Latest / DISGRACELAND / The Allman Brothers Band: Drug Beefs, the Dixie Mafia, and the Making of a President

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The Allman Brothers Band: Drug Beefs, the Dixie Mafia, and the Making of a President · DISGRACELAND

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Disgraceland is a production of Double Elvis. This is a
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: story about a couple of brothers, one who died young,
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: one who avoided dying over a drug beef. It's about
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: the death of a rat, turning state's evidence, running drugs,
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: lots of drugs. It's about the Dixie Mafia, the FBI
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: in an unlikely presidential candidate with a pretty awesome record collection.
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: And this is a story about the Allman Brothers, a
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: band that made great music. Unlike that music I played
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: for you at the top of the show. That wasn't
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: great music. That was a preset loop from my melotron
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: called dust My Shrooms MK one. I played you that
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: loop because I can't afford the rights to Silly Love
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: Songs by Wings. And why would I play you that
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: specific slice of damn? The critics cheese? Could I afford it?
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: Because that was the number one song in America on
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: June twenty third, nineteen seventy six, And that was the
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: day that Greg Almond took the stand in the criminal
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: trial of his friend and bodyguard, Scooter Herring, an event
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: that would shape the nineteen seventy six presidential election. In
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: the nation's first Rico trial and one that would ultimately
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: break the Alman Brothers Band. On this episode drug Running,
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: turning State's evidence, Jimmy Carter, Elmore James, and the Alman
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: Brothers Band. I'm Jake Brennan, and this is Disgraceland. If
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: you need to know one thing about the Dixie Mafia,
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: it's this. The Dixie Mafia does not exist, at least
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: not in any formal sense. There are no godfathers, no capos,
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: and none of the street hierarchy of New York's LaCOSA Nostra.
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: It's more like a confederacy of a bunch of loosely
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: affiliated criminal gangs stretching from Austin to Atlanta. Instead of
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: a family structure, there's just a shared culture, a deep
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: mistrust of the straight world, a taste for brutal violence,
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: and a couple of iron class rules. Rule number one,
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: he who makes the most bred gets to make the rules,
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: and rule number two never talked to the cops. There
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: was only one penalty for breaking this rule, and that
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: was death. By nineteen seventy six, this was common knowledge
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: in every tavern, pool hall, and after hours club in
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: the South, but the FBI and local investigators were just
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: catching up. First there was the witness in Texas, handcuffed
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: to a cinder block and thrown in a river to drown.
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: Then the couple in Raleigh who had their faces covered
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: in duct taped until they suffocated.
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: And the Make and.
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: Georgia criminal turned informant shot in the chest with a
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: sixteen gage shotgun and left to bleed out. Deaths like
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: these were why Greg Alman, one of the biggest rock
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: stars in the world, was currently confined to the barracks
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: of Robin's Air Force Base, surrounded by four FBI agents
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: in June of nineteen seventy six. He was here because
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: Greg Almond was about to break Rule number two. He
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: was about to testify in court against his friend in bodyguard,
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: John Scooter Herring, in a drug trafficking trial, a trial
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: that had major implications for a notorious Georgia gangster named J. C.
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: Hawkins.
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: Rumor had it the JC had already killed one former
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: associate turned informant, and now word on the street was
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: that he'd killed anyone who so much has uttered his
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: name in court, including Greg Almond. Greg Almond stared down
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: at the floor, his long blonde hair hung over his eyes.
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: He had studied every centimeter of the linoleum floor over
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: the last two weeks, and there wasn't much else to do.
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: He couldn't run to keep from hiding, and he had
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: no TV and no newspaper and no radio, and the
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: FBI agents wouldn't eve and chat with him even while
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: they followed him everywhere, because even though Greg Almond was
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: about to turn state's evidence, he knew these FBI agents
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: hated his guts. Greg Almond may have been testifying for
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: the prosecution, but as far as they were concerned, he
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: and the rest of the Almond Brothers band were ruining
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: their sleepy town of Macon, Georgia in nineteen sixty nine.
