he early 1970s were a time of pain for The Allman Brothers Band, losing both lead guitarist Duane Allman and bassist Berry Oakley in tragic accidents. However, a renewed commitment to the group brought about a ray of sunshine in the group's biggest hit, "Ramblin' Man."

Macon, Georgia's Allman Brothers Band's biggest hit on the Billboard Hot 100 pop charts, "Ramblin' Man" rose to No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and remained on the charts for 13 weeks. It was the lead single from the Southern rockers' fourth studio album, Brothers and Sisters, a No. 1 album for five weeks after its Aug. 25, 1973 release. It remained on the charts for 56 weeks and was certified gold by the RIAA on Aug. 21, 1973.

The members of The Allman Brothers Band had all been veterans of other groups before coming together in 1969 at the suggestion of Capricorn Records head Phil Walden. Duane and Gregg Allman had both been members of The Allman Joys, Dickey Betts and Berry Oakley had been part of Second Coming, and Butch Trucks fronted The 31st Of February. With drummer Jai Johnny Johanson, the group members took to the road in 1971, honing their distinctive sound. But tragedy struck later that year when Duane Allman was killed in a motorcycle accident on October 29. Although traumatic for the band members, they decided to persevere together. Butch Trucks explained their reasons in Rolling Stone, stating, "[Duane] said many times, 'If anything ever happens to me, you guys better keep it going. Put me in a piano box, throw me in the river and jam for two or three days.' We tried taking six months off after his death, but we were all just getting too crazy from it. There wasn't any way to deal with it but to play again."

But just as the group members were getting on with their lives, tragedy struck again a mere three blocks away from the site of Duane's accident. Berry Oakley's motorcycle crashed into a bus, and suddenly a second member of the band was gone. This tragedy also marked a change in the group's sound, mainly out of necessity. As Dickey Betts explained in the group's biography, Midnight Riders, "When Berry was killed, it wasn't a matter of some guys in the group moving forward to cover that. We had to bring in outside influences. We were lucky to have [keyboardist] Chuck Leavell on hand. I think if we'd made any other move besides Chuck at that point, it would have ended just like that. Because he was so powerful that a lot of people accepted that change... There was a different sound. And it would become more different. Brothers and Sisters, it was still kind of hanging in there but you could hear it changing. It was a great band but it wasn't the same."

One of the last songs Berry had recorded before his death was a Dickey Betts original tune called "Ramblin' Man," which was inspired by a Hank Williams song with the same title. The song was a little more country than the group was used to, but with a few added guitar layers the song acquired the stamp of The Allman Brothers Band. "Ramblin' Man" debuted at #85. By its third week on the charts, it had become the group's first Billboard Top 40 hit, and in its eighth week, the song reached its peak of #2, kept from the top spot by Cher's "Half Breed." Gregg Allman obviously held no hard feelings, as he married the singer two years later.

- Christopher G. Feldman, The Billboard Book of No. 2 Singles, Billboard, 2000.

 

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