On March 26th, 1969, a still-unnamed sextet opened its first-ever rehearsal with a cover of Muddy Waters‘ “Trouble No More”. That group soon became known as the Allman Brothers Band and proceeded to take the world by storm, crafting a legendary catalog featuring timeless albums like 1972’s Eat A Peach, developing a multi-generational following, and helping it evolve into a family with a bond thicker than blood.
In 2014, many decades and evolutions later, the Allman Brothers Band played its last-ever show at New York’s Beacon Theatre, a venue that had long since become the group’s home base. Following final goodbyes and speeches, the band closed the show with one last song, the same one they had started with back in 1969: “Trouble No More”.
On March 25th and 26th, 2022—50 years after the release of Eat A Peach and 53 years to the day after the Allman Brothers Band was born, respectively—a new group known as Trouble No More will pick up where the ABB left off at the Beacon Theatre to begin writing a new chapter in the Brothers’ story. March 25th is already sold out, while limited space remains for March 26th [get tickets].
The new ensemble carries the ABB legacy down the road to forever with more than just its name. Dense layers of Allman Brothers synergy are woven into Trouble No More, from the notable anniversaries and meaningful venue to the members’ intertwined histories.
Perhaps most significantly, both the Allman Brothers Band and Trouble No More were built upon foundational family ties: while the ABB fell in around brothers Duane and Gregg Allman, Trouble No More will put the spotlight on another pair of talented siblings, guitarist Brandon Niederauer, age 19, and bassist Dylan Niederauer, age 21.
“There’s a specific thing that happens when you play with somebody that you know so much—not only just know them as a musician, but know where they came from, why they are the way they are, who they are deep down,” Brandon Niederauer explained to Live For Live Music. “When you connect with somebody on a cellular level like that, or you connect with your souls and you really love each other, there’s no better communication musically. I’ve had that with Dylan forever. We’ve always just loved playing with each other more than anyone else, at least I have, and the fact that we get to play this Allman Brothers music as brothers is amazing.”
Getting the chance to start a new band with your brother would be exciting enough for most college-aged musicians. For Dylan (a senior at the University at Albany), Brandon (a freshman at Yale University), and Trouble No More, the stakes are considerably higher.
“I remember my dad taking me to the Beacon when I was 7, 8, 9, 10, 11… until they broke up,” Brandon recalled. “I would be there, and it was the most amazing experience of all time just standing on the rail and seeing two virtuosic guitars and a bunch of other virtuosic musicians going at it and telling a story with what their jams had to offer, and those amazing songs that everybody in the crowd knew.”
“I’ve been chasing that feeling ever since then and I haven’t gotten it in that specific way because nobody can play the Allman Brothers like the Allman Brothers can, of course,” he added. “But what we’re trying to do is take our youthful energy and make a new sort of vertical where we can enter a scene that doesn’t have a lot going for it right now and make a mark and revive this music and keep it alive for as long as possible.”
“The whole project is bigger than the music itself,” he added. “That’s what the Allman Brothers were. It wasn’t just the music. It’s the community, it’s the love. So, Dylan and I and the team are going to work really hard to keep that. … We’re going to try to bring that energy that [the Allman Brothers] had at those Fillmore East shows, when they were playing for hours and hours and hours.”
Trouble No More is the brainchild of booking agent and Mint Talent Group co-founder C.J. Strock. Entrusted with the live legacy of the Allman Brothers Band as well as a fearsome stable of young talents, Strock carefully selected each member of the new ensemble, which Taz classified as “a reimagining of one of the greatest bands of all time.” The band names Strock as a co-founding member.
Although it takes a step away from the direct ABB bloodline, the band features an inter-generational mix of ABB descendants, collaborators, proteges, and extended “family” members including Daniel Donato (guitar/vocals), Jack Ryan (drums), Nikki Glaspie (drums), Lamar Williams Jr. (vocals), Peter Levin (keys), and Roosevelt Collier (pedal steel guitar).
“C.J. is the mastermind of this whole operation,” Brandon confirmed. “He’s the guy driving the bus of this whole idea coming to fruition. Him and the team at Mint Talent Group, but especially him, he was in the emails, talking about the terms, talking about how it’s going to work.”
Strock’s wheels were spinning around this new lineup even before Niederauer brothers themselves knew what was in the works. As Dylan explained, the agent clued him in on the designs for Trouble No More before Brandon, giving him the opportunity to surprise his little brother with the news during a school vacation.
“I really didn’t know until after a certain point, and then they were telling me which musicians they were thinking of at that point, and I was really caught off guard but so excited,” Dylan smiled. “But I then brought the news to Brandon, and he was like, ‘What?!’”
“This was sort of a surprise brought to me,” Brandon laughed. “On Thanksgiving break, I come home and there’re whispers in the house of, like, ‘Don’t tell Brandon yet…’”
Knowing full well how important this spiritual revival would be to fans of the Allman Brothers Band, the younger Niederauer was naturally hesitant when he first got the news about Trouble No More. “I was afraid for this event, you know? It was nerve wracking,” he explained. “I was like, ‘Is this really going to happen?’ But I was trusting C.J., and he always pulls through. He will never let any of his people down, and we’re super honored to be working with him. I don’t know how he pulled it off, but he did, so I’ll forever be grateful for him.”
Today, as the reality of the new project and the extensive resumes of its members come into focus, Taz has no more doubts. “We haven’t even played together yet and I am so confident that we’re going to be able to do something with this music that no one has ever heard before,” he said, excitement buzzing in his voice.
