“Alan Paul is rock’s finest narrative historian.”
-Ted Drozdowski, Premier Guitar
Now a New York Times Instant Best Seller.
“No journalist knows the ins and outs of the Allman Brothers Band better than Alan Paul.” – Warren Haynes
“Moving… exhaustive. Its alternating-voices format lays the band’s mottled history out with a convincing sense of how its triumphs and hard times were wholly interwoven. The book’s virtue is the way its democratic ethos mirrors that of the Allmans’ racially integrated, communal aspect: The roadies play nearly as large a part in the story as the band members themselves.”
-The New York Times Book Review, recommended summer reading list
Thank you everyone who helped One Way Out: The Inside History of the Allman Brothers Band become a New York Times Instant Best Seller. I am humbled and honored to announce that the book debuted in its first week tied for ninth on the Hardcover Non-Fiction List.
I thought all along that I was tapping into something bigger than most others realized, but I was not certain that I was not delusional.
My goal was nothing less than the ultimate word on the greatest band in rock history and I am deeply appreciative of the feedback that indicates I may just have pulled it off, via reader emails and the reviews – in newspapers, magazines, blogs and by regular readers like you on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.com
Rolling Stone says, “This pot-stirring oral history reads like a backstory of how musical lightning comes to be.”
Guitar World writes, “The stories are salty, unfiltered and straight from the horse’s mouth. It’s a good thing, too, because the Allmans’ story is often so bizarre and harrowing it’s hard to believe it’s true. The word ‘definitive’ gets tossed around so often it has lost some of its meaning, but this 400-page journey into the heart of rock and roll darkness deserves the accolade.”
The Atlanta Journal Constitution: “Considering the band’s operatic dimension — unspeakable tragedy, personal division, drug addiction, perseverance — it is a wise decision by the author to let its many members and sidekick crew have the floor to themselves.”
And The NY Daily News says, “The trust the author has built up with the Southern rockers and their confederates is obvious in this oral history, as everyone still alive tells their side of the story.”
Check out the Don” Imus in the Morning” interview with Alan Paul here: Don Imus Interview – One Way Out
A taste of my Book Launch at Words, Maplewood’s Bookstore:
The book includes interviews with almost 60 people, including all surviving members, from founders Dickey Betts, Gregg Allman, Butch Trucks and Jaimoe to Warren Haynes, Chuck Leavell and Derek Trucks as well as many other friends, associates and managers, including four of the five people who have overseen the band’s career: the late Phil Walden, John Scher, Danny Goldberg and Bert Holman, who has managed the ABB since 1991. One Way Out also features interviews with the now-deceased Tom Dowd, Allen Woody, Red Dog and Mike Callahan.
Other interviewees include: Eric Clapton, Billy Gibbons, Johnny Sandlin, Stephen Paley, W. David Powell, Rick Hall, Bunky Odom, Don Law, Michael Caplan, Col. Bruce Hampton, Mama Louise Hudson, John, Scoots and AJ Lyndon, Linda Oakley, Kirk West, John McEuen, Jon Landau and many others.
Drummers and ABB founding members Butch Trucks and Jaimoe wrote the Foreword and Afterword respectively. One Way Out also features almost 150 photographs including many never-before-seen images by Danny Clinch, Jim Marshall, Neal Preston and Stephen Paley. Uniquely, it also features almost 100 images taken by ABB road managers Twiggs Lyndon and Kirk West. I’m very proud of the art, having worked to make it as strong as the words.
Thank you everyone for all the great support.
“If you want to know the real deal, read Alan Paul.” –Oteil Burbridge, the Allman Brothers Band
Hi Alan,
I have an book idea for which I want no compensation at all. I thought of you to write it in that I read Big in China and One Way Out. I am a huge ABB fan but was a little disappointed in One Way Out. I wanted more drugs, crazy women and wild groupie stories like in Red Dog’s book.
That said, I loved Big in China. I devoured it in 3 days. Wonderful read!
