Low Country Blues

iTunes Review

In an inspired pairing, producer T Bone Burnett teams up with Gregg Allman on Low Country Blues, the veteran Southern rocker’s first solo album in nearly 14 years. The voice of the Allman Brothers Band does more than trade on his legendary status here — he renews his stature by reconnecting with the blues and R&B sounds that inspired him in his youth. Allman makes these songs his own by infusing them with a sense of his personal trials and hardships. His raw-throated takes on Otis Rush’s “Checking On My Baby” and Sleepy John Estes’ “Floating Bridge” are at once pain-wracked and commanding; on Bobby Bland’s “Blind Man,” he displays the seductive finesse of an uptown bluesman. Even more visceral is Allman’s treatment of Skip James’ ”Devil Got My Woman,” rendered here as a swampy roadhouse stomper. Burnett surrounds the singer with an A-list crew of players, with Mac (Dr. John) Rebennack’s moody yet ever-swinging piano and Doyle Bramhall II’s slithery guitar lines lending support. Gritty, haunting and eloquent, Low Country Blues marks Allman’s return to the front ranks of American music.