eat a peach

Maybe I could just do a half-assed job of meeting this challenge. I find that I can accomplish quite a bit if I am not expected to employ the full ass.

What makes me happy today and on most days when there is decent weather and a long stretch of traffic light free highway is Eat a Peach by the Allman Brothers' Band.

I avoided this album for the longest time. When I was a high school punk it was too jamband, and when I was into jambands early on in college it was too country or southern rock. But when I had finally matured enough to appreciate the music of my homeland, it was still there waiting for me.

The great thing about southern rock was that it recaptured everything that was great about rock in the first place. It was a mix of the black and white cultures, drew heavily from the music of the mountains and of the Mississippi delta, and was performed by poor white southerners who played their hearts out and would gladly kick your ass if you didn't like it.

Well, perhaps that isn't correct in the case of the Allmans. They always had a bit more of the hippy element than Lynyrd Skynyrd or Molly Hatchet. Also, they were one of the only interracial southern rock bands.

So go out and purchase yourself a copy today if you do not already own one. Then go out and borrow or steal steal a convertable and find a good long stretch of open road.

Whatever problems you had before will be long gone by the tiny Dickie Betts starts into "Blue Sky".