The Misfits
A group comprised of residents of Castle Heights Military Academy in Lebanon, TN, most notably Duane Allman, and later adding his brother Gregg.
History[edit | edit source]
On the Duane Allman Family Tree website, bassist Mike Johnstone remembers the end of the band:
The drummer in this version of the Castle Heights band was Howard Smith and the alto sax player was Dave Johnson.
There was not too much singing in that band, including Gregg, who only played guitar then. No keys or vocals until a couple years later.
We played a gig at an off campus teen dance in Lebanon the night JFK was shot. [November 22, 1963] That lineup didn't last too long because just before Xmas 63, Duane got kicked out for pushing a kid down the stairs. I never knew of that incident till hearing of it from another guitar player named Rick Clifton from those years at CHMA few years ago who called me right after the Poe book [Randy Poe: 'Skydog - The Duane Allman Story'] came out. All I knew before that was that he left school one day. Gregg hung on for a few more months and then he left too. The band went on with Clifton, me, sometimes another guy on guitar named Robert Thames, Johnson and Smith. Kind of a rotating lineup post Allmans. I myself got outa there around a year later. I went home for Xmas 64 and never came back. I wanted to start playing pro. I did finish high school in Newport News, Va and then hit the road for about 50 years ending up in L.A. playing blues-rock, R&B, jazz and Bakersfield style country music on guitar, mandolin and pedal steel.
I ran into Duane and Gregg a handful of times on the road or when they passed thru Tidewater VA in the late 60s-early 70s. I last spoke to Duane backstage at the Civic Center in VA Beach a few weeks before his death.
Members[edit | edit source]
1961:
Alan Shaw - Drums
Pat O'Quinn - Rhythm Guitar
Duane Allman - Lead Guitar
Dave Johnson - Sax
"Tex" Lanier - Lead Guitar
1962:
Duane Allman - Guitar
Gregg Allman - Guitar
Dave Johnson - Sax
??? - Drums
1963:
Duane Allman - Guitar
Gregg Allman - Guitar
Dave Johnson - Sax
Mike Johnstone - Bass
Howard Smith - Drums
1964:
Rick Clifton - guitar
Robert Thames - guitar
Dave Johnson - Sax
Mike Johnstone - Bass
Howard Smith - Drums
External References[edit | edit source]
http://allmanbrothers.duaneallman.info/familytreeduaneallman.htm
http://allmanbrothers.duaneallman.info/alanshawthemisfits.htm
http://allmanbrothers.duaneallman.info/familytreenote08.htm How The Misfits ended