While Brandon Niederauer has been steadily touring and making a name for himself for the better part of a decade with his prodigious guitar fireworks, Dylan had shied away from performing in recent years. Although the brothers have never stopped playing together for fun, their official collaborations—including early-childhood bands like BX2 and Lions on the Moon—have long since been put on hold.
“It wasn’t really that long ago,” Brandon laughed, briefly considering the limits of his teenage perspective. “For us, it’s a long time ago.”
Brandon & Dylan Niederauer Play “Voodoo Child” At Madison Square Garden – 4/10/16
Over the last few years, however, Dylan was coaxed back into music by a familiar figure in the Allman Brothers world: longtime bassist Oteil Burbridge. As a perennial teacher and mentor at the Butch Trucks-founded music camp, Roots Rock Revival—alongside newfound Trouble No More members Nikki Glaspie, Peter Levin, Roosevelt Collier, and Lamar Williams Jr.—Burbridge has forged a meaningful relationship with the older Niederauer.
“Oteil has been the biggest influence on me both musically and spiritually, definitely.” Dylan divulged. “He showed me so many things, and he’s the biggest motivator. He’s honestly the reason that I still play music today. He definitely inspired me in many different ways to play and practice and just learn. … I would always still go to Roots, and Oteil would teach me and show me things and he would reinvigorate the whole thing for me.”
Burbridge beamed with pride as he discussed Dylan, Brandon, and Trouble No More during a recent conversation with Live For Live Music. “I’ve watched them grow, so it’s been very spiritual,” he explained. “It’s crazy. They sold out one night at The Beacon. They had to add another one. I’m like, ‘I’m getting to see that before I die!’ I helped grow that plant with Brandon and Dylan, and they’re at the Beacon! I could cry, you know? There’s nothing better than that.”
Brandon Niederauer looked mystified as he listened to Oteil’s words about him and his brother. “Some of my first jams ever—like, ever ever—were with Oteil, debatably the greatest living bass player. Dylan and I talk about this all the time,” he explained. “For him to hear about this and for him to just know that it means that much to them… there’s nothing greater than your hero acknowledging you and applauding.”
While they are not actually related to any of the Allman Brothers, Burbridge sees the Niederauers as honorary descendants of that lineage thanks to the Roots Rock relationship. “Those kids have a direct flesh connection [to the Allman Brothers],” he explained, recalling with a laugh the tutelage they received from Trucks in the early years of the camp. “Butch would tell stories and cuss and stuff when they were younger. We were like, ‘Butch, there’s kids!’”
Though they may have been laced with profanity, Butch’s lessons had a formative impact on young Brandon Niederauer. He recalled a particular time at Roots Rock Revival when he was “playing in a very immature way as an eleven-year-old … and, of course, it’s in front of Butch Trucks, and he yells at me, ‘Why are you showing off? What are you doing? Like, why? You should be playing music to play music, not to impress others.’ And he said it in a way worse way than that, but I took the tough love and I’ve held that notion and I’ve believed that ever since then. That led to a path of better musical understanding and me being more polite on the battlefield that we call the jam session. It made me a way better musician.”
Brandon also attributed a second crucial lesson—this time via the late Col. Bruce Hampton—to his time at Roots Rock Revival. As Taz explained, “[Col, Bruce] always said music has to have intention, which sort of falls in line with what Butch said. … There has to be some sort of emotional response or else you’ll never truly connect with those people that you’re playing for.”
With Trouble No More, the Niederauers are eager to apply those lessons to the band on which they were raised. “I use that [lesson] to this day,” Brandon explained, “and I cannot wait to pour all of my emotion into ‘Whipping Post’, ‘In Memory of Elizabeth Reed’, the entire Eat A Peach album…”
“That’s our duty, and we have a real shot here to make something special,” Brandon added, his intention abundantly clear. “I mean, we can waltz in there and not rehearse and have a so-so show that’s just one of these other tribute shows that there’s a million of every night in every city, but we have a duty here to make it as good as possible. We are going to get those vibes in for all of those Allman Brothers fans that have missed it for the last, what, eight years? There’s a gap in that, and we’re trying to fill in that gap in a different way. … I just cannot wait to use the lessons that I learned with these amazing musicians taking me under their wing so gracefully.”
Trouble No More will make its auspicious debut at The Beacon Theatre in New York, NY on Friday, March 25th (sold out) and Saturday, March 26th (limited tickets remain). To grab your tickets before they’re gone, head here.
Following the band’s two-night debut at the Beacon Theatre, Trouble No More will hit the road for an assortment of performances this spring and summer. Upcoming stops include a New Orleans blowout during Jazz Fest alongside Art Neville/Dr. John tribute Poppa Funk & The Night Tripper at The Fillmore New Orleans on Saturday, May 7th; a show at Brooklyn Bowl Nashville in Nashville, TN on Wednesday, June 1st; a night at Birmingham, AL’s Avondale Brewing Company on June 3rd; a performance at Baldwinsville, NY’s Papermill Island Amphitheater on Wednesday, June 29th; and a homecoming set the Allman Brothers Band-founded The Peach Music Festival in Scranton, PA on Thursday, June 30th.
To keep up with future Trouble No More announcements, make sure to follow the band’s Facebook and Instagram page.
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The post Trouble No More: Dylan & Brandon Niederauer Bring Intention To Allman Brothers Band Ethos [Interview] appeared first on L4LM.
