[Originally published 11/4/17, updated 11/4/25]: Often described as the first Southern rock album, the Allman Brothers Band‘s self-titled debut album was first released on November 4th, 1969. The album features a number of the band’s most well-known songs, like “Dreams”, “It’s Not My Cross To Bear”, and “Whipping Post”. It still looms large as the defining moment that the Allman Brothers were born.

From 1965 through 1969, brothers Duane Allman and Gregg Allman went through a number of band lineups—both separate and together. It took four years for the siblings to travel the country and get back to the basics in Jacksonville, FL, putting together a jam session featuring all of the band’s original players: Berry Oakley, Jaimoe, Butch Trucks, and Dickey Betts. This would be the lineup for two and a half years until Duane’s untimely death in October 1971.

Related: The Allman Brothers Band’s “Eat A Peach” Is A Message For Peace

In August 1969, the Allman Brothers Band was just cutting its teeth in the band’s new home of Macon, GA, when record executives enticed them to make the album. With a few reworked blues numbers and some originals penned by Gregg Allman, the band made its way to Atlantic Records in New York City to record. The Allman Brothers Band was recorded in just two weeks and quickly turned around for a release a few months later.

The album initially flopped on a national level, as the band’s Southern-influenced rock sound failed to take hold, but it helped turn Macon from a sleepy town into a vibrant musical community. That’s when the Allmans knew they were onto something. “They wanted us to act ‘like a rock band’ and we just told them to f–k themselves,” remembered Trucks.

Now, we can look back at this album to see a wildly talented band in its earliest days. The Allman Brothers Band may have had a lot of drama over the years, but at the heart of it all is its undeniable mission for authentic Southern rock and roll. That’s what you hear on The Allman Brothers Band, musicians who take their craft seriously but also know how to let loose and rock out.

Listen to The Allman Brothers Band on the anniversary of its release below:

Allman Brothers Band – The Allman Brothers Band

RIP to the Brothers lost…