the dynamics, the energy, the crowd, and the sound….the glorious sound Tom Dowd coaxed out of the room itself. It is by far my favorite version of the song, one I never tire of.

I have a few other favorites, including this one recorded six months after At Fillmore East: “In Memory of Elizabeth Reed” 9/19/71 SUNY Stony Brook.² (I also chose it because it’s got artwork from my dude Brett Underhill/Porkchop Bob Studio, whose work I really dig.)

Thanks for being here y’all.

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1. By FAR. To date, it’s got 23,000 views in just shy of 3 years. When you add the redux I published on Elizabeth Reed’s 100th birthday, close to 30,000 folks have seen the essay. I’m quite proud of that.

2. Also the show with the greatest “Dreams” that I’ve ever heard.

The “Dreams to End All Dreams”

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Jimmy Carter in an Allman Brothers July 4 weekend 1976.

Ad for Allman Brothers Band’s March 1971 run at Fillmore East. (Original ad below, w/Johnny Winter at the top of the bill.)