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Review
With the new century the blue-eyed boys of the 60s blues revival have been turning into old bluesmen themselves, and the memorialising of their heroes seems to be a later-life rite of passage. Gregg Allman’s history lesson may not match his finest recordings, but it’s a diverting blues miscellany from an undoubted master.
The singer is best remembered for his string of albums with The Allman Brothers Band in the 1970s, and fans of that group’s driving and melodic blues-rock will need to recalibrate their ears for an immediate dose of early country blues. Gregg Allman’s emotive voice is penetrating but thin, and a little exposed by T-Bone Burnett’s sparse production on songs by Sleepy John Estes and Skip James.
The producer has been the curator-in-chief of contemporary American roots music for some years now, and there’s always a danger of the Burnett signature eclipsing the latest legend to arrive in his LA studio. Devotees of Plant and Krauss’s Raising Sand, for example, will here quickly recognise the unmistakeable thud and clatter of Dennis Crouch and Jay Bellerose, that album’s distinctive rhythm section.
Low Country Blues is too entertainingly diverse, though, to submit to an all-embracing style. Catching up on the 60s and 70s with BB King and Otis Rush, the brass and lead guitar of Please Accept My Love and Checking on My Baby are faithful pastiches, while the jazzy arrangement and big-band dynamics of Blind Man sound just like the setting where Bobby "Blue" Bland shone his brightest.
These are mighty blues vocalists, of course. But at 63, Gregg Allman holds his own; few have bettered his trademark throaty holler, and aided by his trusty Hammond B-3 the veteran sustains an appealing presence throughout the idiosyncratic variety (and yes, that is Dr John’s understated piano fills in the left-hand speaker).
There is just one song, Allman’s mournfully anthemic Just Another Rider, where it’s difficult not to feel nostalgic for the measured maelstrom of twin lead guitars and two drummers that supported the writer of Whipping Post and Midnight Rider at his very best.
--Ninian Dunnett
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Product Description
Produced by the one-and-only T-Bone Burnett. Intense, melancholic sounds. Allman's way back to the roots of the blues, to the music of Skip James or Magic Sam. Really impressive to hear the passion in his voice. Superb guitar work. Beautiful sound. A must! Also available as 2x180g vinyl incl. two bonus tracks # LP ROU 9112. GREGG ALLMAN - acoustic gtr/org/voc, DOYLE BRAMHALL II - gtr, T-BONE BURNETT - gtr, HADLEY HAWKENSMITH - gtr, COLIN LINDEN - dobro, DR. JOHN - pno, DENNIS CROUCH - upright bass, JAY BELLEROSE - drums, plus horns (3 tracks).
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
23 of 23 people found the following review helpful
By Nancy Jane
Format:Audio CD
I am clearly not the "purist" that the other reviewers are. I haven't spent any time analysing the music, or its composition, or who is playing what too loudly or too quietly. Simply, I think this is superb - it manages to be subtle but gutsy and the musicianship, in my humble view, is superlative. A welcome and pleasant change from the mass produced, indistinguishable offerings that are dished up as contemporary music.
44 of 46 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
Pick one of the great voices in White blues music Gregg Allman; add in one of the best producers around currently T Bone Burnett (producer of Robert Plant, Elton John, and Elvis Costello). And you have an Idea what this album is going to be like.
The songs are well chosen not only to highlight how good Gregg Allman's voice is (remember Allman Brothers Band Classics `It's not my cross to Bare' and `Wipping Post') but chosen with care to highlight the skill of some of the session musicians involed in the recording (Dr John for instance). For a man just recovering from a Liver transplant this certainly is a great way to recover and I hope it servers as a reminder of the great music Gregg has produced over the years and spurs Gregg on to writing more original material not that I am companioning. The Songs are not the best known blues tunes but man are they sung with conviction. Highlights of the album are the one original song `Just Another Rider' co written with fellow Allman Brothers member Warren Haynes, a strong version of Muddy Water's `I Can't Be Satisfied'. And the album closer a brooding seven-minute version of `Rolling Stone'
This is also unique as a Gregg Allman solo album in that it's the first not to contain a cover of an Allman Brothers song in a more laid back style. It's been a long wait 1997 was the last new album from Gregg Allman, a great start to 2011.