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: Macon was a typical southern town. When the Almond Brother's
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: band arrived the right away they made an impression. Maybe
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: it was because they rehearsed at full volume all day,
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: and maybe it was because they ate psychedelic mushrooms that.
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: Hung out in a graveyard all night.
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: And maybe it was because they all lived together and
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: won ramshackle house with girls from nearby Wesleyan College streaming
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: in and out. Or maybe it was because one of
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: their two drummers, Johnny Jmo Johnson, a guy who cut
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: his teeth playing with Otis Redding was black. That fact
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: raised eyebrows and a whole lot more in Georgia in
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: nineteen sixty nine. Back then, Lester Maddox was still the governor,
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: and Maddox was a hardcore segregationist who threaten black customers
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: with an axe handle at his restaurant, and later he
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: shut the place.
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: Down rather than integrate.
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: So the band heard plenty of comments about their lifestyle
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: and their lineup, not that they really cared when.
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: Anyone else thought.
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: And maybe it was the mushrooms, and maybe it was
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: the hours spent rehearsing, but when all six of them
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: got on the same.
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: Wavelength, it was magical.
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: It would start with Duane Allman's slide guitar playing and
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: then Dicky Betts would answer back with a bluegrass inspired lick,
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: and Jmo and Butch Trucks would toss drum fills back
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: and forth like hot potatoes, with Barry Oakley holding it
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: down on bass, and then Greg's organ would swoop in
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: and take it over the top on songs like Midnight
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: Rider and Whipping Post. While the music played, Greg could
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: forget about all the bullshit back and make it, and
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: the taunts about his long hair, then the slurs hurled
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: at his drummer, the threats from the local cops. Greg
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: would just float with the music while they got farther
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: and farther out before they finally brought it back home.
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: But once he was back home, Greg didn't like what
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: he saw in Georgia. So, although he wasn't particularly political,
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: he supported a progressive candidate for governor in nineteen seventy
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: named Jimmy Carter. Jimmy Carter quoted Bob Dylan in his speeches,
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: and he fought for integration compared with Lester Maddox. Jimmy
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: Carter for Dwayne Almond was a huge breath of fresh
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: air for the South. Music fans thought the Almond Brothers
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: band sound was a breath of fresh air as well.
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: Although their first two albums didn't do much, powerful live
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: recording of at Fillmore East touched a nerve out of nowhere.
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: They shot to number thirteen on the album charts. But
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: thirteen proved, of course, to be an unlucky number for
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: Greg and the band, because a few weeks later, his
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: brother Dwayne died in a motorcycle accident in downtown making.
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: A year later, bassist Barry Oakley would die in his
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: own motorcycle crash just a few blocks away. And despite
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: this double dose of tragedy, the band soldiered on, and
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: by nineteen seventy six, Jimmy Carter was running for president
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: and the Almond Brothers Band was the biggest band in
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: the country. All of this made authorities in Making nervous
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: because the FBI had been digging into the Almond Brother's
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: Band and their label, Capricorn Records, and they were convinced
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: that the band wasn't just connected to politicians. The FBI
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: was convinced that the Almand Brothers Band were in deep
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: with the Dixie Mafia in Central Georgia. That meant they
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: were in deep with J. C. Hawkins, And it seemed
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: like there wasn't a crime in Georgia that J. C.
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: Hawkins didn't have a hand in. Stolen cars, extortion, murder
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: for hire, and drugs, lots of drugs. In fact, noticed
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: a river of drugs in cash flowing back and forth
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: between the Dixie Mafia and the Alman Brothers Band. Now,
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: thanks to the brand new law, the Federal Rico Act,
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: they had a golden opportunity to take down the band
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: and the Dixie Mafia at the same time, and if
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: it helped their boss, Gerald Ford's chances in the upcoming
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: presidential election, well that didn't hurt either. But one of
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: the FBI agents slapped a rough hand on Greg's shoulder
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: and smirked down at him. Time to go, pretty boy.
