"Early Morning Blues"

According to Johnny Sandlin's book, A Never-Ending Groove, Gregg was in bad shape and couldn't finish the lyrics to a song he had been working on (and the band had recorded) called "Early Morning Blues".
One day in the studio, Gregg casually tried the lyrics to a Bobby Bland cut "Jelly Jelly" (written by Billy Eckstine) over the track, and left for rehab. It was done late enough that some printings still listed "Early Morning Blues" rather than "Jelly". That might explain why Eckstine was never credited as the writer, which was atypical of the band.
"Jelly Jelly" is probably the least popular song from Brothers & Sisters since it was never performed live, but it might be Dickey's best studio playing. Speaking of, what is really curious is why they cut off the fantastic jam at the end of the track. Can you imagine the jams this could have lead to? Surely the song would be more widely known had the final turn remained on such a popular album.

There was also a 10-15 second dobro intro, played by Tommy Talton I believe, to Pony Boy that was left off of the released version.
"Is that a real poncho or is that a Sears poncho?"

@oldcoot Interesting, I never heard that. Are you sure it wasn't an acoustic guitar intro by Tommy?

Posted by: @porkchopbob@oldcoot Interesting, I never heard that. Are you sure it wasn't an acoustic guitar intro by Tommy?
Almost positive dobro, will have to locate that and listen again.
"Is that a real poncho or is that a Sears poncho?"

Then there is "The Lady Has Been Waiting" which is set to the exact melody of "Come & Go Blues" only with a completely different set of lyrics. Curious as to why that wasn't included in the expanded "box set" version of B&S.
"Is that a real poncho or is that a Sears poncho?"

The expanded Brothers and Sisters 2013 box has Dickey's guitar solo played on out. It's in my car. I'll have to check but it's the same music exactly but with different words.
I still have my vinyl Brothers and Sisters I bought in August 1973 and the credits sleve or insert inside says Early Morning Blues and I think Gregg is listed as writer. The newer CD's have Billy AND Trade Martin listed as writers.
Yes that is a fantastic guitar solo by Dickey on the track.

Was off on the Pony Boy reference, dug out one of the outtakes discs and the Pony Boy seems to be the version which is on the official B&S release with Dickey on dobro. My bad. Too few brain cells.
"Is that a real poncho or is that a Sears poncho?"

I agree about the outro jam on Jelly Jelly being left off the re-issue. The official release with Gregg's vocals is 5:50ish in length while the instrumental only outtake track with the ending jam is 6:20. Nice little boogie to it too.
"Is that a real poncho or is that a Sears poncho?"

@oldcoot it's not an instrumental, it's over 9 minutes long and contains the original lyrics for "Early Morning Blues". Otherwise it's the same track as "Jelly Jelly".
There was an "Outskirts of Town" instrumental outtake released on the Expanded B&S.

Posted by: @porkchopbob@oldcoot it's not an instrumental, it's over 9 minutes long and contains the original lyrics for "Early Morning Blues". Otherwise it's the same track as "Jelly Jelly".
There was an "Outskirts of Town" instrumental outtake released on the Expanded B&S.
Sorry, our wavelengths are slightly crossed. Yes, I agree with what you say about the Early Morning Blues on the expanded box. I was talking about an outtake disc I have where the Jelly, Jelly is an instrumental track only with the extra 35 seconds or so of jamming not included on the original release version of Jelly Jelly. The original released version is 5:45, the "instrumental only track" fades down at 6:20.
Listening to both the 6:20 instrumental Jelly Jelly version and the 9:27 Early Morning Blues, it may well be that it's the same track differentiated only by the 6:20 fade down. It's not at all unusual for tracks to first be laid down instrumentally and then the vocals added on later. There are a number of examples of that on some other ABB albums that have outtakes, tracks as instrumentals initially and then vocals added later.
"Is that a real poncho or is that a Sears poncho?"

@oldcoot yep, that's kind of the point of this thread. Gregg ditched his vocal track for what was "Early Morning Blues" due to his frustration with the lyrics. He quickly swapped them for a cover of "Jelly Jelly" (and cutting off the jam which is so Gregg).

