Gregg Allman now on the side of the angels

Gregg Allman started out by declaring that both he and the Allman Brothers were going to take it easy in 2010.

After a hectic year in which the band was on the road a lot to mark its 40th anniversary and Mr. Allman sustained a serious injury—involving, of all things, a motorcycle—it was time to slow down. But then he rattled off a litany of festivals and other engagements, including the band’s annual series of shows in New York City. It looks, instead, like 2010 is booked.

“Some people say to me what am I doing in the Northeast in January,” Mr. Allman said. “I tell them because that is where it’s happening in the winter, and I love playing up there. And it all begins in Westhampton.”

Mr. Allman and his band will be performing at the Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center on Saturday, January 2.

To steal a line from the Grateful Dead—for whom the Allman Bros. opened at the pseudo-Woodstock Watkins Glen festival in 1973—what a long, strange trip it’s been for Mr. Allman. Earlier this month he turned 62, and all he could do in a telephone interview from Savannah, Georgia, was chuckle at the absurdity of it.

“Hell, I can’t believe I’m 62 because my mind is still stuck on 27,” he declared before launching into one of several stories: “Butch [Trucks, the drummer] called me on my birthday and we were talking about that very thing, all those years behind us, yet we’re still on the road together. He reminded me of how we met, in 1966 in Daytona Beach. He had a band that just got fired from a gig and they’re sitting on a corner with their guitars and equipment and nowhere to go. I was about to pass by them, but I stopped and asked what was going on. They said they had no money and no food. So I put them up at my mama’s house for a while, and Duane met them, and the rest is history.”

It has been one of the more remarkable histories in American music. Mr. Allman and his guitar-playing brother, Duane, had formed a band called the Allman Joys in their hometown of Daytona Beach. With Trucks and then Dicky Betts, Berry Oakley, and “Jaimoe” Johanson joining in, the Allman Brothers were born in Jacksonville.

Their debut album, “The Allman Brothers Band,” and the follow-up, “Idlewild South,” generated a cult following, but word of mouth among audiences about their jam-packed live shows made the band an emerging attraction. Duane Allman joined Eric Clapton in Derek and the Dominos for their one album, “Layla and Other Love Songs,” then returned to the band and the road. Their breakthrough album was “At Fillmore East” in 1971, a live recording. Three months after recording that album in June of ’71, the Fillmore East in New York City closed, and the Allman Brothers were the last act, playing their already-classic versions of “One Way Out,” “Whipping Post” and “Statesboro Blues.”

Duane Allman was killed in a motorcycle accident in October 1971, after finishing his work on the album “Eat a Peach.” A year later, Berry Oakley died, also in a motorcycle accident. The band continued until 1976, broke up, reformed in 1978, broke up again four years later, then reformed, seemingly for good, in 1989.

“It’s a real blessing, and nowadays it just gets better and better,” Mr. Allman said. “We had some very tough times, but the way I feel now, Butch, Jaimoe, Warren [Haynes], Marc [Quinones], and Oteil [Burbridge],” referring to the members of the Allman Brothers today, most of whom were original members, “they all help make life worth living.”

Mr. Allman had his share of very tough times, including multiple marriages and drug and alcohol abuse. But he has been sober since the 1990s, and some of that subsequent new energy has gone into his solo career, which began in 1973 with the album “Laid Back.” A hit from it was his reworked version of an Allman Brothers-recorded song, “Midnight Rider.” In 1987, Mr. Allman had his biggest solo success, with “I’m No Angel.”

His last original solo album was “Searching For Simplicity” in 1997. But that is about to change. Mr. Allman has just returned from Los Angeles where he recorded an as yet untitled album of 14 songs, a combination of covers and tunes he has written, and he is elated about it. The CD is to be released in April.

“I just finished three days of listening to the tracks and this album is way, way far the best one,” he said. “It is 100 percent blues. I’ve been trying to find something wrong with it, that’s what a player does, but so far I can’t. I’m really excited about this. Most are old, old songs. T. Bone Burnett produced it, and you can’t get any better than him.”

When asked if going on tour as a solo act is less complicated than with the Allman Brothers Band, he replied, “Actually, there are pros and cons. I personally don’t have to worry about if all my ducks are in a row, I got people to help me coordinate the logistics and all that. I guess I’m the boss, but you know, I’ve got to sing all the songs, no one’s going to help me, and I can’t kick back while Derek [Trucks] or whoever does a 10-minute guitar solo. It’s a little easier that we don’t bring sound and lights with me; it’s more of a stripped-down, lean and mean show.”

Mr. Allman spoke similarly about songwriting as a solo performer versus writing for a large, veteran band. “You just kind of write and they find their way to which band they belong in,” he said. “It’s like a writer begins writing, and then figures if it’s going to be a short story or novel or whatever.”

He is fully recovered from what was a career-threatening injury. The story on that one: “About three months ago I was taking one of my motorcycles out of a trailer and it got stuck. So it’s 97 degrees and I’m trying to pull half a ton of Harley Davidson out of this trailer. I’m yanking on that boy and for what’s it’s worth I got it out but in the process I bulged two discs in my back and pinched a nerve in my neck, and, dig it, my pinky and the finger next to it on my right hand just stopped working. On the last leg of the Allman Brothers tour I had to get Bruce Katz, the piano player from my band, to come along and help me.

“When I was playing the organ, those first three fingers were fine, but those other two fingers would just be dragging along and playing any note they wanted to. Scared me to death, wondering if I was going to be like this for life. I said a lot of prayers and rested, and it’s all back now. All healed.”

He said he’s looking forward to the band’s annual series in New York City, especially because this year will be the 20th edition. Previously, the Allman Brothers Band did 12 to 15 shows in the spring at the Beacon Theater. But that venue has been sold and is no longer available. Instead, the band will play the Paradise in upper Manhattan, and will do 18 shows.

“It will be great doing our sort of ‘March madness’ in New York,” Mr. Allman said. “It will be a big celebration and we’re going to love it. People from Maine to Virginia have been so good to us, but especially the audience in New York.”

But first up is Westhampton Beach. The playlist will include, he said, “A few songs from the new record that’s still got to be learned. We’ll be fine. See, unlike the Brothers, I always like to get to a place a day early and rehearse my band anywhere from three to eight hours.”

So this road warrior is anxious to hit the road again. Other than a cleaned-up life, what is the secret?

“When you write a new song, it actually gives me a youthful feeling,” Mr. Allman said. “It’s like I’m reborn. So even when you turn 62 years old, you can feel young if you keep creating ... and, of course, singing the blues like we done from the beginning.”

Gregg Allman and his band will perform at the Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center on Saturday, January 2, at 8 p.m. Tickets are $100, $120, or $145, available by calling the Arts Center box office at 288-1500, stopping in at the PAC at 76 Main Street, or online at www.whbpac.org.