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free shows for a few weeks by that point.
    ALLMAN: I got my brother aside and said, “I don’t know if I can cut this. I don’t know if I’m good enough.” And he starts in on me: “You little punk, I told these people all about you and you don’t come in here and let me down.” Then I snatched the words out of his hand and said, “Count it off, let’s do it.” And with that, I did my damnedest. I’d never heard or sung this song before, but by God I did it. I shut my eyes and sang, and at the end of that there was just a long silence. At that moment we knew what we had. Duane kinda pissed me off and embarrassed me into singing my guts out. He knew which buttons to push.
    The group played their first gig on March 30, 1969, at the Jacksonville Armory. Gregg had been in town for four days. The ABB on stage, with Dickey and Duane on guitar.

    MIKE CALLAHAN, one of the band’s first crew members: The original name of the band was Beezlebub. That’s what the guys were calling it, or just “the band.” When we played that first gig in Jacksonville, there was no name. It was just, “The boys are playing.”
    PRICE: We did a few shows with my band the Load, the Second Coming, and then what was becoming the Allman Brothers. Berry and Dickey would do double duty. At one of the first shows after Gregg arrived, Duane said, “I’m glad you really liked that. This is a new band. We don’t have a name but we might be calling it Beezlebub.” I don’t think anyone liked it and it lasted about five minutes …
    JAIMOE: Beezlebub was one name that was talked about, but it was never “the name.” Lots of things were talked about. I do remember Jerry Wexler being worried because he said every brother band he had ever worked with had great conflicts over everything.
    TRUCKS: I think we all knew that Beelzebub wasn’t it, but we were at a loss as to what it should be—what it was. Phil Walden came up with the Allman Brothers due to the fact that Duane was the driving force. Duane absolutely would not allow it to be called the Duane Allman Band, but once Gregg joined the band, Phil sold the Brothers concept. Duane was at first very much against it. He felt that this was a band of equals and he did not want himself and his brother to become the focus of attention.
    RED DOG, early crew member: The Allman Brothers Band name really was because of Duane, and Gregg used to say, “I’m lucky my name is Allman.”
    Joseph “Red Dog” Campbell was one of the band’s first hardcore fans. A disabled Marine vet just home from Vietnam, he fell in love with Duane’s playing after hearing the band play for free in a Jacksonville park, was drawn in by the guitarist’s charisma, and begged for a job. Duane told him he could set up the drums, and Red Dog began hanging around the group, actually donating his monthly disability checks to the cause. He moved with the band to Macon and became their fourth crew member, hired as a driver and drum tech once the band started touring in earnest. He would remain with the group for more than thirty years.
    JAIMOE: Red Dog loved Duane and started hanging around when we were playing in the park in Jacksonville. He was a vet who could score you a woman or some weed or whatever. He just wanted to be a part of what we were doing, so Duane said, “Go set up the drums.” I would tell him to just take mine out of the case and I would set them up and he’d be kind of offended and ask to set them up and I’d say, “It’s like waxing your car—some things you want to do yourself.” After about six months, I said, “Go ahead and set them up,” and he was so happy. Red Dog was a good man and he loved the band.

 
    CHAPTER
    3
    Georgia on a Fast Train
    B Y M AY 1 , the band had relocated to Macon, Georgia, where Walden was establishing Capricorn Records; his new band would be the label’s first act. Walden’s dual role as label head and band manager would eventually cause the members to complain