Early Morning Blues is credited to Gregg Allman. Gregg lost a chunk of change by not keeping his writing credit for that track. Butch and Jainoe are excellent, Dickey and Chuck have outstanding solos. Gregg has a nice solo on the organ. Lamar is solid on bass.
In Gregg's book he wasn't impressed with Brothers and Sisters and doubted it would sell well with no Duane and Berry Oakley gone too. Gregg was hopeful about his Laid Back album but not B&S. In his book Gregg said when that album sailed to number one and stayed there for 5 weeks and sold millions of copies and during their long 1973 tour they became the number one American band in the country before that tour was over and he and the other guys were caught off guard. Said they weren't expecting all that and it was a big surprise. Gregg thought Eat A Peach would be the band's best selling album.
Gregg goes on to say that he was pleased with the 1973 shows and tour and they just kept getting better and better and having Chuck was a big plus. They had another guy that can solo without it being a replacement for Duane which was not an option. Nobody was going to replace Duane.
Another interesting thing to me then and now is they became a super group able to fill up stadiums and coliseums and they didn't like it. Gregg wanted to tour solo and do a live solo album so Dickey wanted to do a solo album and tour and with the exception of 15 shows in the summer of 1974 to sell out audiences, they parked the Allman Brothers. Butch was upset about it and Chuck, Lamar and Jainoe were disappointed and Phil Walden was worried. After the solo stuff was over Phil was anxious to get another blockbuster album done before they cooled off but Gregg met Cher, was still pissed about Queen of Hearts and just wouldn't show up. We all know about how difficult Win, Loose or Draw was to record and the lackluster tracks. But to me some of them are as good as anything on B&S. It just seemed Gregg and possibly Dickey too just didn't care they had become a super group. The Eagles fell apart after Hotel California their biggest album. Instead of running with it and locking in being as big as The Rolling Stones or Pink Floyd or AC-DC and other super groups, they fell apart and broke up and morphed into Sea Level, Great Southern and Allman and Woman.
The ABB was never that big again. Indeed they never had another new album to sell over a million copies.
Oh my 1973 copy of Brothers and Sisters has Pony Boy credited with Dickey on Dobro and vocals, Chuck Leavell piano, Larmar Williams acoustic bass, Tommy Talton acoustic guitar and Butch Trucks percussion. And at the bottom Dickey and Butch hambone. ( that is Dickey and Butch slapping their knees and Butch said on this site in the 1990s that Dickey crossed it up on him and that caused Butch to chuckle and you hear it on the fade out.

My bad. I was linking Jelly Jelly above but accidentally linked Early Morning Blues which porkchopbob had already linked.
Brothers and Sisters is the ABB'S biggest selling album by miles. But is it because it is much better than the band's other albums or is Ramblin' Man becoming a top single the reason B&S sold millions of copies?
I say it is a very good album. Probably better than any studio album they ever did again but not as good as Eat A Peach and of course At Fillmore East is their absolute best live or studio.

My favorite live version of Ramblin' Man is on the Brothers and Sisters box. It's also on Wipe the Windows, Check the Oil, Dillar Gas but THE FIRST 30 SECONDS OF THE LONG GUITAR SOLO WAS EDITED OUT on Wipe the Windows.
In 1973 and 74 sometimes Dickey would leave out the guitar fills on the vocal coda part ( Lord I was born a Ramblin man guitar fill lord I was born a Ramblin man guitar fill etc) and he leaves out one fill on this version.
In 1975 they or he dropped the entire vocal coda before the guitar solo.
And I hate to say it and all due respect to the great Dickey Betts, I was lucky to see about 10 of the 1973 shows and Dickey had switched to a lite sunburst Les Paul with zebra pickups. To me it's tone was not as good as the Goldtop Dickey began using just after the Fillmore Shows. The Goldtop is on One Way Out on Eat A Peach. To me the best tone ever! A close second is that Fender custom shop Strat Jimmy Herring has.


