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Welcome to www.hittinthenote.com! Here
you can find everything from our quarterly music magazine Hittin' the Note
to exclusive and hard to find CDs, DVDs, T-shirts, sweatshirts, hats, kidswear,
posters, stickers, books, coffee mugs and other merchandise from your favorite artists.
We always strive to give you the best...because music matters!
If this is your first visit here, be sure to check out our NEW STUFF section, which includes brand
new merchandise from the Allman Brothers Band 2012 Tour! To navigate to that location
please click "MERCHANDISE" on the blue bar above and then click "NEW STUFF" on the
left hand column under Categories.
While you're here, be sure to register for our web e-digest updates by clicking
on the
Join E-Digest link above. By registering, you will automatically receive
an email notice when the site has been updated, or when we have special music offers.
Consider it an invitation to our home on the web, a place where genuine music flourishes.
 HTN
#77!
 Seasons come and seasons go, but
the coverage of good music is a constant here at Hittin' the Note. Summer
tours are looming for most of our favorite bands, and HTN is determined to bring
you all the news that's fit to print about the artists who create the soundtracks
of our lives.
It's been 40 years since the Allman Brothers Band released Brothers and Sisters,
a career-defining album for the group and a record that many ABB fans cut their
teeth on. Four decades later, a "Super Deluxe Edition" of Brothers and Sisters
has been compiled, consisting of four CDs; the original album, a disc of outtakes
and jams, plus the complete September 26, 1973, ABB show from San Francisco's Winterland
Ballroom that captures this line-up in full stride.
HTN spoke to executive producer Bill Levenson about assembling this marvelous package,
and former ABB keyboardist Chuck Leavell shared his memories of joining the band
and the recording of Brothers and Sisters. A special time, a special album:
this is a great read. To accompany the Brothers and Sisters piece, we reached back
to 1997 to include an excerpt from an article about Lamar Williams, the late bassist
who held down the bottom end for the Allman Brothers from 1972-76. ABB founding
drummer Jaimoe was best friends with Lamar and was instrumental in Lamar's landing
the gig with the group. This is a very personal piece, one that will touch you with
its spirit of brotherhood.
Click here
to read the full Editor’s Notes and to order.
Allman Brothers Band
40th Anniversary
Re-issue of Brothers and Sisters Album
 When the Allman Brothers Band’s fifth
album, Brothers and Sisters, was released on Capricorn Records in August
1973, the legendary southern blues-rock group had already achieved world-wide fame
with their 1971 live album, At Fillmore East. This success was followed by
the tragic loss of their founder, leader and musical visionary, guitarist Duane
Allman, who died in a motorcycle crash on October 29, 1971. Arguably at the peak
of their popularity, the band's album followed the release of the two-disc Eat a
Peach, which came out on February 12, 1972, the last recording to include
contributions by Duane.
While regrouping under the leadership of singer/organist Gregg Allman and guitarist/vocalist
Dickey Betts - the last guitarist standing in a group noted for its dual leads -
The Allman Brothers Band soldiered on with Brothers and Sisters, which turned
out to be their most successful selling recording to date, spending five weeks at
#1 and the first to achieve platinum status. To mark its 40th anniversary, the original
classic recording, which includes such Allman standards as "Ramblin’ Man," "Wasted
Words," "Jessica" and "Come and Go Blues" - will be re-released in re-mastered form
on both CD and vinyl, with deluxe two-CD and four-CD box sets that include previously
unreleased rehearsals, jams and outtakes on Universal Music Enterprises.
"Brothers and Sisters documents a band reinventing itself and finding a new
direction after a traumatic loss," says UMe Chairman/CEO Bruce Resnikoff. "The two
deluxe editions, through these previously unreleased rehearsals, jams and outtakes,
offer a priceless glimpse inside that creative process."
The album’s famous front cover features a photo of Vaylor Trucks, the son of drummer
Butch Trucks, while the back sports a shot of Brittany Oakley, the daughter of bassist
Berry Oakley. The gatefold pictures the entire Allmans family: band members, roadies,
wives, girlfriends, children, dogs, all in a seemingly idyllic Southern setting,
capturing the family nature of the project.
