Hour Glass was a 1960s rhythm and blues band based in
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
in 1967 and 1968. Among their members were two future members of the
Allman Brothers Band Allman may refer to:
Music
*The Allman Brothers Band, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame southern rock band, formed by Duane and Gregg Allman
*The Allman Joys, an early band formed by Duane and Gregg Allman
*The Gregg Allman Band
People
*Allman (surname) ...
(
Duane Allman
Howard Duane Allman (November 20, 1946 – October 29, 1971) was an American rock guitarist, session musician, and the founder and original leader of the Allman Brothers Band, for which he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in ...
and his brother
Gregg) and three future studio musicians at the Fame Studios in
Muscle Shoals, Alabama
Muscle Shoals is the largest city in Colbert County, Alabama, Colbert County, Alabama, United States. It is located along the Tennessee River in the northern part of the state and, as of the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census, the populati ...
(
Pete Carr
Jesse Willard "Pete" Carr (April 22, 1950 – June 27, 2020) was an American guitarist. Carr contributed to successful recordings by Joan Baez, Luther Ingram, Bob Seger, Paul Simon, Willie Nelson, Joe Cocker, Boz Scaggs, The Staple Singers, Rod ...
,
Johnny Sandlin
John Everett Sandlin Jr. (April 16, 1945 – September 19, 2017) was an American recording engineer and record producer. He is best known for producing albums by bands such as the Allman Brothers Band, Widespread Panic, Wet Willie, and Col. Bruce ...
and
Paul Hornsby
Paul Hornsby is an American musician and record producer who has produced gold and platinum records for artists including the Charlie Daniels Band, The Marshall Tucker Band, and Wet Willie.
Overview
Paul Hornsby started playing music at an early ...
).
History
Formed from the ashes of two disbanded rival groups that had played the same southern circuit, The Allman Joys (based in Florida) and the Men-its (based in Alabama), the group was booked in early 1967 into a month-long engagement in
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the Greater St. Louis, ...
, where they met members of the
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band is an American country rock band formed in 1966. The group has existed in various forms since its founding in Long Beach, California. Between 1976 and 1981, the band performed and recorded as the Dirt Band.
Constant ...
, whose manager,
Bill McEuen, arranged for them a contract with
Liberty Records
Liberty Records was a record label founded in the United States by chairman Simon Waronker in 1955 with Al Bennett as president and Theodore Keep as chief engineer. It was reactivated in 2001 in the United Kingdom and had two previous revival ...
.
Moving to Los Angeles, they were soon opening for groups like
The Doors
The Doors were an American Rock music, rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1965, with vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, guitarist Robby Krieger, and drummer John Densmore. They were among the most controversial and influential ro ...
and
Buffalo Springfield
Buffalo Springfield was a rock band formed in Los Angeles by Canadian musicians Neil Young, Bruce Palmer and Dewey Martin and American musicians Stephen Stills and Richie Furay. The group, widely known for the song "For What It's Worth", relea ...
and recording their
eponymous debut album, full of lighthearted poppy soul that was unlike what the group was performing in clubs and theatres in California such as
The Fillmore Ballrooom and
Troubadour
A troubadour (, ; oc, trobador ) was a composer and performer of Old Occitan lyric poetry during the High Middle Ages (1100–1350). Since the word ''troubadour'' is etymologically masculine, a female troubadour is usually called a ''trobairit ...
. These songs were chosen from a pool of staff writers, including
Jackson Browne
Clyde Jackson Browne (born October 9, 1948) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and political activist who has sold over 18 million albums in the United States.
Emerging as a precocious teenage songwriter in mid-1960s Los Angeles, he h ...
and
Jimmy Radcliffe
James Radcliffe (November 18, 1936 – July 27, 1973) was an American soul singer, composer, arranger, conductor and record producer.
Biography
James Radcliffe was born in New York City. He released such singles as "My Ship is Coming In", a so ...
, whose song "Nothing But Tears" was the A-side of the Hour Glass' debut single. The ensuing album flopped, perhaps in part because the material did not really reflect the group's tastes or strengths. In fact, the Hour Glass generally refused to perform these songs in their live shows, focusing instead on their gritty, blues- and R&B-inflected southern sounds, along with a couple of originals by Gregg Allman.
The group members were unhappy at not being able to perform as often as they had been accustomed due to the label's concern with overexposure. Losing bassist Mabron McKinney and his successor Bob Keller, they soldiered on, performing concerts and recording a second album, ''
Power of Love'', which featured bassist
Pete Carr
Jesse Willard "Pete" Carr (April 22, 1950 – June 27, 2020) was an American guitarist. Carr contributed to successful recordings by Joan Baez, Luther Ingram, Bob Seger, Paul Simon, Willie Nelson, Joe Cocker, Boz Scaggs, The Staple Singers, Rod ...
from Daytona Beach.