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: Greg swallowed nervously. He tried everything to get out of testifying.
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: His lawyer filed motions and made appeals, and when he
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: testified for the grand jury, he took the fifth when
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: they asked him questions about drugs, but the prosecution got
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: around that by giving him immunity, and with no chance
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: of criminal prosecution, there was no chance to plead the fifth.
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: As Greg Alman prepared to make the trip to the courtroom,
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: he wished he was back in la with his new wife,
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: share Instead, she would be watching from the courtroom while
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: he was forced to testify against one of his best friends.
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: The Scooter Herring, was a tall, raw boned biker. Greg
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: met him at a bar making in nineteen seventy three
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: and right away they got along. Scooter looked intimidating, which
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: made him a great bodyguard. He also had a connection
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: with the crooked pharmacist, and by nineteen seventy six he
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: was supplying Greg with half a gram of cocaine a day. Now,
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: unfortunately for Scooter, that pharmacist was also connected to the
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: notorious J. C. Hawkins, and the Feds wanted Scooter to
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: roll on J C. Hawkins, and Scooter, who knew all
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: about Jac's reputation, refused. So now the Feds were turning
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: the heat up on Greg Almon, and of course they
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: weren't the only ones turning up the heat. Greg started
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: getting phone calls at night warning him don't say a
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: fucking word about J. C. Hawkins unless he won a
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: sixteen gage shotgun up your ass, Because even though J. C.
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: Hawkins was currently locked up in federal prison awaiting trial
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: and racketeering charges, he didn't plan to stay there long
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: and JC was bound to keep on riding, so he
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: spread the word. If Greg Almond broke rule number two,
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: Greg Almon was dead. Deputy Terry Singleton pulled into a
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: waffle house west of Macon on the morning of September
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: twenty fifth, nineteen seventy three. He was driving a Chevy
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: Monte Carlo and wearing civilian clothes, and that's because he
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: was tailing J. C. Hawkins. Just a few months ago,
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: the cops had caught Hawkins right handed with a stolen
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: truck full of thirty pounds of meat headed for sale
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: on the black market. But Macon was a small town,
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: and it turned out that JC Hawkins had a neighbor
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: in the jury pool. Somehow that man made it onto
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: the jury and after a late night visit from JC,
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: somehow this man was the only jur to vote not guilty.
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: So now JC was free to drive around town and
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: his powder blue Lincoln Continental and the car was huge,
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: impossible to miss, but right now it was parked in
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: the waffle House parking lot while Singleton watched Hawkins meet
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: with a man named Jimmy Reeves. Jimmy was a small
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: timer who fenced stolen goods. It was a decent little
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: side hustle until he got caught. Jimmy was facing serious
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: jail time and he had a wife and kids, so
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: he made a choice. Instead of going to jail, he
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: talked to the cops. He told that J. C. Hawkins
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: stole some equipment from a construction site in Atlanta, and
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: he wanted Jimmy to sell it for him, and now
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: Singleton watched as the two men walked out of the
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: restaurant and climbed into Jimmy's pickup truck, and he followed
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: as they pulled onto the interstate heading west, and after
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: a few miles, the truck's turn signal flipped on as
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: it approached a dirt road just beyond an overpass. Then
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: the truck slowed down. Singleton waited for it to turn,
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: but instead it sped up and continued straight, And as
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: he drove by the overpass, Singleton immediately saw why there
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: was a black and white highway patrol car parked on
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: the shoulder.
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: It was just a good old boy with a radar gun, a.
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: Complete coincidence, but Singleton knew that it was enough to
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: spook Jace Hawkins, and although he didn't know it at
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: the time, it was also enough to make J. C.