The deluxe two-CD edition of Brothers and Sisters includes the original remastered
recording as well as previously unreleased rehearsals of "Wasted Words," "Trouble
No More," "One Way Out," "I’m Gonna Move to the Outskirts of Town" and "Done Somebody
Wrong"; outtakes of the instrumental "Southbound," "Double Cross" and "Early Morning
Blues," as well as the brand-new archival find, "A Minor Jam." The four-CD set includes
two discs devoted to a live performance at Winterland in San Francisco, Sept. 26,
1973, right after Brothers and Sisters’ release, featuring an introduction
by Bill Graham and previously unavailable live versions of "Done Somebody Wrong,"
"Stormy Monday," "Midnight Rider," "Statesboro Blues," "You Don’t Love Me" (which
includes "Amazing Grace"), "Les Brers in A Minor," "Blue Sky," "Trouble No More"
and "Whipping Post," along with two Brothers and Sisters tracks in "Come
and Go Blues" and "Jessica."
To find out more and to order please click here.
New Tedeschi Trucks Band CD Pre-order!
Scheduled for release on August 20, 2013 - Made Up Mind is the highly anticipated
follow-up to Tedeschi Trucks Band’s 2011 Grammy-winning debut Revelator and last
year’s scorching live collection, Everybody’s Talkin’. Through unparalleled
musicianship and a timeless, authentic sound, Made Up Mind proves that TTB
is fast becoming a band for the ages.
TTB is known for their extraordinary family of musicians, and Made Up Mind
continues that tradition as most tracks were penned by husband-and-wife Tedeschi
and Trucks along with various friends and co-writers—Doyle Bramhall II, Eric Krasno,
Gary Lour's, John Leventhal — all of whom also contributed to TTB's debut Revelator.
The album was also co-produced by Jim Scott (Johnny Cash, Red Hot Chili Peppers,
Wilco) and Trucks, and engineered by Bobby Tis - the same crack team that developed
the last two TTB albums.
Made Up Mind features “Part of Me," a song driven by a classic southern soul
groove straight out of Muscle Shoals. The raucous soul-rocker title track “Made
Up Mind” demonstrates the full power of the band from the album's first notes. Throughout
the course of the album it becomes increasingly apparent that Susan Tedeschi has
evolved into one of the most dauntingly commanding vocalists in contemporary music,
her serious lung power exploding on standout tracks such as the über-funky "Misunderstood"
and just as convincingly digging into the core of poignant, tender ballads like
“It’s So Heavy” and "Calling Out to You." Derek Trucks has indisputably matured
into one of the finest guitarists of our time, tearing up barnburners with his masterful
slide and lead lines while showcasing his easier, more subtle touch on the bluesy
“Do I Look Worried”.
Although Tedeschi Trucks Band bears the names of its co-leaders, each member of
this 11-piece juggernaut contributes equally, there are no weak links in this true
group achievement.
To hear song clips and to pre-order please click here.
Skydog - Back in Stock!
Hittin' the Note has been able to obtain a limited quantity of this product
that we are now offering up for sale. On E-Bay and Amazon you can see that the prices
for these boxes are going for $250 to $400. We will be selling ours for the MSRP
of $139.00 while supplies last. Please click here. to order.
Sea Level!
 In the mid-seventies
three members of the Allman Brothers Band - drummer Jaimoe, bassist Lamar Williams
and Chuck level, keyboards and vocals - would get together and play between band
dates. Originally they called themselves "We Three," because as Jaimoe explains
"we were the only three practicing and rehearsing in the band!" The trio would occasionally
open for the ABB in 1975 and 1976.
With the Allmans' first disbanding in 1976, the trio added guitarist Jimmy Nalls
and named the band based on a phonetic pun of their bandleader's name: "C. Leavell".