However, ''Power of Love'', which also featured the songwriting skills of Gregg Allman and material that fit the group much better than the material on their debut, nonetheless flopped.
In a last-ditch effort, the members left Los Angeles to work at the
FAME Studios
FAME (Florence Alabama Music Enterprises) Studios is a recording studio located at 603 East Avalon Avenue in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, an area of northern Alabama known as the Shoals. Though small and distant from the main recording locations of the ...
in
Muscle Shoals, Alabama
Muscle Shoals is the largest city in Colbert County, Alabama, Colbert County, Alabama, United States. It is located along the Tennessee River in the northern part of the state and, as of the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census, the populati ...
, where they recorded a handful of tracks that showed their full potential in the studio.
After these tracks were rejected by Liberty, the group returned to the Southeast, did a few more gigs, and called it quits.
Duane and Gregg Allman went to Jacksonville, Florida where they jammed with folk-rockers
The 31st of February
The 31st of February was a rock and roll band formed by Jacksonville, Florida natives Scott Boyer, David Brown, and Butch Trucks.
All three were alumni of Englewood High School in Jacksonville, though they did not come together musically until Br ...
, featuring drummer
Butch Trucks
Claude Hudson "Butch" Trucks (May 11, 1947 – January 24, 2017) was an American drummer. He was best known as a founding member of The Allman Brothers Band, for which he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995. Trucks was born ...
. The others went back to Alabama and did some session work in Muscle Shoals.
After the 31st of February demos were rejected by that group's label, Gregg Allman decided to return to Los Angeles to pick up the pieces of the Hour Glass' deal with Liberty. He recorded several tracks in Los Angeles with studio musicians. A single, a remake of Tammy Wynette's country hit, "D.I.V.O.R.C.E.," was released on Liberty under the name "Gregg Allman and the Hour Glass." However, it too failed to chart, and the remaining tracks for a planned album were scuttled and only issued twenty-five years later as bonus tracks on reissues of the Hour Glass's Liberty recordings.
Duane Allman re-joined his former Hour Glass bandmates in Muscle Shoals, where he met drummer J. Johanny "Jaimoe" Johanson. Interested in recruiting bassist
Berry Oakley
Raymond Berry Oakley III (April 4, 1948 – November 11, 1972) was an American bassist and one of the founding members of the Allman Brothers Band, known for long melodic bass runs. He is ranked number 46 on the ''Bass Player'' magazine's list ...
of Jacksonville psychedelic blues band the Second Coming, whom he had met the previous July at an Hour Glass performance at Jacksonville's Comic Book Club, Allman and Johanson left Muscle Shoals for Florida, where Allman began sitting in with Oakley's band. Impressed with Second Coming guitarist
Dickey Betts
Forrest Richard Betts (born December 12, 1943) is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, and composer best known as a founding member of The Allman Brothers Band.
Early in his career, he collaborated with Duane Allman, introducing melodic tw ...
' playing, Allman decided to add him to his fledgling line-up as well. With the addition of a second drummer, former 31 February drummer Butch Trucks, and brother Gregg on vocals and organ, who would at this point abandon his solo career in Los Angeles, the new line-up became the Allman Brothers Band.
Personnel
*
Duane Allman
Howard Duane Allman (November 20, 1946 – October 29, 1971) was an American rock guitarist, session musician, and the founder and original leader of the Allman Brothers Band, for which he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in ...
- guitars, electric sitar, vocal
*
Gregg Allman
Gregory LeNoir Allman (December 8, 1947 – May 27, 2017) was an American musician, singer and songwriter. He was known for performing in the Allman Brothers Band. Allman grew up with an interest in rhythm and blues music, and the Allman Br ...
- vocal, organ, piano, guitar
*
Paul Hornsby
Paul Hornsby is an American musician and record producer who has produced gold and platinum records for artists including the Charlie Daniels Band, The Marshall Tucker Band, and Wet Willie.
Overview
Paul Hornsby started playing music at an early ...
- piano, organ, guitar, vocal
*
Johnny Sandlin
John Everett Sandlin Jr. (April 16, 1945 – September 19, 2017) was an American recording engineer and record producer. He is best known for producing albums by bands such as the Allman Brothers Band, Widespread Panic, Wet Willie, and Col. Bruce ...
