The Allman Brothers Band Share “Desdemona” From Upcoming 2003 ‘Peach Picks’ Release
The Allman Brothers Band are gearing up to release a new compilation, Peach Picks: Cream Of The Crop 2003, a collection of the best performances culled from six shows in July and August 2003 and dedicated to Gregg Allman, who passed away in 2017. Set for release this Friday, June 15th, via the band’s Peach Records (Orchard distribution), the collection includes 36 tracks recorded between July 25 and August 10, 2003, in Indianapolis; Pittsburgh; Darien Center, NY; Hartford; Charlotte; and Raleigh, with no song repeated. Peach Picks: Cream Of The Crop 2003 also features special guest collaborations on four songs with Susan Tedeschi, Karl Denson, and Branford Marsalis.The 2003 iteration of the Allman Brothers Band included founding members Gregg Allman, Jaimoe, and Butch Trucks, as well as guitarist/vocalist Warren Haynes, percussionist Marc Quiñones, bassist Oteil Burbridge, and guitarist Derek Trucks—the same lineup that lasted through the band’s final run in 2014, marking the band’s longest-running lineup and most consistent in its live performances. According to a press release, “The band had just released their first album in 10 years, the Grammy-nominated Hittin’ The Note and were in top shape.”Their most recent form of promotion is the release of a rare version of the Warren Haynes/Gregg Allman penned ballad “Desdemona” from the Darien Lake Performing Arts Center in Darien Center, New York on 8/02/03. Take a listen below:“It was a really good time period for the band,” Haynes, who is the Supervising Producer of the Peach Picks, told Billboard. “We had all the new material and we were reinventing a lot of old material and the band was on a high note at that point, so it just seemed like a good thing to go back and make [the recordings] available to folks.”“It’s really interesting to hear how energized the band was at that point in time,” Haynes continued. “Everybody was so psyched to make a new record and so proud of the record we had just made it just seemed like the band was really hitting its stride. Not having heard any of the stuff in a long time, when I went back to start listening to it. It was just really refreshing to get a snapshot of where the band was at that moment.”“It was a fresh outlook, or even a fresher outlook on the band’s legacy and what it meant for the band to still be touring and still be vibrant and still be breaking new ground and pushing itself,” Haynes recalled. “We felt that this is a band that’s been non-stop touring since the reforming in ’89, so we have to keep reinventing it. It became more and more important to us to just shake things up and do things as differently as possible on a nightly, weekly, monthly, yearly basis, and the entire organization — band, management and everybody — was down with that.”Haynes also told Billboard that “there’s talk” about releasing similar compilations from other eras of old vaults as well. “We’ll see where it all goes,” he said in the interview. “I’m interested to see some of the different time periods, but [2003] was kind of a unique opportunity, I think.”Continuing the tradition of providing quality content for fans, Peach Picks: Cream Of The Crop 2003 will be available in an array of configurations. The full curated four-CD set will be offered, both physically and digitally. Each of the full six concerts will also be available for completists, and this marks the first time any of this music has been made available digitally. Recorded for the then-nascent “Instant Live” CD series (fans picked up copies of the concert immediately after the show as they were being burned on CD), these shows capture the group at full throttle.Cream Of The Crop 2003 tracklist:Disc One1) Don’t Want You No More2) It’s Not My Cross To Bear3) Black Hearted Woman4) Rocking Horse5) Hot ‘Lanta6) Old Before My Time7) Come And Go Blues8) Woman Across The River9) Desdemona10) The High Cost Of Low Living11) Hoochie Coochie Man12) RevivalDisc Two1) Trouble No More2) Midnight Rider3) You Don’t Love Me4) Who To Believe5) Stormy Monday6) Good Morning Little Schoolgirl7) In Memory Of Elizabeth ReedDisc Three1) Ain’t Wastin’ Time No More2) Worried Down With The Blues3) Statesboro Blues4) Stand Back5) Melissa6) Mountain Jam7) LaylaDisc Four1) Don’t Keep Me Wonderin’2) Done Somebody Wrong3) Gambler’s Roll4) Soulshine5) Who’s Been Talking6) Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright7) Wasted Words8) Dreams9) Whipping Post10) One Way OutView All Tracks