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: Hawkins suspicious of Jimmy Reeves. Meanwhile, across the county, Greg
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: was also worried about a rat in his organization. It
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: was laid on the night of September twenty sixth, and
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: he and Scooter Harry were banging on the door of
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: a San Francisco hotel room Greg should.
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: Have been on top of the world. The Almond Brothers band.
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: Had just played a fiery four hour set at the
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: legendary Winterland Ballroom, and he's still had his share of
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: silver dollars. And three weeks before the band released Brothers
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: and Sisters, their biggest album yet, it was already at
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: number one on the Billboard Album charts, and the song
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: rambling Man was flying up the singles chart too. In fact,
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: the only thing blocking it from number one was a
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: new song by Cher, which Greg could understand because Cher
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: was just about the finest woman alive. But Greg wasn't
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: on top of the world. He was freaking out because
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: there was an undercover cop traveling with the band and
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: Greg had done the worst thing possible. Ki had opened
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: up to him on tape. Greg blame Dicky Betts. Ever
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: since Dwayne died. It was like Dicky had appointed himself
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: leader of the band, and maybe that was a good
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: thing because Greg was in no shape for the job.
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: Sure he could still bring it on stage, but when
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: it came to writing songs, Greg's inspiration was gone. Suddenly
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: it was Dicky Betts bringing in songs like ramblin Man
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: and the instrumental Jessica. Suddenly Dicky Betts was singing lead,
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: and suddenly Dicky Betts was calling the shots, even when
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: it came to letting a reporter from Rolling Stone travel
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: with the band, because the band had already talked to
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: a reporter from Rolling Stone once on what turned out
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: could be Dwayne Aumand's final tour, and the reporter.
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: Made them look like a bunch of backwater hicks.
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: Even worse, they ran the article on the same issue
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: that carried Dwayne's obituary, and after that the band swore
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: off Rolling Stone for good, at least until Dicky Betts
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: vouched for this baby face reporter who had been traveled
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: with him for the last two weeks. He said that
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: the guy had interviewed him for Cream magazine, and Dicky
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: swore he was cool, but Greg wasn't so sure. This
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: reporter looked like he was sixteen years old, and he
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: kept following Greg around, pestering him for an interview. Greg
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: managed to avoid it for two straight weeks, but then
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: the reporter asked him about these days and Greg included
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: a cover of the Jackson Brown song on his first
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: solo album, which was due out in a few days, and.
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: The reporter wanted to know why.
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: The truth was. Greg included the song as a tribute
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: to his brother. He and Dwaane lived with Jackson Brown
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: for a few months when they made a failed attempt
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: to crack the Laurel Canyon scene, and Dwayne always loved
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: the song, but Greg didn't want to go into all
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: that it was too painful, that wasn't gonna let this
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: guy catch him, No, so he just grabbed his acoustic
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: guitar and played a mournful version right there in his
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: hotel room while the magazine's photographer snapped away. After Greg
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: finished the song, he pulled out a glass vial of
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: cocaine and snored a large spoonful. He offered it to
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: the photographer, who gratefully accepted it, and then he offered
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: it to the reporter, but the kid shook his head
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: no and kept scribbling in his notepad. And then they
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: started talking. And maybe it was the coke or maybe
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: it was the song, but Greg let it all out.
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: He told the reporter everything, how his father was murdered
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: by a hitchhiker when he was three, how Dwayne stepped
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: into that role, and when his brother died, it was
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: like losing a father for the second time, how he
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: had to numb himself with drugs to get through the day,
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: and how he would probably be dead if it weren't
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: for music, and that's why he and the band kept playing,
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: because playing music was the only peace of mind they
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: ever had. Greg, however, was not feeling that piece of
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: mind right now as he pounded on the door of
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: the reporter's hotel room. And after the interview, Greg and
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: Scooter Harring had kept taking snow It's from the glass
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: vial a cocaine, and Greg get to thinking about the
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: reporter and his notepad, his tape recorder. God, Greg had
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: told him so much about his drug use and who
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: knows what else. How well did he know this reporter anyway?