- drums, guitar, gong
*
Mabron McKinney - bass (1967)
* Bob Keller - bass (1967)
*
Pete Carr
Jesse Willard "Pete" Carr (April 22, 1950 – June 27, 2020) was an American guitarist. Carr contributed to successful recordings by Joan Baez, Luther Ingram, Bob Seger, Paul Simon, Willie Nelson, Joe Cocker, Boz Scaggs, The Staple Singers, Rod ...
- bass, guitar, vocal (1967–1968)
Discography
Albums
* ''
Hour Glass
An hourglass (or sandglass, sand timer, sand clock or egg timer) is a device used to measure the passage of time. It comprises two glass bulbs connected vertically by a narrow neck that allows a regulated flow of a substance (historically sand) ...
'' (
Liberty
Liberty is the ability to do as one pleases, or a right or immunity enjoyed by prescription or by grant (i.e. privilege). It is a synonym for the word freedom.
In modern politics, liberty is understood as the state of being free within society fr ...
, 1967)
* ''
Power of Love'' (
Liberty
Liberty is the ability to do as one pleases, or a right or immunity enjoyed by prescription or by grant (i.e. privilege). It is a synonym for the word freedom.
In modern politics, liberty is understood as the state of being free within society fr ...
, 1968)
* ''
The Hour Glass
Hour Glass was a 1960s rhythm and blues band based in Los Angeles, California in 1967 and 1968. Among their members were two future members of the Allman Brothers Band (Duane Allman and his brother Gregg) and three future studio musicians at t ...
'' (compilation of the two studio albums) (
United Artists
United Artists Corporation (UA), currently doing business as United Artists Digital Studios, is an American digital production company. Founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks, the studi ...
, 1973)
* ''Southbound (The Rare Liberty Recordings)'' (compilation) (
Acadia
Acadia (french: link=no, Acadie) was a colony of New France in northeastern North America which included parts of what are now the Maritime provinces, the Gaspé Peninsula and Maine to the Kennebec River. During much of the 17th and early ...
, 2004)
Singles
October 1967: "Nothing But Tears" / "Heartbeat"
- from ''Hour Glass'' (1967)
March 1968: "Power of Love" / "I Still Want Your Love"
- from ''Power of Love'' (1968)
June 1968: "
D-I-V-O-R-C-E
"D-I-V-O-R-C-E" is a song written by Bobby Braddock and Curly Putman, and recorded by American country music artist Tammy Wynette. It was released in May 1968 as the first single and title track from the album ''D-I-V-O-R-C-E''. Wynette's versi ...
" / "Changing of the Guard" (as Gregg Allman and the Hour Glass)
- Side "A" new recording by Gregg Allman and session musicians, Side "B" from ''Power of Love'' (1968)
September 1968: "She Is My Woman" / "Going Nowhere" (as Gregg Allman and the Hour Glass)
- Side "A" new recording by Gregg Allman and session musicians, Side "B" from ''Power of Love'' (1968)
October 1968: "Now Is the Time" / "She Is My Woman" (as Gregg Allman and the Hour Glass)
- Side "A" from ''Power of Love'' (1968), Side "B" previously released on 45 in September 1968
January 1969: "I've Been Trying" / "Silently" (as Gregg Allman and the Hour Glass)
- from ''Hour Glass'' (1967)
See also
*
Allman Brothers Band Allman may refer to:
Music
*The Allman Brothers Band, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame southern rock band, formed by Duane and Gregg Allman
*The Allman Joys, an early band formed by Duane and Gregg Allman
*The Gregg Allman Band
People
*Allman (surname) ...
*
Muscle Shoals, Alabama
Muscle Shoals is the largest city in Colbert County, Alabama, Colbert County, Alabama, United States. It is located along the Tennessee River in the northern part of the state and, as of the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census, the populati ...
*
FAME Studios
FAME (Florence Alabama Music Enterprises) Studios is a recording studio located at 603 East Avalon Avenue in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, an area of northern Alabama known as the Shoals. Though small and distant from the main recording locations of the ...
*
Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section
The Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section is a group of American session musicians based in the northern Alabama town of Muscle Shoals. One of the most prominent American studio house bands from the 1960s to the 1980s, these musicians, individually or as ...
References
External links
*http://www.duaneallman.info/chronologypart1.htm Duane Allman chronology
*http://www.duaneallman.info/duanediscography.htm Duane Allman discography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hour Glass
American rhythm and blues musical groups
Musical groups established in 1967
Rock music groups from California
Musical groups from Los Angeles
Musical groups disestablished in 1968