Producer of The Allman Brothers Band

August 16, 2000

Johnny Sandlin, producer of The Allman Brothers Band, answers your questions about blues and southern rock music and his experiences in the recording industry.

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Garageband: Welcome to garageband.com's live chat event! Rock and Roll owes it Southern edge and Blues twang to Johnny Sandlin. This Rock legend produced The Allman Brothers Band, as well as separate projects with Duane and Gregg Allman, throughout the '70s and into the '90s. He also perfected the sound of Widespread Panic on their debut album, "Widespread Panic". Johnny believes in making music from the heart and is here to share his legendary knowledge with you.

Johnny Sandlin: I'd like to welcome everybody to the chat. This is my first chat and I've been working as a producer and engineer since 1969. I will be glad to answer any question that people have over the course of time or in the future.

Cheftell: Where does southern rock get its roots from?

Johnny Sandlin: Southern rock gets its roots from first of all blues and jazz. Later a country influence. The original Allman Brothers Band was almost exclusively based from blues and jazz music. Later on other bands, most notably Lynyrd Skynryd, added a lot of country influence into the mix.

Kitkat: Johnny, I love the Allman Brothers Band. What other similar work have you done, I would love to check it out!

Johnny Sandlin: I was fortunate enough, when working with the Brothers at Capricorn Records in Macon, Georgia I was head of A & R at Capricorn Records, and during that period I was fortunate enough to work with Wet Willie, Bonnie Bramlett, a group called Cowboy, Delbert McClinton. Those acts were some of the acts on Capricorn. They were signed after the Allman Brothers. This was in the '70s up until '78.

Charlie: Did you enjoy your time with the Allman Brothers - the history seems a little tumultuous.

Johnny Sandlin: As Charles Dickens would say, "It was the best of times. It was the worst of times." However, the good times and the great music that came out of the relationship far outweigh the bad times. The bad times were usually due to personalities. The best times were always the music. I have the utmost respect for the Allman Brothers as they were back then and as they are now too. They are incredible musicians and they did create what later became known as Southern Rock. However, to most of us who were on the scene we never considered the Brothers as southern rock. Mainly because of their roots in blues and jazz. Southern rock to me is better exemplified by Lynyrd Skynyrd, etc.

Bobb: When did you start your career in music? Has the country scene changed much since then?

Johnny Sandlin: I started playing guitar when I was eleven. I've always worked in music, either as a musician or in the studio. I've never been deeply involved in country music even though I have a couple of country artists I am working with now. I think the country music has changed drastically since the late '50s and '60s and '70s and during the '80s it took another giant step and then another giant step in the '90s. However, in my opinion I think a lot of the music that is country music now has become so incestuous that the gene pool is getting really shallow.

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