Tuning into Extreme's Acoustic Rise But The Reality Is...

Strap in as we pay homage to Gregg Allman's raw storytelling and the Allman Brothers Band's iconic hit "Whipping Post," setting the record straight on its true lineage—a departure from the rumored blues adaptations. Through the lens of warmth that only analog recording can bring, I'm taking you on an audio journey back to a time where music felt like a rich tapestry you could almost touch. Along the way, we'll hear from Warren Haynes and dive into Neil Young's unfaltering loyalty to the hum of tube amplifiers, celebrating the timeless quality they bring to rock. Recapture the radio DJ glory of 1991, where live band performances brought the community together and I had the honor of broadcasting bands like Extreme right as they were etching their mark into musical history.

Transcript

Warren Haynes: 0:19

Good lord. I feel like I'm dying. Welcome to the podcast.

Blade: 0:28

And we start with the record Whippin' Post written by Gregg Allman and o ou wouldn't think that. You'd think it was, I guess, adapted as the word from somebody who's s singing that on the back porch in the Mississippi Delta. But all the credits I've seen say that Greg A Allman actually wrote that song and it goes to show how good of a songwriter he is. And we don't talk about how good he is at writing songs. That much.

Blade: 0:58

I've been run down, I've been lied to and I don't know why. I let that mean old woman make me out o fool. She took all my money, wrecks my new car. Now she's with one of my good time buddies and they're drinking in some crosstown bar. Now about that I mean that had to have been written on the back porch somewhere.

Blade: 1:18

But but no, and I say record in honor of the diamond stylus and the incredible turntable I haven't turntable . a turntable yet but I will I'm going to so down with the mp3 squashed. Crappy c musical sound, very little stereo separation is just crap, totally mp3. You know, I talked with Warren Haynes once or twice, three times, maybe four or five, w Warren Haynes of the A Allman Brothers Band, Governmen G m Mule great, great guitar player, slide guitar player, no less. And we talked about the quality of recorded music recently, maybe about 10 years ago that's recently for me, but the quality of today's music and he told me a story about Neil Young and how Neil Young hated the mp3's too and Neil's way of getting the true analog sound to listen to though.

Warren Haynes: 2:15

Those days are gone. People are making records and as little time as possible, and they got all this modern technology and nobody wants to use the old equipment that is sounds better but is less reliable. You know, and so you can. You can make a pretty good record in your home these days, but you can't make the greatest record ever in your home. I'm sorry, you just can't do it.

Blade: 2:37

You know Neil Young said that deal how analog was so much better than digital. Do you agree with that?

Warren Haynes: 2:42

absolutely no question. Neil has old fender amps, old tube fender amps, with these digital claws that turn the knobs on his amps.

Blade: 2:53

When he, when he wants a different sound, he uses the digital technology to turn the knobs on his old tube gear it's just uh, Warren Haynes is just a guy he can really talk to, a rockin guy you could talk to for years and years and years, and the famed guitarist, mostly with government mule, as I said, and later with the almond brothers band, and the almond stopped everything about 2014. Then Greg died in 2017 and butch trucks died that year too. And then, uh, Derek Trucks, who had uh joined the almond brothers band when he was 13, no less, went out in gosh. He joined up with them in 1999, but about you know, 2013 or 14, Derek Trucks went off to do other things and Warren Haines did too. But and now, ladies and gents, story time Extreme Raleigh 1991, and I had a show called the RDU Night Flight at night.

Blade: 3:54

I loved it. It was an airplane theme with a sexy flight attendant voice and it was done by Carla Hollis and she was a sales rep at the time and she'd come back from one of those grueling days out on the town schlepping spots, as we said, in the control room, selling commercial advertisements, but actually, in reality, they were creating million-dollar marketing campaigns. That's what they said down the hall in the sales cubicles. But I would drag her fighting, kicking and scratching into the control room to say things like welcome aboard passengers, please fasten your seatbelts and prepare for major turbulence in a really sexy voice, stuff like that. And it was fun and I love that night shift so much because everything is more fun at night. Phil Zachary was the general manager for the longest time at WRDU, the station I was at, and he would tell me that I was the market's quote, unquote social director. I'd always call the bars at night on the show and the concert halls and the sports stadiums on the air for big games, just to see what was happening that night. And I knew a lot of people so I always had someone to talk to who had a scoop for me. And the funny thing was is wherever I said I was going when I got off the air that night, there'd be a large crowd there. So I became a money boom too, as well as a social director for the clubs.

Blade: 5:15

Speaking of large crowd, that same year, 1991, the music director of my station, wrdu at the time was Bob Walton, w-a-l-t-o-n, and he came to tell me very quickly that the band Extreme was coming by to sing live on the air with me, because they had this big single out more than words and we were on a rock station but we played it because it was Extreme and Gary Cherone and Nuno Bettancourt. But they were playing at a club that night and Walton told me to watch out because it was normal to have a slew of people at the radio station entrance when they heard on our station during the day that a band was coming by to perform live on the air with us and this was a chance for them to catch a glimpse of the band as they entered the radio station. You know, catch an autograph or even just a couple of words with the guys just to see them. But I mean, again, it was just two guys Extreme, nuno Betancourt and Gary Cherone. And I'm telling you Walton was right there were probably 65 to 70 people down there waiting just to get a glimpse. It doesn't sound like a lot and I really think it set a record, you know, I think for pre-interview fans waiting to see the band. I mean there were more people there than when Leonard Skinner came by, so their popularity was truly amazing.

Blade: 6:37

Where did all this come from? I never understood that. And they came in and they did a show nice cats, they were great and it was really easy for them to do it. We'd hook up the microphones three or four microphones around the studio and they just had two acoustic guitars and they'd sit in the chair and they'd play guitars and sing. It was a huge ballad, you know, huge charting ballad and a big hit and fun. Great night overall. And I was thinking about it just a few minutes ago. Who knew that Gary Cherone would join Van Halen a little later on? I watched him play and he was a very gracious, nice guy and he did well with Van Halen For a cup of coffee, as we say in the business.

Blade: 7:17

But you know about the song Extreme More Than Words, I wasn't really a fan of it because it wasn't rockin' song at all, kind of a love song In fact. I'll tell you now I didn't even like it. Somehow everyone else seemed to not only love it but obsess over it. It was really weird phenomenon and I'm left with these words about that song that were thrown out by Bob Walton's brother, trevor, one night we were just sitting around drinking beers and playing cards and the song came on. And Trevor says just kind of under his breath, just in passing, and I don't know about that song Two guys singing a love song to each other. I don't know, that's just not thought to myself. Well, yeah.

Warren Haynes: 8:23

you know.