the Chech's gained their independence- 102,000 at that show. Club dates with the Stones. Moscow with the Stones. Touring with the Fabulous Thunderbirds. Eric Clapton sitting in with the Stones at Shea Stadium doing "Little Red Rooster" on the American "Steel Wheels" tour. 24 Nights at the Royal Albert Hall in London with Eric Clapton. "Un- plugged" with Eric, especially playing "Old Love." Touring Japan with George Harrison, playing all those great tunes, like "While My Guitar Gently Weeps." Doing the Chuck Berry movie, "Hail, Hail Rock and Roll." Playing with Ray Charles, Little Richard, B.B. King, Jerry Lee Lewis and others in Italy for a live TV show. Playing with Rod Stewart, Steve Winwood, Seal, Robert Palmer, Chaka Kahn, Mary J Blidge, Toni Braxton, and more at Wembly Stadium in London for a live broad- cast just three years ago. There are many, many other fantastic memories, but those stand out at the moment.
Let's touch on The Allman Brothers Band. Probably my all-time favorite group. "Jessica" has become such a classic. How many takes, or how long did it take to get that incredible piano part down? Well, thanks. And thanks to Dickey Betts for writing that piece. It's been berry, berry good to me! As I recall, Dickey first played it to us on acoustic guitar. We sort of toyed with it at first, just getting comfortable with the changes and getting the harmony parts be- tween the guitar, piano and organ. Then we ran through it like, once a night for a few nights in a row until we felt confident about all the twists and turns, and slowly develop- ing some of the transitions that occurred. I don't know how many takes it was, but not many after we really learned the song. I'd guess three or four. There may be an edit in there between takes, I can't really remember, but Johnny Sandlin could probably answer that. As far as the piano part, it just came...I
tried not to think about it, not to "organize" a part, other than to learn the harmony and the other necessary parts. I was just trying to keep up with those guys, and the notes I played on the solo just fell off my fingers. The solo just sort of played itself. It felt very natu- ral, and I was just thrilled to have a song like that with a strong role for my instrument.
What was it like for you during those Allman days? How much space do you have for this inter- view?! To give you a feel for where I was com- ing from, I had just turned 20 years old. I had what I think was pretty good experience and maturity for that age, and really wanted to be in a good band. I mean a really good band. I wanted a gig with a band like that sooo bad, guys that could really play, and that had something different and special. But it came totally out of left field to be asked to come into the Allmans. As you know, they had gone out as a five- piece band for a while after Duane's tragic accident. I was with Alex Tay- lor, and shortly after that, Dr. John at the time, and both bands opened up for them quite a bit. We were all so impressed that they went out as a five-
piece.That took a lot of guts. Well, they had finished "Eat A Peach," and had done some dates, and I think they were trying to sort out their future. Gregg was to do a solo album, and Johnny Sandlin called
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