Episode Description
Episode Overview
Dana Dowd, daughter of producer Tom Dowd tomdowd.org, joins me at the Crossroads to talk about her father’s life and legacy. Our conversation ranged far beyond Tom’s truly significant role with the Allman Brothers Band. Dana is a legit archivist who has spent decades compiling and caring for her father’s legacy.
Our Crossroads
The Allman Brothers Band is where we directly intersect, but I’ve been listening to her father’s work at least since I bought Disraeli Gears at the used record store when I was about 12 or 13. We’re South Florida natives, Dana grew up in the “big city” of Miami. We share respect/reverence for our own dads’ contributions in the world, and a drive to “get it right.”
The Conversation
Tom Dowd, the man. Dana shared her father’s backstory as a 16-year-old bottle washer at a physics lab, to his work on the Manhattan Project during World War II—efforts he swore to silence. Don’t miss the discussion about the Bikini Islands.
Tom Dowd, the audio genius. Dowd invented the first linear console, using faders rather than dials to control volume. He was among the first to mike a room rather than forcing all musicians to record from the same microphone. Tom was also an early pioneer of stereo recording.
The Allman Brothers. Tom Dowd heard the ABB for the first time on a trip to Macon sometime in summer 1969. “Get them to me immediately. They are ready,” he said. But Dowd wasn’t available when the Allmans recorded their debut album, so the production task went to Adrian Barber. Dowd produced the band’s next 3 albums—Idlewild South, At Fillmore East, and Eat a Peach.
Legacy. Dana shares the story of why the 2003 Grammy-nominated documentary Tom Dowd & the Language of Music has never seen re-release. And at tomdowd.org she’s curating an 8,000-entry discography built from “love notes” Tom left her among his effects. She continues to mentor younger audio students who study her father’s work.
Off the Record, On the Charts is her podcast with the sons of two other legendary Atlantic Records producers: Joe Mardin (Arif) and Adam Dorn (Joel). It’s a must-listen. They get DEEP and know their shit.
Paid members get previews of new Conversation from the Crossroads episodes
🍄Play All Night! Duane Allman & the Journey to Fillmore East🍄
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