The River Gets It

Recently I spoke about the enjoyment I get from listening to 92.5 - The River.

My respect has grown.

Monday night I was driving home, having survived another day of pure hell at The Asylum. Listening to 92.5. When I dialed it up "Whipping Post" was playing.

I thought this was cool. The song ended and the DJ said The Allman Brothers had called it quits. I hoped he was talking about their announcement earlier this year that they would stop touring at the end of 2014. But there was a tone to his voice that chilled me.

Turns out they are done done. Gonna honor the few dates they have left scheduled and go out with a bang with six dates at The Beacon. No touring this summer.

I was devastated.

I have been checking on line almost every day for a couple of months waiting for the summer schedule to come out so I could pounce on front row seats. Getting antsy as time went by because no dates were forthcoming.

Now I know why.

The DJ went on to say with regret in his voice that he had a chance to see The Allman Brothers a few years ago but events conspired to prevent him from attending. Now he would never get the chance.

There was honest regret in his tone; a sadness and disappointment.

When I got home I immediately went on line hoping the man was delirious.

He was not.

Yesterday I was crawling to work much against my will, listening to The River. The DJ said with obvious sadness in her voice that The Allman Brothers had called it quits.

Then she played "Melissa."

First of all, it was obvious to me that these two DJ's got it. They understand who The Allman Brothers are, what their legacy is, the impact they have had on rock 'n roll in a genre they practically created. They understand just how talented, how passionate this band is and that they are survivors who have come back time and time again bigger and better than ever.

Except this time it sounds final.

Secondly, the songs they chose were not random. Yeah, any casual ABB fan knows "Whipping Post", knows "Melissa".  But these songs are meaningful.

"Whipping Post" is their signature song. If I have been to thirty concerts, I bet "Whipping Post" was the encore at twenty of them.

The song reigns supreme. I once read a description of the opening of the song that said the first thing you hear is an ominous bass line that is pure evil.

Perfect.

When that bass rumbles into the air the audience always erupts.

And you can identify with the words so easily. "Sometimes I feel like I've been tied to the whipping post; good lord I feel like I'm dying."

But you can't sing it like Gregg. Believe me I have tried.

The legend goes that "Melissa" came to Gregg in the middle of the night. That he had no pencil and didn't want to turn up any lights. So he lit a sequence of matches, blew them out and wrote the song in burnt match-head on an ironing board.

Who the hell cares if the story is true or not. It is a great story. A quintessential rock 'n roll story.

Not a typical Allman Brothers song either. It is Gregg with an acoustic guitar and the band behind him.

At a concert when you see Gregg walk to the front of the stage with an acoustic guitar you know you are about to be treated to "Melissa."

Quietly beautiful.

Although these two DJ's broke my heart, they did it with respect. And feeling. And appreciation. And awe.

Music is emotion, emotion is music. Some bands are able to take that recipe and turn it into something bigger than themselves. Something timeless and soul gratifying.

The Allman Brothers Band is one of those bands.

The River Gets it.