With the band: 1978–1982
Instruments: Bass
A Lucky Jam
David Goldflies was born in 1956 and grew up in Oxford, Ohio. He was playing in bar bands when a jam with drummer Frankie Toler led to an audition for Dickey Betts. Dickey hired him almost on the spot, and Rook joined Great Southern in 1977 and played on Atlanta’s Burning Down.
Into the Allman Brothers
When the Allman Brothers Band reunited in 1978, Rook came along as the new bassist, and he was still only in his early twenties. His aggressive, melodic playing reminded a lot of fans of Berry Oakley. He made three albums with the band: Enlightened Rogues (1979), Reach for the Sky (1980) and Brothers of the Road (1981).
Enlightened Rogues includes “Try It One More Time,” which Rook wrote with Dickey Betts, and the instrumental “Pegasus,” which earned the band a Grammy nomination. Rook toured the U.S. and Europe with the band until it broke up in early 1982.
A Wide-Ranging Career
Since then Rook has followed his curiosity wherever it leads. He led a jazz-fusion group that recorded the album One Tan Arm, made the southern-rock record Second Chance (2018) with Gary Allman, a cousin of Duane and Gregg, and released a folk album, Cocoa Brown & Rust (2021). He plays violin too, and he has served as principal bassist of a symphony orchestra in the Panama City area of Florida.
A Brothers Revival
In 2019 Rook started A Brothers Revival. The band tours the country playing the Allman Brothers Band catalog, and Rook brings to it the authority of someone who played those songs night after night.
David "Rook" Goldflies in the Photo Gallery
