Alan Paul -BROTHERS AND SISTERS

BROTHERS AND SISTERS: The Allman Brothers Band and the Inside Story of the Album That Defined the 70s (St. Martin’s Press) by Alan Paul is a deep dive into the time before and after 1973’s Brothers and Sisters. It was not only the band’s best-selling album, at over seven million copies sold, but it was also a powerfully influential release, both musically and culturally, one whose influence continues to be profoundly felt. Celebrating the album’s 50th anniversary, Brothers and Sisters the book delves into the making of the album, while also presenting a broader cultural history of the era, based on first-person interviews, historical documents and deep research and a trove of never-before-heard interviews conducted by the band’s “Tour Mystic,” Kirk West. The five-year period between Duane Allman’s 1971 death and the Allman Brothers Band’s 1976 breakup was a remarkable run for the group that helped define the era, rock history and American culture and politics. They played a major role in electing President Jimmy Carter; were intimately linked with the Grateful Dead; and inspired the Marshall Tucker Band, Lynyrd Skynyrd and the entire Southern Rock genre. Gregg Allman’s marriage to the iconic star Cher also put the couple at the vanguard of a newly emerging celebrity media culture. ABOUT THE AUTHOR: ALAN PAUL is the author of the New York Times bestseller One Way Out: The Inside History of the Allman Brothers Band, the definitive book on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame band and Texas Flood: the Inside Story of Stevie Ray Vaughan. The latter has been optioned and is being developed for both documentary and feature films. Hisfirst book, Big in China, is about his experiences raising an American family, forming a band and becoming an unlikely rock star in Beijing. He also founded Friends of the Brothers, the premier celebration of the music of the Allman Brothers Band, featuring members of the Dickey Betts, Jaimoe and Gregg Allman bands. He is a regular guest on radio shows and a frequent contributor to The Wall Street Journal, Guitar World, and other publications. He lives in New Jersey.