Easily one of my all time favorite bands, trying to narrow down my favorite Allman Brothers Band song is a near impossible feat. To me this is band that just has it all; one of the greatest blue vocalists of all time, two of the greatest guitarists ever, and a locomotive rhythm section.
They're also one of the most tragic bands of all time. Duane Allman and bassist Berry Oakley died nearly a year-to-the-day apart from one another, both in motorcycle accidents involving the same intersection in Macon, Ga in 1971 and 1972. It's an amazing feat to me that Duane Allman is still heralded as one of the greatest guitar players ever, despite passing away at age 25. And though some will argue that the band was never the same after the loss of Duane and Berry, the Allman Brothers Band have given me some of my favorite songs and live music experiences of all time. Throw in Federal drug charges, decades of in-fighting, a marriage to Cher, and tons of substance abuse and it's a wonder the band is even still around nearly 40 years after they began.
To me the band just hasn't been the same since Dickey Betts was kicked out earlier this decade. Granted they still have two amazing guitarists in Warren Haynes and Derek Trucks (another favorite musician of mine and nephew of ABB's founding drummer Butch Trucks), but their concerts just haven't been the same without Bett's melodic playing. And as much respect as I have for Warren Haynes, there's no reason he should ever sing lead vocals at an Allman Brothers Band concert!
"At Fillmore East," in my opinion, is the best live album ever made. My favorite college bar, Backstreets in Clemson, had $1 PBR bottles all the time and "At Fillmore East" on its jukebox. A dollar would buy you two credits, and I'd frequently pick "Whipping Post" and "Mountain Jam," and then sit back and enjoy the hour-plus of music that two songs would deliver.
Seriously, given songs like "Blue Sky," "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed," "Dreams," "Southbound," "Melissa," "Midnight Rider," "Jessica," "One Way Out," and "Ain't Wastin' Time No More," how could you possibly pick just one solitary song by this band to call favorite?
Since my freshman year of college in 1995, I think I've managed to see an Allman Brothers concert at least once every year (give or take a few summers I am sure). Always a sure-fire way to spend three hours or so of your life, the one constant from every show has been the way they ended...with the gorgeous acoustic instrumental song "Little Martha" playing over the P.A. as the crowd shuffles out of the venue.
It's always been such a peaceful end to an amazing concert experience, and I think a great testament to band that is most well known for half-hour extended psychedelic jams to have this two-minute gem of a song.
The song's got a really cool back story as well. The title is lifted from one of the headstones at Rose Hill Cemetery in Macon, where the band frequently hung out while under the influence of mushrooms. (Rose Hill is also where the title "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed" comes from and where Duane Allman and Berry Oakley are both buried.) But Duane Allman had a dream where Jimi Hendrix showed him the melody to this song in a Holiday Inn bathroom using the sink faucet as a fret board. He woke up with the melody in his head and the song
"Little Martha" is an Allman Brothers tune I often overlook. It appeared during a shuffle in my IPod the other day and brought back a flood of memories from fantastic times I've had at Allman Brothers shows with some truly great people. This isn't a word I often use frequently but "Little Martha" is just such a lovely, lovely song.
Dobro master Jerry Douglas does a really beautiful cover of "Little Martha," which starts at about two-minutes into this video.
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