The songs are well chosen not only to highlight how good Gregg Allman's voice is (remember Allman Brothers Band Classics `It's not my cross to Bare' and `Wipping Post') but chosen with care to highlight the skill of some of the session musicians involed in the recording (Dr John for instance). For a man just recovering from a Liver transplant this certainly is a great way to recover and I hope it servers as a reminder of the great music Gregg has produced over the years and spurs Gregg on to writing more original material not that I am companioning. The Songs are not the best known blues tunes but man are they sung with conviction. Highlights of the album are the one original song `Just Another Rider' co written with fellow Allman Brothers member Warren Haynes, a strong version of Muddy Water's `I Can't Be Satisfied'. And the album closer a brooding seven-minute version of `Rolling Stone'
This is also unique as a Gregg Allman solo album in that it's the first not to contain a cover of an Allman Brothers song in a more laid back style. It's been a long wait 1997 was the last new album from Gregg Allman, a great start to 2011.
30 of 32 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Gregg Allman - The Midnight Rider returns with a fine album of deep blues
7 Feb 2011
Format:Audio CD
There is barely anyone on this planet more qualified to sing these great blues standards than the Gregg Allman a rock n roll survivor par excellence. His story encompasses the great first incarnation of the Allman Brothers Band with "Live at Fillmore East" the true monument to their genius, the tragic death of his brother Duane Allman possibly the best rock guitarist to have picked up a Gibson, his own descent into drugs hell where his infamous "grass" of roadie John "Scooter" Herring saw the latter get 75 years while GA got immunity and the failed on/off marriage to Cher. In recent years Gregg Allman has also had a liver transplant and suffers from Hepatitis C. While the Allman Brothers have carried in various incarnations the music has relied heavily on past glories.
Allman as a result has taken stock and by doing so gone deeper into the blues roots of the Allman Brothers producing an album of 11 covers and one new original song the truly excellent "Just another rider" (for info the album has been streaming for weeks on NPR and Rolling Stone for those who may wish to check it out). He has also added the extra dimension of the hottest producer working in music today namely T Bone Burnett fresh from triumphs with Robert Plant, Alison Krauss, B B King and Elvis Costello. The results are very impressive and sees Allman return to form with his graveled voice older and wiser but sounding stronger than it has for years. The highlights on Low Country Blues are many not least the stunning smokey version of Amos Milburn's "Tears, Tears, Tears" which reeks southern fried atmosphere and evokes Ray Charles and sees that old rogue Dr John producing one of his finest piano solos in years.... Read more ›
Allman as a result has taken stock and by doing so gone deeper into the blues roots of the Allman Brothers producing an album of 11 covers and one new original song the truly excellent "Just another rider" (for info the album has been streaming for weeks on NPR and Rolling Stone for those who may wish to check it out). He has also added the extra dimension of the hottest producer working in music today namely T Bone Burnett fresh from triumphs with Robert Plant, Alison Krauss, B B King and Elvis Costello. The results are very impressive and sees Allman return to form with his graveled voice older and wiser but sounding stronger than it has for years. The highlights on Low Country Blues are many not least the stunning smokey version of Amos Milburn's "Tears, Tears, Tears" which reeks southern fried atmosphere and evokes Ray Charles and sees that old rogue Dr John producing one of his finest piano solos in years.... Read more ›
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Due no doubt to his other indulgencies the Gregg Allman output of recent years has hardly been prolific. The more talented a mucisian happens to be the deeper run the flaws it would appear and given the Allman Brothers track record with the Grim Reaper we are lucky that he is with at all in many ways.
It therefore comes as a relief that one of the great white haunting blues voices of his generation has been persuaded out of hibernation to tackle some obscurer examples of the canon under the safe hand of everybody's current favorite revivalist T-Bone Burnett. The one self penned number 'Just Another Rider' is not an instant Allman classic but is enough of a grower to suggest that an album of original material might not be quite as unpalatable as some of his previous ill advised output. Allman has never been that active as a writer and there is nothing to be ashamed of in being a great singer of great songs even if you haven't written them all yourself.