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: He was so straight laced, so intense, he seemed like
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: a cop. The realization hit him like a ton of bricks,
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: and Greg knew he had to get those tapes back,
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: so he and Scooter pushed their way into the reporter's
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: hotel room. As soon as he opened the door, crack,
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: it was Scooter towering over his shoulder. Greg demanded the
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: tapes from the interview, and he wanted to see some
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: id too, and the reporter reluctantly walked across the room
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: and grabbed his wallet in an orange bag full of tapes,
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: and as he came closer, Greg snatched the wallet and
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: snarled at him, how do I know you're not a cop?
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: And then he looked down at the license and the
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: name read Cameron Crow. Date of birth July thirteenth, nineteen
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: fifty seven. Holy shit, this reporter wasn't just baby faced,
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: it was actually a baby.
• 19:09
  Speaker 2: This was no undercover cop who.
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: Was a sixteen year old kid. And Greg was relieved,
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: but he was also taking no chances, so he kept
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: the tapes for safe keeping, he explained to the kid
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: as he walked out of the room with Scooter behind him.
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: All Right, hold up, if this story is sounding somewhat familiar,
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: that's probably because it's the plot of the movie Almost Famous,
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: which is based on Cameron Crow's real life experience as
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: a team reporter for Rolling Stone, which is a completely
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: crazy story. But I'm getting off track anyways, back to
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: our story. A few weeks later, Greg Almond had a
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: change of heart, Cameron Currow got the tape back, and
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: on December seventh, nineteen seventy three, The Almond Brothers band
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: had a cover story in Rolling Stone magazine, and the
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: band capped off the year the live broadcast on New
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: Year's Eve. Joined by members of The Grave Dead, they
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: performed a monster six hour set that was broadcast to
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: an estimated forty million fans. I'll number that big was
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: sure to draw attention from concert promoters and radio programmers,
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: and from the FBI, and also from a peanut farmer
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: in Georgia who had big plans of his own. We'll
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: be right back after this. We're We're, We're. Greg almonds
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: limousine pulled down the driveway towards a massive gate in
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: front of the mansion. It was almost one am and
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: the gate was locked tight. He was about to tell
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: his driver to turn around when suddenly it clanged open
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: and the car inched forward in the darkness. Greg didn't
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: know what he would find at the end of the driveway,
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: but it was too late to turn around. As the
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: car rolled forward, the head light shine on the porch,
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: he saw a lone figure creeping around in a black
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: T shirt and a ripped pair of Levi's. Now, what
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: the hell was this weirdo doing? Creeping around the Governor's
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: mansion in the middle of the night. Greg hopped out
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: of a limo to find out, and on the lawn
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: there were scenes from a party all around him. Cocktail
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: tables were still covered with empty plates and leftover food,
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: but there was no one around except the lone figure
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: standing on the porch. And then that figure walked toward
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: Greg and held out his hand, and that's when it
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: hit Greg. It was Jimmy Carter. On January night in
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: nineteen seventy four, the Governor of Georgia attended a Bob
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: Dylan concert in Atlanta, and then he invited Bob Dylan
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: in the entire band and the crew to join him
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: at the Governor's mansion for a post show party. Jimmy
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: Carter also invited Capricorn Records head Phil Walden in the
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: Allman Brothers band, and no one else from the band
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: made it to the reception. Greg was rehearsing for his
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: upcoming solo tour until almost eleven PM. By the time
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: he arrived, everyone was gone, so he didn't hear Jimmy
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: Carter say that songs like Maggie's Farm had changed his life,
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: and he didn't hear Jimmy Carter announced that he was
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: running for president. And now, despite the late hour, Jimmy
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: Carter didn't hesitate. He didn't tell Greg Almond to pack
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: it up and go home. Instead, he pulled out a
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: bottle of JMB Scotch and turned on an Elmore James record,
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: And as the pair polished off the bottle of scotch
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: and they talked, Greg was used to authority figures treating
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: him like an embarrassment, but Jimmy Carter called the Almond
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: Brothers band the pride of the Peach State. Greg couldn't
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: believe that this man in jeans and T shirt, sipping
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: scotch and listening to blues records was the governor of
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: a state. But he almost spit out his drink when
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: Jimmy Carter told him he was running for president. It
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: seemed like a crazy dream, but Greg couldn't help it.
