Marching Through Georgia

The original Allman Brothers was the greatest blues band in the world. Yes, grammatically speaking, they were a single coherent entity. That group desire is always present in people. It’s why we drum together. Creating a single out of many. The resultant power is incredible. The mingled psychic energy of a group of gifted composers and players creates an energy that changes the world. That’s what was happening back then. And now too. What I call, “Marching Through Georgia” was the special groove Jaimo and Butch and the rest of them would get into during the spirited jams in front of a totally supportive Southern audience. It loped along and snapped at you all at the same time. Gregg’s solo signature moan and Duane matching the moan with his solo etherial slide with only the drums cooking behind them created a transcendental moment; Ancient and modern shamanic rites, echoing back to and calling forward to the eternal connection between the earthbound soul and our higher self out there. It’s what we are hungry for. General Sherman marched through Georgia; but it was not nice. His army raped burned and pillaged a 5 mile swath from the Georgia border on down to Atlanta, burned Atlanta, turned left and burned and pillaged all the way to Savanna on the coast. At midnight on Christmas eve General Sherman stood poised on the outskirts of the most beautiful southern town. As the story goes, the women of Savannah told their men to go hide in the swamp, THEY would take care of this situation. General Sherman’s telegraph to President Lincoln: “Savannah intact. My Christmas gift to you”. An irate little girl who witnessed General Sherman’s muddy boots on her mother’s white antimacassar grew up to start the Girl Scouts. That groove has everything in it; unstoppable. And it feels great. It’s a really cooking groove with a lot of little syncopated second line snaps on the snare drums with counterpunches on the bass drums. Jaimo and Butch’s drums were not tuned like typical classic rock drumsets. They were more like jazz drums; higher, more penetrating. Nice, clean tone yet they could also sound like a military marching drumline with a whole lot of funkiness. Sweat dripping off those cats! Working hard and sounding amazing together; like one drummer with four legs and four arms, but also tapping into the Cosmos. Bringing the starlight just a little bit closer to us mortals down here on the rock.