That time Alvin Youngblood Hart told me about covering Black Oak Arkansas and playing with the Allman Brothers

By Steve Newton

Back in May of 2000 I interviewed American bluesman Alvin Youngblood Hart while he was touring behind his third album, the Jim Dickinson-produced Start With the Soul.

That disc saw Hart rocking out more than on his previous releases, one of which, Territory, won a DownBeat magazine award for best blues album of the year.

Start With the Soul included a surprising cover of the 1975 Black Oak Arkansas song “Cryin’ Shame”, which I thought was pretty cool.

When I asked him how he came to record that tune we got to talking about southern rock in general, and it turns out that Hart was a big Allman Brothers fan.

Have a listen:

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