I am not sure that a record like this is going to appeal to an audience outside of the patient Allmanites and blues purists which is a shame because at 12 tracks and around 50 minutes in length this is just about perfect in the "keeping you wanting more" category
It therefore comes as a relief that one of the great white haunting blues voices of his generation has been persuaded out of hibernation to tackle some obscurer examples of the canon under the safe hand of everybody's current favorite revivalist T-Bone Burnett. The one self penned number 'Just Another Rider' is not an instant Allman classic but is enough of a grower to suggest that an album of original material might not be quite as unpalatable as some of his previous ill advised output. Allman has never been that active as a writer and there is nothing to be ashamed of in being a great singer of great songs even if you haven't written them all yourself.
I am not sure that a record like this is going to appeal to an audience outside of the patient Allmanites and blues purists which is a shame because at 12 tracks and around 50 minutes in length this is just about perfect in the "keeping you wanting more" category
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By M. R. N. Shackelford
TOP 1000 REVIEWER
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
On a par with Clapton's Blues explorations and Mr. Plant's recent stuff - here we have another Ancient Man of Rock visiting his roots and delivering a glorious natural sounding CD.
What a great voice - still, after all those years (and what years!). I sometimes wonder how (or perhaps why?) our heroes are still alive - and this helps me hark back to the wonderful music from my teens (in the late '60s, early '70s) - and bringing echoes from the Allman Brothers (and what an adventure that was!)
Gregg Allman sounds wonderful. And a backing band of "Blues Brothers", with a touch of swamp from the rhythm section and some FAB New Orleans honky tonk piano from the one and only Dr. John.
Mmmmm! Must go and set it off again. Definitely the best album I have bought in the last 6 months...
What a great voice - still, after all those years (and what years!). I sometimes wonder how (or perhaps why?) our heroes are still alive - and this helps me hark back to the wonderful music from my teens (in the late '60s, early '70s) - and bringing echoes from the Allman Brothers (and what an adventure that was!)
Gregg Allman sounds wonderful. And a backing band of "Blues Brothers", with a touch of swamp from the rhythm section and some FAB New Orleans honky tonk piano from the one and only Dr. John.
Mmmmm! Must go and set it off again. Definitely the best album I have bought in the last 6 months...
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4.3 out of 5 stars
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
2.0 out of 5 stars
Very disappointing
Had such high hopes after hearing sampler from UNCUT magazine. Sadly to me it just feels like Gregg has jumped on the T Bone Burnett band wagon because other ageing rockers are... Read more
Published 12 months ago by Dom
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great blues
I really like this CD. I have been a fan of the Allmans and Gregg solo for a long time. I think it is a little of a departure from some of his earlier works, but I really like... Read more
Published 15 months ago by Joan
4.0 out of 5 stars
Allman's solo return a qualified triumph
Gregg Allman's voice is not quite back to 'Laid Back' standards but given his recent health issues he sounds better than he might have a right to! Read more
Published 23 months ago by Mr. D. M. Stuart
4.0 out of 5 stars
Gregg sings the (real) Blues
What did I expect when I bought this cd? I bought it because I read a lot of good things about it - and that can be a dangerous thing to do. Read more
Published 24 months ago by Erik
5.0 out of 5 stars
Gregg Allman's Low Country Blues
I heard a couple of tracks from this album on Planet Rock radio and was very impressed. I was given this CD as a present and it is constantly on my player. Read more
Published on 6 Jun 2011 by Zoedudley
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wow............
just amazing one of my CDs of the year that wonderful gnarled vocals backed up with a great set of musicians doubt if it will be bettered buy it you will not be disappointed.
Published on 6 May 2011 by Martin Doody
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent modern blues record
I was never a big Allman Brothers fan or a Gregg Allman fan and was therefore really shocked by how good this album is - probally the result of a combination of Gregg's excellent... Read more
Published on 27 April 2011 by G. E. Harrison
4.0 out of 5 stars
Can white men sing the blues? This one certainly can
Rather better than anyone could reasonably have expected after such a long absence, "Low County Blues" avoids the pitfalls often encountered by albums of this nature. Read more
Published on 29 Mar 2011 by Leonardo27
4.0 out of 5 stars
Needs a few listens!
This CD by Greg Allman is generally very good, but I think it needs a few listens to really appreciate it. One or two tracks are quite jazzy, but the rest are good blues.
Published on 18 Mar 2011 by Barbara
5.0 out of 5 stars
Just Great
Wow! what a good album, excellent sounds from Greg & top musicians. I head a snippet of the Floating Bridge and bought the album on the back of that, absolutely no regrets just... Read more
Published on 14 Mar 2011 by Paul Green
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