Episode Description
Episode Overview
As a teenager in Sarasota, Richard Price began following Dickey Betts. He was there as Dickey and Berry Oakley joined forces in the Second Coming. In Jacksonville in fall 1968/spring 1969, Richard witnessed the extraordinary burgeoning musical connection between Dickey and Duane Allman and the birth of the Allman Brothers Band.
Part 2: touring in the South with long hair; Evaluations by the 2nd Coming; and guitarist Gerry Groom.
Dickey Betts and Richard “Hombre” Price. 📷Courtesy Hombre Price.
Share Long Live the ABB: Conversation from the Crossroads
Our Crossroads
Our most direct crossroads are the Allman Brothers Band. We’re also Southerners, Floridians to be exact. Both of us are musicians. We are also archivists and storytellers. I’ve been following Richard’s efforts to keep the memory of the Jacksonville and Southwest Florida scene alive for a long time. He’s quoted pretty extensively in Play All Night, so it was particularly cool to sit with him at the crossroads.
The Conversation
The challenges of touring in the South. This is where Part 1 ended, a question I asked about a gig in Merritt Island, Florida and a racist promoter who objected to Jaimoe playing for an audience of white girls in June 1969. “If he doesn’t play, we ain’t gonna play” was the response. The possibility of several hundred ticket refunds forced the man’s hand. Richard speaks very highly of Jaimoe for what he endured as a Black man traveling the country with a bunch of hippies.
Psychedelia 57 years in the making. Price played bass in the second iteration of the 2nd Coming, which formed in the wake of the founding of the Allman Brothers Band. In April 1969, Price, guitarist Larry “Rhino” Reinhardt, drummers Monty Young and John Meeks, and keyboardist Reese Wynans recorded an album in Jacksonville. (It was five months before the Allman Brothers recorded their own debut.) Richard tells the story of the 57-year gap between recording and releasing the band’s only album, Evaluations.
Guitarist Gerry Groom. I asked Richard to talk a little about Gerry Groom, Duane’s young protégé who ended up in possession of Duane’s 1961 SG. Groom is also who recorded what we know as The Gatlinburg Sessions, recordings from a band writing session for Eat a Peach.
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