was right. Then I’d say, ‘Get on over there. Go on now!’ I’d help him pick his spots where he could zip in there and get his interviews, where he’d actually get something. Instead of going over there and something else is on their mind and they just give you little nibbles. My man just paid me back. He threw me a bone. When he called me and told me he was put- ting me in it, he said ‘We’re gonna get you in the rock and roll hall of fame.’ Man, he blew me away with what he said about my book. I knew I had done something when he said what he did. and I know he wouldn’t just blow smoke. I knew I had done something good.
I read in the book that you knew Janis Joplin. What was she like? I thought that she was a sweetheart. She was like Duane. She was up front. When you talked to her, you didn’t get any bull, you got straight conversation. She was into the people. She was into doing free concerts. She was just a rowdy ol’ mama that sang the blues and loved it, and lived it. And the trouble is, she wouldn’t make it today. They have disoriented the kids, pumping all that bass and everything. And rap. They think that’s singing. That ain’t singing.
Was Duane the unspoken band leader of the Allmans? Without a doubt he was the leader. What he said went. Everybody respected Duane. If Duane said ‘we’re leavin’ here right now,’ we were leavin.’ That’s what made the band so good was that everybody respected his opinion. But Oak was the underlying force. Berry Oak- ley. Oak did most of the talking. At meetings and stuff Oak did the rapping. When we’d go into a meeting, Berry would bring up the ques- tions. Like I said in the book, one time Phil said to Duane, “Do I have to meet with the roadies?” Duane told him, “This is the band.” And in the book I was talking about the gold record deal, where Dixie said she wanted it, and Duane told her ‘You didn’t earn it.” A guys tells you some- thing like that right in front of his old lady, that’s something. These days that doesn’t hap- pen anymore. Sometimes you wonder if people
appreciate what you do. It’s all business now. You can be replaced tomorrow. The road crew changes constantly. I’m the only original crew man left.
Back to your book for a minute. The book is as much a must for an Allman fan as the Fillmore East album, I think. The book and the music go hand in hand. You can almost tell by the drug what the time period was. The first album was a lot of psychedelics. Second album was speed and downers. of course there was always pot involved. And the Fillmore East of course was just pure heroin. On the nod. Here the best, high energy album recorded is on heroin. That’s pretty wild. But of course, when you do heroin, you get kind of pumped up for the first couple of hours before it settles in on you. That is when you’re first starting to do it. After a few years that changes. This was during our early heroin use. We weren’t really bad junkies at that time. We were just users.
How long were you into heroin? I gave it up about ‘73. I’m brain dead on that. Sometimes I can remember, sometimes I can’t.
When they write the definitive book of Southern rock and roll- how would you like to be remembered? By my book. (Laughs) Duane had a saying that he he wanted to just leave a mark that he had been here. Hopefully with my book I have put a scratch on that tree of life. •
Our friend Red Dog passed away on February 21, 2011 -Michael Buffalo Smith
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