The Allman Brothers performing “Statesboro Blues” Live at the University Of Florida Bandshell in ’82 This song was originally written by Delta Blues legend Blind Willie McTell who performed in the Georgia area until his death in 1959. When the American Blues revival took shape in the ‘60s this song found a new life when several bands covered it, but it took on a whole new life when the Allman Brothers opened their legendary “At Fillmore East” with this song, and that introduced it to a whole new audience. Their rendition of the song was crafted to showcase Duane Allman’s slide guitar skills while omitting several lyrics from the original. The song is about a man in Statesboro, Georgia, who wakes up restless and thus has the “Statesboro blues.” He’s ready to go on the move, leaving his mean woman behind in the process. Duane learned to play the song with the bottleneck slide guitar by practicing it over and over. He was influenced to perform it after hearing Taj Mahal’s version of t...