The Allman Brothers song that Gregg Allman wrote for Duane Allman
It was a devastating loss beyond comprehension: just three months after the release of the breakthrough live LP, The Allman Brothers Band lost one of their titular figures when guitarist and bandleader Duane Allman was killed in a motorcycle accident. He was just 24 years old. To most, it would seem illogical to continue The Allman Brothers with just one Allman brother.
But under the renewed drive of Gregg Allman, plus the creative stepping-up of guitarist and vocalist Dickey Betts, The Allman Brothers Band somehow remained intact. Not only did they survive, but the band actually managed to get bigger after Duane’s death. The final album that Allman contributed to, Eat a Peach, was finished and released just four months after Duane was killed.
The album was filled with tributes to the departed guitarist. His guitar work on the live cuts ‘Mountain Jam’, ‘One Way Out’, and ‘Trouble No More’ were some of the album’s most potent highlights. On the studio side, Gregg Allman finally completed a cut that had been in progress for nearly half a decade, ‘Melissa’. The track was a favourite of Duane’s, and once he was the sole Allman Brother left, Gregg decided to include the song on Eat a Peach as a subtle nod to his departed sibling.
In terms of direct tributes, Allman also penned ‘Ain’t Wastin’ Time No More’ as a thank-you to his brother for laying down the tracks that The Allman Brothers were still riding as a band. Although parts of the track also refer to the instability caused by the Vietnam War, the majority of ‘Ain’t Wastin’ Time No More’ concerns Gregg’s new resolve to keep The Allman Brothers going in his brother’s memory.
“After my brother’s accident, we had three vinyl sides done of Peach, so I thought well we’ll do that, and then on the way down there I wrote ‘Ain’t Wastin’ Time No More’. I wrote that for my brother,” Allman explained. “We were all in pretty bad shape. I had just gotten back from Jamaica and I was weighing at about 156, 6-foot-1-and-a-half – I was pretty skinny. So we went back down there, got in the studio and finished the record. And the damn thing shipped gold.”
The album’s title came from a quote that Duane Allman was fond of saying. Just before his death, Allman explained the meaning of the phrase to writer Ellen Mandel. “I’m hitting a lick for peace—and every time I’m in Georgia, I eat a peach for peace,” Allman said. “But you can’t help the revolution, because there’s just evolution. I understand the need for a lot of changes in the country, but I believe that as soon as everybody can just see a little bit better, and get a little hipper to what’s going on, they’re going to change it.”
Eat a Peach was more than just a gold record for the Allman Brothers – it was a confirmation that they could continue without their leader. The ensuing tour had the band refuse to replace their former guitarist, instead touring as a five-piece as Betts became the band’s sole lead guitarist. The tour and subsequent years would be turbulent without Allman, eventually exacerbated by the death of bassist Berry Oakley in his own motorcycle accident in 1972.
Check out ‘Ain’t Wastin’ Time No More’ down below.
