man”? Scott Sharrard: When I joined the band, it was called Gregg Allman and Friends and a lot of that had to do with the fact that we had some people like his mentor Floyd Miles in the band at the time, and Floyd would sing a couple songs. Jerry Jemmott and Bruce Katz were in there, who are legends in their own right. When I first joined the band, I was so intimidated, because it was like a collection of my heroes. It wasn't just Gregg, Jerry, Bruce, Steve Potts, Floyd. I bought all these records that these guys played on, when I was a kid. Then it became the Gregg Allman Band. I don't know why the records weren't called the Gregg Allman Band, because he cer- tainly told us that he wanted it that way. That all comes down to marketing.


Chank Middleton: With Gregg we put the right band together. That was the that was the key to everything. We put the right band together. This was the cream of the crop. Both of us felt the same way about it. With this band we were going to go far. But his life just didn’t last that long for him to see. Who knows what it really would have come to, with the horn section and everything. We had a lot of fun doing it, we love the people, but you think back to the 70s when the Brothers were playing stadiums and huge festivals. That just disappeared with time. When you look at it, there’s very few bands that have longevity. If Duane had still been alive the whole while, the Rolling Stones would have been the second-best band in the world man, the Allman Brothers would have been the best! And Chuck Leavell played with both of them… His personality, and his playing, you can’t beat him. With Gregg, he never really cared about money, he just cared about the music. But I think he really would have enjoyed for the Gregg Allman Band to play Carnegie Hall and sell it out. That would have been sweet


Brennan Carley: There were changes in the band over the 9 years you were there. How did how did that change the band? Scott Sharrard: Vibe is the right word. He was looking for the right vibe in the band. Brett [Bass] was the perfect bass player for Gregg. He


was also the guy who gelled the best in the rhythm section. It's not a slight to anybody else in any way. His style was the style we needed. That was the first thing Gregg said when we when we finished our first gig when Brent Bass came in. He flew in to a gig, some casino gig, no rehearsal, one half hour soundcheck and played a 90-minute show with us. There was no audi- tion, there was no rehearsal, there was nothing. And he memorized everything. He memorized the whole book. We got to the end of the gig, and Gregg pulled me aside and he goes “this is the guy. We have the perfect band.” Unfortunately, that was after we recorded the last two albums. I think we were operating at 90% on those other records, but night to night, it would fluctuate. When Brett was there, we were at 100% every time. Unfortunately, Gregg was starting to really slow down. But with Brett, there was the level of flexibility and sensitivity to his condition. The band still being able to swing no matter what tempo or what was going on.


Chank Middleton: Scott (Sharrard) has been with the band about 8 or 9 years. It was a process seeing him grow throughout those years, his playing and everything, everything changed. His plan just got totally incredible, it really did. Scott’s a good player, he’s a damn good guitar player.


Brennan Carley: Except for occasionally, like when they had the Asbury Jukes horn section sit in, the Brothers didn't have a horn section. Why did why did Gregg want a horn section for his band, and how did that change the music? Chank Middleton: Greggory really cut his teeth on black R&B bands. Jackie Wilson was his fa- vorite musician in the world. I always thought Sam Cooke was the best, but Gregg always went with Jackie Wilson. A lot of the black bands, if they didn’t have horns in the band, they had horns in the studio, and he liked that. Back in the ‘70s he tried to get the Brothers to hire a horn section. They wouldn't do it, and he got upset about it. What he started doing every time he formed a solo band was to have horns in it. He had Jay Collins for some years, just Jay play-


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