Early Morning Blues was the better lyrics and song feel IMO. Both songs are pretty close to Stormy Monday and that was a criticism when B&S came out, that it was kind of a thrown together filler track. It was too close on the heels of the legendary Fillmore Stormy Monday. After almost 48 years it is easier to enjoy as a unique chapter of it's own.

Outskirts of Town and Stormy Monday sounded more similar. The music on Eary Morning Blues/Jelly Jelly is outstanding. Great solo from Gregg on organ and Chuck and Dickey are especially good. Butch, Jaimoe and Lamar are real fine too.
Dickey always said Johnny Sandlin came to him saying they were a song short for the new album, do you have anything? Dickey said he had one but it's too country for the band but they all liked it and it was Ramblin' Man. Dickey said he hoped to get Johnny Cash to record it. Butch said even when they were recording Ramblin' Man he thought they were doing a demo for Merle Haggard but after the long guitar solo was tacked on Capricorn wanted to put it on the album. Butch said it did kinda sound like us with the guitar solo so he didn't argue against it. In the early 2000s Butch wrote he regrets that now. That he should have tried to block it and he couldn't stand that song Ramblin' Man and this band will NEVER EVER play it again. And all these country bands are now influenced by the Allman Brothers but it's that stuff Dickey brought in and that is not the sound they planned for the band in the beginning.
Maybe Butch could have blocked Ramblin' Man but I doubt it. Butch did block Queen of Hearts. Gregg was still angry about that in 2012. Gregg told the guy that yes someone kept my song off Brothers and Sisters and the guy asked who. Gregg said " It was years ago now so I won't mention the name BUT HIS INITIALS ARE BUTCH TRUCKS!!"
Why do I doubt Butch could have kept Ramblin' Man off B&S? Because in the 2000's Butch wrote about how he disliked Mean Woman Blues and that it was just another light weight filler song from Dickey so he could hog the song writing royalties on Where It All Begins. Butch said he did try to block it and do Warren's much better song Rockin' Horse but Dickey got hot and said we are doing Mean Woman Blues or I'm done with this project. Unlike Gregg, Dickey stood his ground.
Actually after the leadership of Duane Allman which all of them deeply respected and accepted, Gregg and especially Dickey just didn't let anybody tell them what to do. Butch was that way too. Butch said he hired Marc Quinones and Gregg and Dickey didn't say anything. Butch said the back row was mine not theirs.
I remember Butch writing ALL Dickey songs will be phased out in the early 2000's but it never happened. And Gregg said some years after Hitting The Note came out he didn't care what Butch said, the Allman Brothers will do another album and without Butch if necessary. On that one it went Butch's way. Hitting The Note was indeed their last studio album just as Butch said.

Posted by: @robertdeeOutskirts of Town and Stormy Monday sounded more similar.
I was referencing reviews from the day. Sorry you disagree.

@bird72 I'm sorry. I don't disagree. I remember those reviews in August 1973. Brothers and Sisters was panned a bit by critics compared to Eat A Peach and At Fillmore East. And the first two albums finally sold enough copies to go GOLD when they were repackaged as a two disk release called Beginnings in early 1973 before B&S came out. Yes Early Morning Blues/Jelly Jelly was labeled as Stormy Monday redux filler.
I was just offering my personal opinion. Outskirts had 3 solos in the middle, Duane-Gregg-Dickey, just like Stormy Monday.
I'm not entirely convinced Brothers and Sisters would have rocketed to number 1 and stayed their 5 weeks selling over 4 million copies if Ramblin' Man had not been a hit single. Probably 2 million of those albums were bought by people who liked Ramblin' Man and they hadn't purchased an Allman Brothers album before or afterward.
Gregg wrote about it in his book. Gregg doubted Brothers and Sisters would do that well. But they were on tour FOR FIVE WEEKS with the number one album in the country. Gregg was surprised, caught off guard and wasn't expecting that and having to deal with being the number one band in America.
I even wonder if the success of Brothers and Sisters irritated Gregg. Probably not though.

