NYS Music 20​17

Tag: Gregg Allman

  • Mountain Jamming: 2017 Peach Music Festival Preview

    It is not unusual in this day and age for a band to have it’s own festival. It is however, unusual, for a band’s festival to outlast the band itself. The Peach Music Festival, running August 10-13, 2017 was started by the Allman Brothers Band back in 2012. The band broke up for good a little more than two years later, but the festival lived on, featuring various off-shoots and solo projects of the band each year. 2017 has seen the untimely deaths of founding members Gregg Allman and Butch Trucks.

    But the festival lives on. It will again host performances from Allman-related bands, including Gov’t Mule (joined by guitarist John Scofield and other unnamed guests), Jaimoe’s Jasssz Band, and the final performance of Les Brers. More importantly, will be the special, not-to-be-missed Peach Tribute to Gregg Allman and Butch Trucks, which will feature Chuck Leavell, Jaimoe, Oteil Burbridge Marc Quiñones, Duane Trucks, Devon Allman and many more family and friends.

    “Caterpillar sheds his skin to find a butterfly within…”

    Gregg and Butch, Berry Oakley and Duane Allman, and the Allman Brothers Band, will live on in the spirit of the Peach Music Festival. The bands invited this year will surely keep it very much alive. A who’s who of the world of jam, it is a lineup that is tough to top in a summer crowded full with festival goodness. The headliners Thursday through Sunday read like a 2017 jam band All-Star team: Joe Russo’s Almost Dead reinvigorate the music from the king of jam bands on Thursday night, My Morning Jacket will set the mountain ablaze with their rock torches Friday night, and southern jam titans Widespread Panic sneak their limited tour north of the Mason-Dixon line for shows on both Saturday and Sunday nights.

    Slip just below the top line and the names don’t get much smaller, with Mike Gordon fresh off Phish’s Baker’s Dozen run at the Garden, blues-guitar phenom Joe Bonamassa, and progressive jammers Umphrey’s McGee joining the ranks of the aforementioned Allman-related artists.

    The rest of the lineup is buoyed by smaller but well-established bands like Galactic, Steve Kimock, Greensky Bluegrass, Lettuce, The New Mastersounds, Keller Williams, as well as new rising stars like Aqueous, Cabinet, Spafford, The Record Company and Pigeons Playing Ping Pong. At no point does this lineup’s bottom fall out however, it remains solid to the last dot.

    “First there is a mountain, then there is no mountain, then there is…”

    The Peach Music Festival will once again be held on Montage Mountain in Scranton, PA. Not only is it a naturally beautiful location, but it also includes a full and accessible water park with rides, slides and a lazy river. This is no ordinary waterpark, it comes equipped with a custom live music soundtrack running throughout the entire day of course! The mountain also includes a full restaurant, bar, and bathrooms, in addition to the usual festival fare.

    Once you bite into this Peach, the sweet juices will be flowing all weekend, but that large Allman Brother pit from which it grew, will continue to hold it all together. For daily or weekend passes, and all the information you’ll need to prepare for your time at the fest, visit the official festival site at thepeachmusicfestival.com. See you on the mountain, jamming!

  • Photo Recap: Summer Camp Music Festival 2017

    Summer Camp 2017 was another fantastic year in the Midwest festival’s history. Amid powerhouse sets from hosts Umphrey’s McGee and moe., and alongside memorable performances from Trey Anastasio Band, Pretty Lights Live, Gov’t Mule, Turkuaz, TAUK, The Disco Biscuits and dozens more artists from across the country.

    Tributes to Gregg Allman, who passed away on the third day of the festival, poured out almost immediately, with Eric Krasno Band, Flaccid and Gov’t Mule all covering “Whipping Post” within hours of his death. Trey Anastasio Band followed suit the next day by covering “Midnight Rider,” just a small sampling of the immense influence and praise Greg Allman earned from nearly 50 years of performing. Watch Gov’t Mule’s star-studded tribute:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVt8ni18N50

    Buffalo’s Aqueous played three sets over the weekend, each one drawing a larger crowd than the last as they finally moved from the Camping Stage to the Starshine Stage. The following Aqueous has developed over the past decade is a testament to the band’s work ethic and connection with fans as far back as performances at Nietzsche’s. They welcomed moe.’s Vinnie Amico and Joel Cummins of Umphrey’s McGee to the stage for a cover of Steely Dan’s “Kid Charlemagne,” putting an exclamation point on their breakout weekend.

