Well, I was recording for Atlantic in Muscle Shoals Alabama. It was being produced by Marlin Green. The band was the guys who recorded behind Pickett and Aretha and all the crew. It was Eddie Hinton, Jimmy Johnson, David Hood, Roger Hawkins, the crew. And it had been going for about three days and we had cut some stuff, but I wasn't really feeling like they understood where I was coming from, you know. I was doing some Howling Wolf tunes and Muddy tunes. And they were doing their version of the songs not really taking my side of it somehow. I don't know how to explain that. But on the third day arrived this old milk truck with Duane Allman and Barry Oakley. And they drove from Macon to be there. And because Duane wanted to meet this John Hammond guy because he had a recording of mine.

And all of a sudden everybody said, “Hey Duane, how are you doing man” … They admired him so much. And I had never heard of him, so I didn't know anything. And all of a sudden, he said, “Man I'd love to play on your record”. And I said, okay. 

Was your first impression, who is this guy to ask me to play on my record? 

Well, he was hard to miss. I mean he was in your face. And I remember he had a gray t-shirt on that said City Slickers on it. And he was right out there. And he played great. And that was all it took. And he just blew everybody's mind. And then all of a sudden, the band understood exactly what I meant for the last three days, he was just a catalyst, he brought it all together. We became friends immediately. 

Were Your and Duane’s Motivations in Music Similar?

Oh I think it came from the same place. I mean we both loved the music and felt compelled to play. I don’t believe it was fame and fortune for either of us. I think he just wanted to get his stuff out there.  When I first met him, it was before the Allman Brothers. So about a year later I was on a show with him in St. Paul, Minnesota. And we got to hang out again. It was 35 below zero out there. It was nuts. And we hung out all night at this venue until we had to leave. He didn't know how to play in the open tunings. So he made me play the stuff for him. The older Robert Johnson, Willie McTell style, the country blues stuff. And he got right into that immediately. 

I have heard a lot about the All-Night Jam Sessions with You and Duane, Can You Tell Us More about Those?

Oh, we've had many, many a jam. But when I toured with them, as soon as the gig was over, we'd be in the hotel room just hanging out playing tunes. He said to me one time, “Man would you play that Taj Mahal tune for me, Statesboro Blues” And I said to him, okay Duane, well here's the history here. Taj Mahal may have sung the song but it's not his song. Willie McTell wrote it. He said, oh what? So I played him the Willie McTell version of it and he flipped out. So he was really eager to learn as much as he could just to soak it in. He didn't need much time.

He was way ahead of me. He admired what I did. So I took that on at face value. I mean he respected me and that was great but in terms of his star rising, he was there. That band hit so hard so fast and they were really successful from the beginning. I think because of Duane and Greg, they had this great sound together. The whole band was outrageous. I mean between Greg's vocals and Duane's guitar, they were intense.  These guys were totally together at the beginning. I mean this was way over my head in terms of having a tour bus and the big entourage, the road crew, the trucks, and stuff. I mean, it was a lot of pretty heavy stuff for me.