@robertdee I wish they had kept playing "Outskirts", I've always preferred that song. But I get why they went with "Stormy Monday" instead. Would have been nice if they had put it on Shades of Two Worlds instead of "Get on with Your Life", but I'm sure they were pushing their own songs.
Really love the Fillmore East 2/70 version of "Outskirts of Town".

Because in the 2000's Butch wrote about how he disliked Mean Woman Blues and that it was just another light weight filler song from Dickey so he could hog the song writing royalties on Where It All Begins. Butch said he did try to block it and do Warren's much better song Rockin' Horse but Dickey got hot and said we are doing Mean Woman Blues or I'm done with this project.
I'm actually going to side with Dickey here. "Mean Woman Blues" is probably the weakest song on Where It All Begins, but I think "Rockin' Horse" is much worse.

@porkchopbob Yes that is an outstanding version of Outskirts. But it's the original band and then everyone was happy to be with Duane and all 6 were on the same page and devoted to making the band as good as they could.
Yes Butch slammed Mean Woman Blues and stated Rockin' Horse was a much better song. But personally I think much of what Butch wrote on the old site and on his blog after 2000 about Dickey should be taken with a grain of salt. Butch Trucks was livid about Dickey Betts then and trashed Dickey at every opportunity and stayed like that concerning Dickey the rest of his life. In the mid 1970's it was Gregg that Butch ragged on. I remember in spring of 1975 Butch was very negative about Gregg. Butch was quoted in a couple of music magazines with " You can't count on Gregg Allman for anything man. I mean nothing!"
Odd that Butch used Freight Train band for his new band after the ABB threw in the towel in 2014. Dickey coined that in reference to Butch's drumming style. And when promoting Freight Train he would be asked about the name and Butch would mention Dickey came up with that even after once going negative about Dickey earlier in the interview. Kinda like a man bragging about a company that fired him last week:)
In a 1980 interview Butch said he loved playing with Dickey. Dickey had his own signature style ( Very true. Just like B. B. King or SRV or many of the famous players) and Dickey's dynamics and tone were among the best players out there and Butch even complimented Dickey's lyrical hook on Ramblin' Man, " Trying to make a living and doing the best I can" as a great line for a song. In the 2000s Butch couldn't stand the song so that is why I think the taken with a grain of salt may apply.
Butch was a great drummer and I'm his fan. Also big Dickey fan and during the original lineup I admired Dickey for going up there show after show and standing toe to toe with Duane Allman and delivering great guitar playing too.
It's like when two of your best friends are fighting. You just hate it and wish they could talk it through and shake and move on.

https://images.app.goo.gl/KFd6S1vXG5x3PyeX8
Noticed a couple of pictures online that claim to be Fillmore East February, 1970 but the guitars are wrong. In the pictures Duane is playing a sunburst Les Paul and Dickey a Goldtop Les Paul.
I began seeing the band in February 1970 and the first 5 or 6 shows I saw over a couple of months in early 1970 Duane was playing a Goldtop Les Paul not a sunburst and Dickey was playing a Stratocaster not a Goldtop. See above picture.
I'm rather sure on Outskirts of Town Porkchopbob linked above Duane is playing his Goldtop and Dickey is playing that sunburst Stratocaster he played from late 1969 to spring 1970. According to two friends who saw the band in the summer of 1969, Duane was already using his Goldtop and Dickey was playing an ES-335 or 45. Dickey switched to a Strat in late 1969 then to an SG late spring 1970. Duane was given the SG by Dickey when Dickey began using Les Pauls and Duane apparently only used it for slide.

Yes, Highway Call & WLorDraw had that pattern of being filled out w/somewhat perfunctory material (KKid, SMama) after the epic instrumentals -
As great of an album as ERogues was, could NYLSBad be in the same category
I’d take JJ/EMBlues, also G’s Roll, over those ones any day - fantastic solos all around, just too bad Dickey’s had to be so rudely interrupted in Jelly Jelly😮
I love the ABB
- 75 Forums
- 15 K Topics
- 191.7 K Posts
- 28 Online
- 24.7 K Members