    Lettuce alums Break Science and Eric Krasno Band stepped out on their own for well received performances, as did Brooklyn’s Turkuaz, who blew the crowd away at the Campfire Stage late Saturday night with a powerhouse set, putting them head and shoulders above others in the funk world. Wild Adriatic and Intrepid Travelers performed at the Camping Stage, a stepping stone for the many rising bands that Upstate New York produces. Both bands dropped spirited covers to the Camping audience, with Wild Adriatic covering Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs” and Intrepid Travelers paying homage to Prince with “Electric Avenue.”

    Of course moe. performed five sets throughout the weekend, with one set being rained out on Friday afternoon. Their late night performance in the Red Barn with Everyone Orchestra was full improv, and a treat for all ticket holders. moe. later brought up Turkuaz horns for “Ophelia” and “Happy Hour Hero” and bringing a jaw-dropping opener “Battle Without Honor Or Humanity” from Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill and was part of moe.’s Halloween performance last year. Turkuaz later came out in full for “Life During Wartime” in a show that featured a giant “Meat” sandwich of the entire second set on Saturday. Sunday’s performance closed out with pure moe. start to finish, including a “Chromatic Nightmare” sandwich of the second set and “Opium” featuring Allie Kral of Yonder Mountain String Band on fiddle.

  • Gregg Allman, Dead at 69

    Founding member of the Allman Brothers Band, Gregg Allman has passed at the age of 69, according to his official website. A statement on the site said the following:

    It is with deep sadness that we announce that Gregg Allman, a founding member of The Allman Brothers Band, passed away peacefully at his home in Savannah, Georgia.

    Gregg struggled with many health issues over the past several years. During that time, Gregg considered being on the road playing music with his brothers and solo band for his beloved fans, essential medicine for his soul. Playing music lifted him up and kept him going during the toughest of times.

    Gregg’s long time manager and close friend, Michael Lehman said, “I have lost a dear friend and the world has lost a brilliant pioneer in music. He was a kind and gentle soul with the best laugh I ever heard. His love for his family and bandmates was passionate as was the love he had for his extraordinary fans. Gregg was an incredible partner and an even better friend. We will all miss him.”

    Gregg is survived by his wife, Shannon Allman, his children, Devon, Elijah Blue, Delilah Island Kurtom and Layla Brooklyn Allman; 3 grandchildren, his niece, Galadrielle Allman, lifelong friend Chank Middleton, and a large extended family. The family will release a statement soon, but for now ask for privacy during this very difficult time.

    Rumors had swirled for weeks that Allman had entered hospice care, only to be debunked by Allman himself in a statement on Facebook

    gregg allmanAllman and his brother Duane, who died in a motorcycle accident in 1971, formed the Allman Brothers Band in 1969. The band quickly became an influential member of the burgeoning improv scene, performing at the now legendary Summer Jam show at the Watkins Glen race track on July 28, 1973, along with the Grateful Dead and the Band in 1973. The show, which received the Guinness Book of World Records honor of “Largest Audience at a Pop Festival,” drew upwards of 600,000 fans.

    The band’s breakthrough album, At Fillmore East, featuring extended versions of “In Memory of Elizabeth Reed” and “Whipping Post,” put the Allmans on the musical map. Fillmore is, to this day, considered one of the best live albums ever produced.

    Allman began his career on guitar but his brother Duane’s talent on guitar eventually resulted in Allman settling as keyboardist for his namesake band, setting the stage for his near 50 year career in the recording industry.

    Allman married Cher in 1975. Together they had a son, Elijah Blue Allman. Allman was recording solo at this point and recorded an album with Cher, Two the Hard Way that was met with scorn from the press. The ensuing tour created friction between Cher fans and Allman fans, resulting in Cher cancelling the tour.

    In 1987, Allman reached a renaissance with his solo album I’m No Angel. The title track reached number one on the Billboard charts and signaled a resurgence for the musician.

    Allman’s chemical dependency, resulting in a 2010 liver transplant never truly weaned. He commented on it in an interview with Stuff Magazine in 2011:

    “my generation…we were all just such heavy drug takers. We didn’t know no different. We didn’t know no other way. It was what we did. And that’s going to come back and hit ya – and it got me. But I’ve been clean a while now, I quit it all – finally – 16 years ago, thank god.

    The Allman Brothers Band regularly performed an annual run of shows at the Beacon in New York, a run that concluded in 2014 after 238 sellouts. Allman had been scheduled to perform with ZZ Top on tour last year but pulled out due to health reasons. He had been working on his first solo album since the Allman Brothers’ retirement with producer Don Was.