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: He liked the guy, and as he left, he said
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: he would do anything he could to help the campaign. Meanwhile,
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: back in Making, the Feds were closing in on J. C. Hawkins,
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: and the gangster drained his scotch glass and waited for
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: the phone call. He hoped it would solve his problems
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: and ever since his meeting with Jimmy Reeves, it was
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: like the cops were always one step behind him, and
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: now he was hearing that the FEDS had a witness
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: who was prepared to testify against him. Who was it?
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: That's why he was waiting for a phone call, because
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: for this job, JC had turned to somebody he could trust. Family.
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: He turned to his brother to sniff out the rat.
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: The phone rang and he picked it up and listened
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: silently for a few minutes, and then he spoke, I think,
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: son of a bit, some m be around much longer,
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: and then he hung up the phone. On May twenty ninth,
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: nineteen seventy four, Jimmy Reeves kissed his kids on the head.
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: He rushed out the door, telling his wife he didn't
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: have time for breakfast. They pulled out of the driveway
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: and his pickup truck, and an hour later he was
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: found dead next to that truck with three sixteen gage
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: shotgun blasts in his chest. J C. Hawkins had taken
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: care of another witness, but his problems were far from
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: over because the FBI was tapping his phone and they
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: were almost ready to take him down, and they just
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: needed to find one more witness. Greg Alman was sitting
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: in the offices of Capricorn Recording Studio when Scooter Herring
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: finally arrived. Greg was back in town to begin recording
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: the Almond Brothers follow up with Brothers and Sisters, but
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: first he needed to fix Gone were the days when
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: the ban ate mushrooms and hung out together all night.
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: Now it was heroin and it had its hooks in Greg.
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: He tried to keep it a secret, but his habit
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: was so bad that he couldn't work in the studio
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: without a little pick me up. Not that there was
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: much work being done in the studio at the moment,
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: because in nineteen seventy six, the Almond Brothers band had
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: hit a wall and they needed time to grieve their
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: lost brothers, time to decompress after years of massive stadium
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: shows like the Summer Jam at Watkins Glenn, which drew
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: six hundred thousand people, and they needed some time apart
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: to relax, to experience the finer things in life, and
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: for Greg, the finest thing of them all was his
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: new wife, Share. He still couldn't believe it. A superstar,
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: the woman who blocked Rambling Man from the top of
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: the charts. Somehow she had seen him play at the
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: Troubadour in LA and somehow, even though he turned into
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: a giggling group year around her, they hit it off
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: and there was only one problem. Greg was hiding his
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: heroin addiction from Share and there was no way she
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: would understand. So even though he loved spending time with
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: her in Los Angeles, it was sometimes a relief to
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: be back at Macon or he could let down his
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: guard that where a scooter could always find for Greg
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: whatever he needed. If the Almond Brother's band was teetering.
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: By the end of nineteen seventy five, Jimmy Carter's presidential
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: hopes looked like they were finished because Jimmy Carter was
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: running out of money ahead of a must win primary
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: in Iowa, and the donors wouldn't touch his long shot campaign.
