nalists he would talk to because I know what it is like to stand up on a stage and be exposed and vulnerable in front of a crowd of strangers who are judging every note you play.
Midnight Riders is a complex and pro- found biography, it clearly took a long time to develop and you obviously spent a lot of time with the band mem- bers. Can you tell us what it was like to relate to them and what kind of rela- tionship was created between you and the original members of the band? These are all guys I admired as a teenager, and their music helped me survive those angst-filled years. Those songs were such a balm for me, such good healing medicine. By the time I moved to Macon in 1983 to work at the newspaper there, the band had called it quits. Jaimoe and Chuck Leavell were the only band members still living in Macon. I met them and found them to be incredibly kind and gracious and open. In 1984, the paper assigned me to do a
five-part series on the Allman Brothers Band to mark the 15th anniversary of the group’s founding. I did extensive interviews with Gregg Allman, Dickey Betts, Jaimoe, Butch Trucks and Chuck Leavell. I was living in the New England area
when they reunited in 1989, and got to spend a lot of time with them on that tour. I remem- ber going to my first Allman Brothers concert in 1975. I was scanning the stage with my binoculars and saw Cher sitting near Gregg. I vividly remember thinking, “How cool that must be to sit on stage while they play!” And in 1989, there I was sitting on stage during their concerts. It was pretty amazing to be there, and to feel that kind of musical power at close range. When the band got back together in
1989, I realized there was book to be written and that I could write it. The band did not co-
operate with my book, and that created fric- tion in some of those relationships. But I also treasure my dealings with the original band members. I know Jaimoe and Chuck Leavell the
best because they were still in Macon when I was there. I became close friends with Jaimoe, and played in a band with him for about a year. I’ve had some great times with Chuck, who took me to meet Derek Trucks and hear him play when Derek was 12 or 13 -- his Gibson SG looked taller than Derek. Around Christmas in 1983 or 1984, I got a call from Chuck’s wife. He’d grown Christmas trees and was selling them at a roadside stand in Macon; she wondered if I’d write a story about it to help drum up business. At that point, Chuck had just done his first tour with The Rolling Stones. When I pulled up to his stand, he was packing up a tree to send to Keith Richards in New York City. I didn’t know Dickey or Butch as well,
but they were both very gracious in our en- counters. Dickey played at a club in Macon one night with his country band, and Jaimoe and I went. We walked up to Dickey’s tour bus when we got there. Jaimoe knocked on the door and when someone opened it, he said, “Tell Dickey that Jaimoe’s here.” They hadn’t seen one another since 1979, when the band fired Jaimoe -- an act that deeply stung him. We waited outside in the bitter cold for several minutes before we were finally invited inside. Jaimoe and Dickey sat at a little table, and it was awkward. A lot of strained silence and fidgeting and small talk. As Dickey performed, I could see
Jaimoe was aching to sit in. When the band took an intermission, I barged into the dress- ing room, walked up to Dickey and told him that he ought to bring up Jaimoe. “We don’t have any congas,” he replied. I shook my head and said, “He’s a drummer; he wants to play the drums. Bring him up. The crowd will go nuts.”
Dickey was non-committal but when he
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