Allman Brothers Band to Receive Grammy ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’

The Allman Brothers Band are at last getting some long overdue respect from The Recording Academy. On February 12, the pioneering Southern rockers will be honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Grammys.

Joining the group as recipients of the Class of 2012 Special Merit Awards will be Glen Campbell, George Jones, The Memphis Horns, Gil Scott-Heron, Diana Ross and Antonio Carlos Jobim. In addition, three members of The Allman Brothers Band will be vying for a Grammy for their solo work, in the category of Best Blues Album. Among the nominees are Gregg Allman, for his album, Low Country Blues; the Tedeschi-Trucks Band, for Revelator; and Warren Haynes, for Man in Motion.

To date, The Allman Brothers Band have been awarded just one Grammy. That honor came for their live version of “Jessica,” from An Evening with The Allman Brothers: 2nd Set. The track took home a Grammy for Best Rock Instrumental Performance in 1996.

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Allman Brothers Legend Gregg Allman to Write Memoirs

Following in the footsteps of Keith Richards, Sammy Hagar, Steven Tyler and Pete Townshend, Gregg Allman will finally put his story to pen and paper. The Allman Brothers legend signed a deal with William Morrow and will release his memoirs next spring.

In a statement, Allman said: “When I got out of high school, I thought, ‘I'll take a year or two off and play the clubs, get this out of my system and then go to med school.’ More than 40 years later, I figure it's finally time to write about this crazy journey that's taken me around the world and back.”

The Allman Brothers Band was formed in 1969 by Gregg Allman, his brother Duane, Dickey Betts, Berry Oakley, Butch Trucks and Jaimoe Johanson. Following the tragic deaths of Duane Allman in 1971 and Berry Oakley in 1972, the band soldiered on and—despite a few breakups and reunions—the Allmans have continued their tradition as one of rock’s great live acts to this day.

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Derek Trucks: Duane Allman Set the Bar

Talking to Gibson.com about his new album Revelator, the Allman Brothers Band guitarist and solo artist Derek Trucks offered up his opinion of the late great Duane Allman. “Duane is a seminal figure like Charlie Christian or Wes Montgomery – a guy who came along at exactly the point where there was a major change in music, and fell into the center of it,” Trucks said.

“For electric slide you’ve gotta go back to Elmore James, and Duane was really that next step. He had learned the basics and was playing with some of the best R&B musicians in the world in the studio, and at the same time was listening to Miles Davis’ [early fusion masterpiece] Bitches Brew and Jimi Hendrix. He had a lot of influences, but Duane was the first guy to take that Elmore sound and crack it wide open in a way that opened the door to his sound for guitar players and for people in general. And when somebody comes along and takes what comes before them and moves it ahead the way Duane did, the bar is set.”

For the full interview with Trucks, click here.

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