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: But Carter's team saw an opportunity thanks to their connection
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: with the Almond Brothers band, because they understood the power
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: of rock and roll. Even with the band in rough shape,
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: Jimmy Carter didn't shy away from him. In fact, he
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: told people that they didn't think an Almond Brothers fan
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: should be president, then they should feel free to vote
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: for another candidate, So with the campaign desperate for cash,
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: the Almond Brother's band agreed to host a benefit concert
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: for the Carter campaign in Rhode Island that November, and
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: the concert generated thousands of dollars for the campaign. More importantly,
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: it turned the band's legions of fans on to the
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: virtually unknown politician, and thanks in part to funds from
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: the concert, Carter's team flooded the airwaves and squeaked to
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: a first place finish in Iowa in January. Suddenly people
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: around the country were paying attention, and back in Macon,
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: the Feds were paying attention to the band's growing political clouts.
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: Spooked the Feds because the more the Feds dug into
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: the Dixie mafia, the more sure they were that the
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: Alman Brothers band was connected. And they were tracking hundreds
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: of pounds of marijuana, thousands of amphetamine pills, huge quantities
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: of pharmaceutical grade cocaine, all running through a pharmacy and Macon,
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: all connected to J. C. Hawkins. Rumors spread that a
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: drug bust was coming, and those rumors intensified after Greg
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: Almond testified for a grand jury in January, and paranoia
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: was everywhere. No one in the band was talking. And
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: then it happened. In May, the Feds rated Capricorn Studios,
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: with cops streaming into the building in an envelope full
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: of drugs in his pocket. Scooter told Greg Almon he
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: would take the heat. Then the cops hauled them away
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: in handcuffs. They hoped they could pressure him to flip
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: on J. C. Hawkins, and they hoped they could pressure
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: Greg Almond to talk as well. Meanwhile, J. C. Hawkins
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: was also behind bars, caught up in a federal raid
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: that snared Scooter Herring. Of course, even behind bars, he
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: was able to pass a message to Dixie mafia associates
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: on the outside, and his message was clear. If Greg
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: Almond talked, Greg Almon was a dead man. Greg Almond
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: closed his eyes. He hesitated for a second. He knew the
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: entire room was staring at him, waiting. He took a
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: breath and leaned into the microphone, and then he strummed
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: a chord on his acoustic guitar, and he launched into
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: a gorgeous version of Jackson Brown's These Days. As he
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: started the song, memories of his brother Dwayne swirled through
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: his mind, his grief, his anger, his loss. It almost
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: overwhelmed him, but as he dug into the melancholy melody,
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: those swirling thoughts started to slow down, and he felt
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: them drift away as he got lost in the music. Finally,
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: he felt at peace, and the crowd erupted an applause
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: as the song finished. But this was no massive stadium show.
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: Greg Alman was playing in a high school auditorium in
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: Buffalo for a bunch of Catholic school kids. Greg was
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: in Buffalo to try to kick his heroin habit at
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: a rehab center, and some students from the nearby high
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: school wrote letters asking him to perform at their school,
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: and much to their surprise, he agreed. Even more surreal,
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: there on the edge of the stage sat Greg Almond's wife,
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: Cheer in her arms was the couple's three month old baby,
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: Elijah Blue. Although their marriage had been rocky, Greg had
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: been wrong about one thing. He didn't need to hide
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: his drug addiction from Cher, and when she found out
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: he was hooked on heroin, she didn't leave him. She
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: stood by him. She helped him check in a rehab
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: and now she was helping him get clean. And the
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: same could not be said for the rest of the
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: Almond Brothers band. When Greg Almond took the stand on
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: June twenty third, nineteen seventy six, not a single other
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: member of the band was there in the courtroom. None
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: of them watched him testify against his friend. They didn't
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: see the DA pushing him, daring him to make one
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: false statement so they could take him down for perjury.
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: All his bandmates knew was what they heard on the
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: street or read in the papers. And the paper said
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: that Greg Almond caught the plea and hung Scooter Herring
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: with a seventy five year prison sentence, But anyone following
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: the case closely knew that the papers were wrong. Greg
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: Almond was granted immunity, but he never caught the plea.
