http://www.nola.com/music/index.ssf/2014/10/gregg_allman_closed_out_gretna.html

Gregg Allman didn't look, or sound, like a guy ready for retirement at the Gretna Heritage Festival. In three weeks at the Beacon Theater in New York, the Allman Brothers Band will say farewell after an epic 45 year run. That run has covered some hard miles, especially in the case of Allman.

But on Friday, Oct. 3, as Allman's solo band closed out the Main Stage alongside the Mississippi River on the 20th anniversary Gretna Fest's opening night, his graveled bark of a voice was strong. He was, by his reticent standards, chatty. And he spent a third of the hour-and-45-minute show standing and strumming rhythm guitar, away from the safe confines of his usual sanctuary behind a Hammond B-3 organ.

Friday morning's showers rendered the ground in front of the main stage spongy and, in spots, muddy. A persistent wind coming off the river swept across the stage. It toppled a music stand and constantly fluttered the lyric sheets perched in front of Allman. "Y'all hearin' all right?" he asked. "We got a bit of wind." If the crowd heard a buzz through the speakers, "it's no fault of ours."

What was heard through the speakers was a representative sampling of songs from throughout Allman's solo and band careers. On Thursday night, several members of his band played an early-evening show at the Maple Leaf Bar on Oak Street; Allman joined them for a couple of songs as the not-so-surprise guest. At Gretna Fest, they picked up right where they left off the previous night, launching into a faithful "I'm No Angel" with little fanfare. The presence of two saxophones and a trumpet gave "Angel" and other songs a new sass and swing.

"We're going to play a song about the great state of Georgia," Allman drawled in a speaking voice that is far more garbled than his singing voice. With that, they fired up the Allmans classic "Statesboro Blues." Allman has shared stages with a litany of great guitarists over the decades, including his late brother Duane and current Allman Brothers aces Warren Haynes and Derek Trucks, who, apparently unlike other band members, took seriously the group decision to stop touring at the end of the Allman Brothers' 45th anniversary year. Those are no small shoes for guitarist Scott Sharrard to fill. But his fleet slide guitar on "Statesboro Blues," "Come and Go Blues" and elsewhere was convincingly Allman-esque, even if his fireworks don't have quite the same explosive powers.

Peter Levin's full-bodied piano solos, like the horn arrangements, were another new twist. The horns kicked "I Found a Love," a chestnut covered by Etta James and many others, right back to the 1950s; at the microphone, Allman navigated its nuances.

He first strapped on an electric guitar for "Ain't Wasting Time No More," which he played on organ the previous night at the Maple Leaf. He revisited his 1973 debut solo album, "Laid Back," for the hard, slow blues of "Queen of Hearts." He strummed an acoustic for the Allmans favorite "Melissa"; at its conclusion, he threw a pick toward the crowd, only to shrug when the wind dropped it on the stage.

He was back at the organ for "Midnight Rider," dressed up by percussionist Marc Quinones, who, like Allman, does double duty in this band and the Allman Brothers. Standing again, Allman dug into "One Way Out." After a rhythm section excursion, featuring New Orleans bassist Ron Johnson, he savored the final lament of the lover trapped upstairs: "There's a man down there...might be your old man...might be your HUSBAND...I don't know."

On the far side of 11 p.m., an encore of "Whipping Post" made clear the strengths and limitations of Allman sans the Brothers. His solo band's version lacked the brute-force menace of the Allman Brothers'. But its slightly faster tempo – not to mention its prominent tenor sax solo – put a fresh spin on this most grizzled of warhorses.

If the Allman Brothers Band does indeed call it quits at the end of October, Gregg Allman already has figured out his way forward.

and some funky vid from the Maple: