07_26_07_allman

“The best damn rock and roll band this country has produced!” – Rolling Stone

BUSHKILL, PA – Southern rock pioneers and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame members the Allman Brothers Band will perform at Mountain Laurel Center for the Performing Arts on Saturday, August 18 at 7:30 p.m., with former Grateful Dead guitarist Bob Weir and his band RatDog opening the show. Tickets, ranging from $45 to $65 for the pavilion, and only $25 for lawn seating, are on sale now via Ticketmaster at 570.693.4100, through Ticketmaster outlets, online at mountainlaurelcenter.com, or by visiting MLCPA’s on-site box office.

“The Allman Brothers Band led the way in establishing Southern roots-oriented rock as a major force in popular music,” said Richard Bryant, President and CEO of the center. “They crafted a new musical genre that fused blues, jazz, soul, R&B and rock ‘n’ roll, and helped make rock a vehicle for improvisation. Bob Weir, a Rock and Roll Hall of Famer himself as a member of the Grateful Dead, continues to forge new sounds with his band RatDog.”

A blues-rocking powerhouse from its very beginning in Macon, Georgia in 1969, the Allman Brothers Band was among the first rock ensembles with the level of technical and musical expertise to delve heavily into improvisation and “jamming.” Surviving ups and downs, several disbandings, and the deaths of two key members (Duane Allman, acclaimed as one of the greatest of all rock guitarists, in a motorcycle accident in 1971; and bassist Berry Oakley a year later, under eerily similar circumstances), the Allman Brothers Band persevered and found overwhelming artistic and commercial success even in the wake of their tragedies. Duane’s younger brother, keyboardist/vocalist Gregg Allman, along with guitarist/vocalist Dickie Betts, became the driving forces behind the band, which to date has nine gold albums, three of which have been certified platinum (one million copies sold): Live At Fillmore East, Eat a Peach and Brothers and Sisters.

The group’s marathon concerts, best captured on the classic The Allman Brothers Band At Fillmore East (1971), are the stuff of rock legend. Their success paved the way for other bands from the South, including Lynyrd Skynyrd, the Marshall Tucker Band, and the Charlie Daniels Band.

The group first formed in the early 1960s around the nucleus of Gregg and Duane Allman. Gregg initially taught and encouraged Duane to pick up the guitar, and Duane became so enamored of the instrument that he dropped out of school to master it. The brothers played in bands around Daytona Beach, Florida, as far back as 1961. They formed the Allman Joys in 1965, combining the Southern blues and soul influences that they’d grown up hearing with the with rocking new sounds of the British Invasion bands (especially the Yardbirds). Evolving into the Hourglass, the brothers and their bandmates recorded a pair of albums in Los Angeles for the Liberty label, one of which (Power of Love, 1968), foreshadowed the sound that would fully emerge with the Allman Brothers Band. Duane also worked as one of the hottest session musicians in L.A. – his blazing fretwork accompanied the likes of Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett and King Curtis in the late 1960s.

The group’s first two studio albums – The Allman Brothers Band (1970) and Idlewild South (1971) – contained classic songs like “Dreams,” “Whipping Post,” “Midnight Rider” and “Revival.” As a testimony to the Allman Brothers Band’s resilience, the group’s most commercially successful albums came in the wake of the tragic losses of Duane Allman and Berry Oakley. The double album Eat a Peach (1972), which included Duane’s last three studio performances, reached #4, and 1973’s Brothers and Sisters was #1 for five weeks. The Allman Brothers Band’s pinnacle of popularity came on July 28, 1973, when they performed on a bill with the Grateful Dead and The Band in Watkins Glen, New York, before 600,000 rock fans.

Beginning in the mid-1970s and throughout the ‘80s, group dissension led to repeated disbandings of the Allman Brothers Band. But in 1991, the most stable lineup in the band’s history finally crystallized – a septet comprising Gregg Allman, Dickey Betts, drummer Butch Trucks, drummer Jaimoe, guitarist Warren Haynes, bassist Allen Woody and percussionist Marc Quinones. The band released two of the most inspired studio albums of their entire career – Shades of Two Worlds and Where It All Begins – in the early ‘90s. In 1995, the group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and in 1996 they won their first Grammy Award: Best Rock Instrumental Performance for “Jessica.” Betts was forced out of the band in 2000 under acrimonious circumstances.

Since 2005, the Allman Brothers Band has staged its own two-day Wanee Music Festival in Live Oak, Florida, and the group’s beloved multi-night stands at Manhattan’s Beacon Theatre – known as “Beacon Runs” to devoted fans who fly in from around the world – have taken place more than 200 times since 1989.

Founding member of the Grateful Dead Bob Weir was born in San Francisco and began playing guitar at the age of 13. He met Jerry Garcia – then a young musician teaching banjo lessons at a Palo Alto music store – on New Year’s Eve 1963, and the rest, as they say, is history. Weir played rhythm guitar and sang a portion of the lead vocals throughout the Dead's 30-year career. In the late 1970s, he began to experiment with slide guitar, evolving a style of classic blues slide that remains his trademark to this day. He released his first solo album, Ace, in 1972, forming side bands and gigging around on his own while continuing to perform with the Grateful Dead. He formed RatDog in 1995, performing original songs as well as covers of hits by The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Chuck Berry and others. Weir has also participated in the various reformations of the Grateful Dead's members, including 1998, 2000 and 2002 stints as The Other Ones and in 2003 and 2004 as The Dead.

Mountain Laurel Center for the Performing Arts is a nonprofit performing arts center serving the Pocono Mountains and beyond. Its principal venue, the Tom Ridge Pavilion, offers 2,500 covered seats and room under the stars for thousands more on its comfortable lawn. MLCPA is dedicated to serving the region by providing world-class artists and entertainers through an ongoing series of performances and educational programming. For additional information about the Mountain Laurel Center, please call 570-426-2080 or visit mountainlaurelcenter.com.

For ticket prices, ordering, Harry’s Club membership and general information, the public can visit www.mountainlaurelcenter.com or call 570.426.2080.

Contact
CJ McKenna
Development Manager
Direct: 570.426.2080 x5007
Email: cmkenna@mlcpa.org
Mountain Laurel Center for the Performing Arts
Bushkill Falls Road P.O. Box 1233
Bushkill, PA 18324
Administration: 570.426.2080
Fax: 570.588.5211
mountainlaurelcenter.com