Scott Sharrard has told me that he’s like the Yo-Yo Ma of Americana music. In other words, he’s playing music which is sadly slipping into history. He said that as many younger people drift away from roots music, music with traditions, they are often looking for music with a beat, music made on a laptop, music that sounds like a video game. Because of technology, the younger generation may be less focused on complete albums and more prone to listen to individual songs.
When I spoke to Scott, I heard the passion and deep feeling in his voice. He’s spent a lifetime playing with luminaries like Hubert Sumlin, Buddy Miles, Levon Helm, Greg Allman and a host of other talented players, some well-known, some not.
Scott is someone who unifies, who brings people and styles together. His spectacular songwriting, vocal ability and guitar playing showcase his originality. No one is creating the kind of music Scott is making today. But he’s also cognizant of those who have influenced him. And the list is long and crosses many genres and styles. From Tony Joe White, to Jimmy Page, to Aretha Franklin, to Al Green – all those voices live in Scott Sharrard. His style flies above all that he has learned, but he’s not shy to acknowledge the fount from which he has drunk.
Of course, having played with Greg Allman for about ten years, Scott has been nourished on the music of The Allman Brothers.
Appreciating and celebrating his connection to the brothers Allman, Scott organized a Duane Allman tribute show, celebrating, what would have been, the seventy-third birthday of Duane Allman.
On November 20th, I went to see the tribute show at the Brooklyn Bowl with my friends Sam and Jack.
The very idea of a Duane tribute show is very emotional for Sam, Jack and me – we’ve known this music most of our lives. No doubt the throng of people at the Brooklyn Bowl that night felt that way too. Honoring Duane Allman’s genius and his talent for crossing musical styles, Scott assembled an incredible list of players who interpreted Duane Allman’s history, from Macon, Georgia to Muscle Shoals and beyond, through their own voices.
What Sam, Jack and I found interesting and delightful was that Scott’s song list chronicled Duane’s career, going back to his sideman guitar playing with Muscle Shoals stars like Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett, Boz Scaggs, King Curtis, Cowboy and up into his career with The Allman Brothers.
While the band performed versions of the songs on which Duane played sideman, the heat in the Brooklyn Bowl rose to a steady simmer. I found it remarkable that, to the right of the stage, people still bowled, their scores flashing up on screens in their aisles. As the band’s intensity flared up, the lights dazzling and blinking, the bowlers had to stop and listen. How could anyone throw a strike while Scott ripped his solos out like lightning, burning up the stage?
What made the night special was that the band transformed all night, as players moved in and out. Tash Neal played guitar and sang Wilson Pickett’s funky versions of “Born to Be Wild” and “Hey Jude.”
This was followed by Junior Mack playing sweet Duane riffs, trading leads with Scott, to Boz Scagg’s “Loan Me a Dime.” Junior Mack’s voice milked the honey drops from each note, as he and Scott then climaxed the song into a roaring frenzy.
For me some of the highlights of the night were Duane Betts playing guitar and singing on John Hammond’s “Shake for Me,” followed by an arresting version of “Wild Horses,” sung by Lisa Fischer, with Vernon Reid on guitar. Duane Betts’ playing embodied both (his father) Dicky Betts’s plucky bluegrass / blues style and Duane’s bell-toned soloing. And he looks a lot like Dicky Betts, too. Lisa Fischer’s version of Wild Horses was ethereal. Using two microphones, her voice echoed off the rafters and hanging disco balls and dissolved into the stage lights. Meanwhile, Vernon Reid’s intense staccato guitar playing ginned up the music level to planet shattering proportions. Scott had mentioned at the outset that “Wild Horses” was recorded at Muscle Shoals and was reputed to have been written originally by Gram Parsons. I didn’t know this. Scott said that this would be a stretch, but the audience would get it – and he was right. The song seemed to float up into the fans and dissipate into the sky above Williamsburg, Brooklyn, then blow across the world. I hope Scott’s offering to Duane settled like a sweet rain into the nooks and crannies of the streets in every city. Perhaps some will unconsciously imbibe Duane’s music and its deep traditions and keep the flame alive for future generations.
Jack, Sam and I talked in the cab ride home about music. How music has changed so much since we were kids. We talked about how cool it was that Scott Sharrard pulled this together to honor Duane Allman, who he had never played with but who’s shoes he filled when playing with Greg Allman. We talked about how our lives are lived in the music we’ve listened to.
We’re all busy, wrapped up in our little worlds, but we come together in the music. It’s like we dwell in the music and then take yearly sojourns into the distraction of life itself. A decade can pass in life; but music creates a time vortex where we can access ourselves in our teens, in our twenties, people who’ve passed, perhaps even future versions of ourselves and others.
This is what I think Scott Sharrard aimed to bring us on Duane’s seventy-third birthday. I know Duane Allman was listening from atop the rafters in the Brooklyn Bowl. He was getting a good laugh too as the songs transfixed the bowlers. I believe he was happy that people enjoyed his music as they hung out with their friends, talked about old times and had a few beers. Meanwhile, Duane soared above it all like a cowboy gypsy, bearing sorrow, having fun.
Brooklyn Bowl: https://www.brooklynbowl.com/brooklyn
Scott Sharrard: https://www.scottsharrard.com/
One Comment
Nice article. I was at the BB show as well and had similar feelings. Had the the privilege of seeing the ABB with Duane in 1971, and still feel the impact of that show to this day. BTW, it’s Gram Parsons not Graham 😊.