Alright now my idea. Has a book been written about the business side of live touring bands? (think a non-fiction “Almost Famous”) Like who gets paid the big bucks and how much? What does Willie pay his bass player? Is it cheaper to fire the band and hire sideman? Who treats their roadies well and who stiffs them? What does the venue make? Does the band get any of the beer sales money? Who flys and who rides the bus? Does cash change hands or is it all electronic now. What does a guitar tech do and who’s the best?
Who is the top road manager? promoter? etc. etc. I want to read real names and real $ amounts!
Write it and we will buy it!
Thanks and Take care,
Mark Manuel
Black Mountain, NC
Hey, I just saw this. We could have fun with this.
Enjoyed the book,it brought back memories. In 1970-74 I had a record store on the fringe of the VCU campus in Richmond VA. It had large room with a stage on the second floor.I booked to play there in July.The room had no A/C They played for over 3 hours with out taking a break ran one song right into the next. A great show. alot of other soon to be big acts played there,Bruce Springsteen’s Band Steel Mill and Alice Cooper And many more but ABB was the best.
Charles McSwain VCU69
FYI. The Buy Now link on the website does not work.
Yeah. I took that own for various reasons. What do you want to buy? You can email me at alanpaulgw – gmail.com
I loved your book. A thorough ABB fan after only discovering them some 5 years ago (only jazz for me from late 1940s before then). I’ve been listening to every YouTube post i can find since, and devouring every bit of info on them I can find.
I am especially knocked out by earlier Dickie Betts, and have been frustrated over not learning the full back story of this great guitarist. Thanks for your book’s giving us somewhat of the story on him, but it is intriguing to imagine what all we might learn of him while he’s still here with us.
I get the impression that he may be very private and reluctant to have a full portrait done. But is there any possibility you might be interested in doing his full biography?
He still has loads of fans who would reward an author who would take this on. What d’you say?
Thanks. I don’t think dickey is interested in doing this. There is a documentary in the works, however.
Just read your excellent article on the Allman Brothers and Live at Fillmore. Fact is..I was in the audience the night they recorded Whipping Post. Me and my best friend Steve were sitting a few rows behind the guy who screamed “Whipping Post” while Gregg was doing the intro. I still have my Fillmore Program from that night. A few nights ago I caught the offspring of Gregg, Dickey, and Berry at a Long Island venue. There will never be a group as tight, musically significant, and technically competent as the original Brothers but the offspring are no slouches. Thank you for bringing lots of great memories back again.
Thanks for the note!
Alan, just watching Stevie Ray Vaughn special on TV. Just wondering if he and my late husband crossed paths. Dennis (Denny) Ross Tobell aka Demian Bell. They were born five months apart and had very similar life paths. D learned licks from Roy Buchanan and taught some to Jimmy Hendrix. He did cross paths with Eric Clapton and played live on German TV with Tony Sheridan in 2006. All elite guitarists. Let me know, if convenient. Ciao.
Not that I know of, but of course no way for me to know every person Stevie crossed paths with!
Dear Alan, I don’t know where to begin, except to tell you that a few years ago through the glory of DNA, I discovered that I am Gregg Allman‘s eldest daughter. During those first days and weeks, I looked to you for everything and anything about my father and my uncle and the rest of the brotherhood, and no one else got it right. You gave me my family. I am now the proud sister to 7 1/2 siblings and multiple grown ups in the entire ABB world, and I would love to chat with you one day as I know you knew my father very well. But most of all, I wanted to say thank you for everything you have given me. Sadly, I only found out shortly after his death, but all I need to do is look in the mirror to know who I belong to. That and my music, which I had no idea where that came from lol. I hope we meet one day, I have become fast friends with Michael Lehman and so many others and you are the true hero and scholar of what I view to be the most important American band in history. With love, Liz Allman
Wow. Thanks Liz. That’s some story. I appreciate your kind words.