Blog: PopMatters

T-Bone Burnett helps Gregg Allman make a top-shelf bluesy Americana record. Despite their (often excellent, but also often cloying) forays into "Southern rock", the Allman Brothers has always been a blues band at heart. And not just a pretty good blues band, either, but an innovative, boundary-pushing, genre-redefining blues band. Their dueling/harmonizing guitar formats have influenced a generation of garage wailers; their interweaving of deliberate song structures and tension/release instrumental explorations has defined the sound of countless jam bands; and their expert blend of traditional formats...