The Allman Brothers Band at Fillmore East, often viewed as one of the truly great live albums, was recorded by Tom Dowd at the height of the band's power on 12th and 13th March 1971 and before guitarist Duane Allman's death in 1973. It resulted in a classic double album with a very distinctive cover featuring black & white photographs taken by Jim Marshall of the band posing casually with their cased equipment which had been piled up against a brick wall. Duane was always appreciative of the band's road crew and insisted that the back cover of the album should replicate the front but with the band replaced by their roadies. So, the same setting was used to depict (from left to right) Joseph ("Red Dog") Campbell, Kim Payne, Joe Dan Petty, Mike Callaghan and Willie Perkins. Red Dog, Kim and Joe Dan are holding cans of Pabst Blue Ribbon beer which, in view of the album's success, was probably as good an advertising campaign as the brewers could have devised themselves. The beer was provided by the photographer as a reward to the roadies for lugging out and stacking the band's heavy equipment for the photo shoot. None of the pictures of the band for the cover were actually taken at the Fillmore East but near the band's headquarters in Macon, Georgia.
"Red Dog" was a red-haired Vietnam veteran and Kim Payne had only just been checked out of a hospital after recovering from being shot by a policeman. He had been stopped for speeding 3 days after the Fillmore concerts. Kim was also the co-writer of one of the band's well-known numbers - "Midnight Rider". Joe Dan played bass in one of Dickey Betts earlier bands - "The Jokers" and Mike Callaghan was a soundman and bus driver for "The Roemans", the backing band for Tommy Roe. Willie Perkins had a degree in business management and had been brought in to replace the band's Tour Manager, Twiggs Lyndon, who was in jail awaiting trial for murder. One of his responsibilities was to look after the books and it wasn't long before he found that the finances were in a mess and that, even as a roadie, he was making more money than anyone else in the band.
At "Red Dog's" suggestion, the back cover also acknowledges Twiggs' absence by having a separate photo of him superimposed on the brick wall beside the track listing.
Words by John Seaton, drawing on Scott Freeman's Midnight Riders - The Story of The Allman Brothers Band and Skydog - The Duane Allman Story by Randy Poe.
Jim Marshall took countless iconic photographs of musicians, from early 1960s images of Bob Dylan in Greenwich Village through to Woodstock, where he was chief photographer (not the first Woodstock photographer mentioned on these pages. Henry Diltz features in the Buffalo Springfield Again entry. Diltz is also described as the official photographer (as, I have discovered, was Elliott Landy), so I guess you are allowed more than one). Marshall also famously photographed Jimi Hendrix setting his guitar on fire at the Monterey Pop Festival, and Johnny Cash at San Quentin. For more visit www.jimmarshallphotographyllc.com
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