Jaimoe

And maybe it was because they all lived together in one ramshackle house with girls from nearby Wesleyan College streaming in and out.

Or maybe it was because one of their two drummers, Johnny "Jaimoe" Johnson, a guy who cut his teeth playing with Otis Redding, was Black.

That fact raised eyebrows and a whole lot more in Georgia in 1969.

Back then, Lester Maddox was still the governor, and Maddox was a hardcore segregationist who threatened Black customers with an ax handle at his restaurant, and later he shut the place down rather than integrate.

And maybe it was the mushrooms, and maybe it was the hours spent rehearsing, but when all six of them got on the same wavelength, it was magical.

It would start with Duane Allman's slide guitar playing, and then Dickey Betts would answer back with a bluegrass-inspired lick.

And Jaimoe and Butch Trucks would toss drum fills back and forth like hot potatoes, with Berry Oakley holding it down on bass.

And then Gregg's organ would swoop in and take it over the top on songs like Midnight Rider and Whipping Post.