They toured relentlessly, experimenting and refining their sound, a tasty blend
of jazz, blues and Southern rock (in other words, they would have fit nicely into
today's jam band scene). Eventually signing with Capricorn Records, they recorded
their self-titled debut album, Sea level, in 1977.
After the release of their first album, the group expanded to a septet with the
additions of Davis Causey (guitar), George Weaver (percussion) and Randall Bramblett
(saxophones, keyboards and vocals). That configuration recorded the group's second
album, Cats on the Coast, in 1978. By the time of the third album, On the Edge,
Jaimoe and Weaver had both left, replaced by Joe English. Despite the changing lineups,
the second and third albums are remarkably consistent affairs featuring such signature
Sea Level songs as "That's Your Secret" and "A Lotta Colada." Both CDs have been
out of print for about a decade and command big bucks online.
A new record label, called Real Gone Music, has recently released the second and
third albums as a single CD for only $13.99. This new re-issue also includes a 20
page CD booklet with liner notes by Scott Schinder. If you are not familiar with
this music, do yourself a favor and check out some of the sound clips and order
it by clicking here.
Scott
Boyer Update!
 Scott Boyer, one of the key members
of Cowboy and a respected independent singer/songwriter on his own, has been battling
medical issues for a number of months.
Obviously, Scott has not been able to perform during this period and HTN would like
to raffle/auction off two very low numbered Skydogs to raise money for Scott.
This raffle/auction will last until June 30th at midnight. This money will be going
directly to Scott to use as he desires so please act with your heart and give back
to this incredible musician.
Click here to go to the link.
What was it like to play Duane Allman’s guitar?
 During last October’s
annual GABBAfest celebration in Macon, GA, guitarist Sonny Moorman had the dream
of a lifetime come true; he got the opportunity to play Duane Allman’s legendary
’57 Les Paul Goldtop, which Duane used to record the first two albums by the Allman
Brothers, as well as the iconic Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs with Eric Clapton.
It truly was a night to remember for Sonny; we’ll let him tell the rest of the story.
What was it like to play Duane Allman’s guitar? Wow – where do I start? I could
start with trying to add up the countless hours I’ve gladly spent listening to and
playing along with the ABB’s early records, or trying to count the many times I’ve
enjoyed playing songs from the original band’s repertoire in virtually every band
I’ve ever been in since the very first – which featured two drummers (from Jacksonville,
FL!) and two guitars. I love a lot of other guitarists, too; I grew up listening
to Lonnie Mack and Cal Collins playing in bars around my hometown of Hamilton, OH,
and dearly love Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, Jimi Hendrix, Johnny Winter,
Roy Buchannan, Rory Gallagher, Peter Green, Carlos Santana and a host of others
– but it was the Allman Brothers Band that hit me the hardest and at the right time.
Their mix of rock, blues, jazz, soul and country – improvised live and in-person
by virtuoso players just floored me – and it still does! Add to that the fact that
I have been managed the past fifteen or so years by my good friend Willie Perkins
– the tour manager for the Allman Brothers Band in the “golden era” from 1970 to
1976 (and more). For the full article (& photos) click here.
Festival
Review: JazzFest 2013
 Put world-class roots
music together on 12 stages for seven days in April and May, combine it with cuisine
native to New Orleans and the rest of Louisiana at the spacious Fairgrounds Racetrack
in New Orleans and what do you have? You have "the mother of all music festivals,"
the annual New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. While the festival by necessity
is slanted heavily toward musicians from "the Texas Triangle," an area that encompasses
New Orleans to the east, Port Arthur, Texas to the west and Houston, Texas to the
north, this year, even New Jersey-raised, New York-based punk rocker Patti Smith
and her band were on the bill. The festival always attracts plenty of patrons from
New York and New Jersey, as they seek to get a jump on spring and summer with the
usually much warmer temperatures served up in New Orleans in late April and early
May. The annual musical marathon is always held the last weekend in April and the
first Thursday-Friday-Saturday-Sunday in May.. For the full article (& photos) click
here.
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