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: It was a pressure play to get Scooter Herring to
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: roll on J. C. Hawkins, but Scooter Herring refused, so
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: the judge threw the book at him. Capricorn's lawyers appealed,
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: and soon the seventy five year sentence was reduced to
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: two and a half years. Even without Scooter Herring's testimony,
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: the FEDS were able to use the Rico Act to
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: tie J. C. Hawkins to the construction equipment theft and
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: the murder of Jimmy Reeves. In a month after Greg
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: Almond testified, j C. Hawkins became the first person in
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: America convicted under the Rico Act. The day that Greg
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: Almond was taken into FBI custody, Jimmy Carter clinched the
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: Democratic nomination for president, and despite the controversy surrounding Greg Almon,
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: Jimmy Carter refused to.
• 32:00
  Speaker 2: Back away from him.
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: The Atlanta Journal Constitution reported that the prosecution of Scooter
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: Herring and the FBI scrutiny of the Almond Brothers band
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: was part of a politically motivated plot to damage the
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: Carter campaign, but if that was true, it didn't work.
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: A month after Greg's impromptu performance in a Buffalo High
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: school gymnasium, Jimmy Carter was elected president. As for Greg
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: Alman after testifying, he became a pariah in the music industry,
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: Rolling Stone reported that his career was finished.
• 32:35
  Speaker 2: Dicky Betts said he would never play on.
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: Stage with Greg again, and the Almond Brothers Band was finished.
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: But Greg Almon wasn't finished with music. It was, after all,
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: the only way he could find peace. After he finished rehab,
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: he returned to the road in nineteen seventy seven, and
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: that's where he spent the next forty years, conjuring up
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: as much peace as he could find a few hours
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: at day time on stage until he died in twenty seventeen.
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: And all that time he never uttered the name J. C. Hawkins,
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: even his latest twenty fourteen, when he published a tell
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: all autobiography. In the book, he opened up about his
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: marriage to share his drug addiction, his brother, his testimony
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: against Scooter Harring, but he still refused to say the
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: name J. C. Hawkins. Twenty fourteen was also the year
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: the final Almand Brothers Band concert, because not long after
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: Greg Almond finished rehab, the band reunited, although with another
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: new lineup. In fact, by the time they called the quits,
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: over twenty different musicians had spent time in the Alman
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: Brothers Band, but after Greg Almond testified in nineteen seventy six,
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: the core group from the Brothers and Sisters album would
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: never play together again. And that grace. I'm Jake Brennan
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: in this this Disgraceland. All right, thanks for checking out
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: this episode or disgrace slamd listen Question of the Week
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: this week, which southern rock band is your favorite favorite
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: of all time? Obviously Almond Brothers. They probably don't like
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: that classification southern rock band, but I don't care the
• 34:30
  Speaker 1: year southern rock.
• 34:31
  Speaker 2: You think Almonds, you think Leonard Skinnered?
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: Right, who's your favorite amongst? It? Can be anyone who
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: be black Crows, can be Barquades. I mean, there's so
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: many to choose from. Let us know six one seven
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: nine oh six six six three eight. We'll unpack it
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: all in this week's bonus episode, The After Party. You
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: might hear yourself. Leave us a voicemail, send us a text,
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: hit us on email. Disgrace lampod at gmail dot com.
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: All right, guys, I appreciate you hanging out with me.
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: Here comes some credits. Disgraceland was created by Yours Truly,
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: and it is produced in partnership with Double Elvis, the
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: Exactly Right Network iHeart Podcasts. Credits for this episode can
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: be found on the show notes page at disgracelampod dot com.
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: If you're listening as a Disgracelan All Access member, thank
• 35:13
  Speaker 1: you for supporting the show. We really appreciate it. And
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: if not, you can become a member right now by
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: going to disgracelampod dot com. Slash Membership members can listen
• 35:23
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• 35:27
  Speaker 1: the show, and follow us on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, and
• 35:29
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• 35:33
  Speaker 1: Slash at disgracelampod Rock a Rollup. He the Medman,