Little Martha – The Allman Brothers Band

Little Martha, considered by myself and many to be one of the most beautiful songs ever composed on guitar. Believe it or not, this is the only Allman’s song solely created by Duane Allman by himself. A duet between Duane and Dickey Betts, “Little Martha” is named for Martha Ellis, a 12-year-old girl buried at The Rose Hill Cemetery in Macon, also the resting place of one Elizabeth Reed. Less than a month after recording, Duane would join them at the same cemetery, and Berry Oakley a year later. 45 years later, Gregg Allman would as well. There’s another version of the origin of the name, this one being that Duane would give his girlfriend at the time, Dixie Meadows, a hard time about how she dressed, describing it as “something Martha Washington would wear”.

Originally recorded with Berry playing bass, the album version from Eat A Peach doesn’t include his track, which was later released in the 1989 Allman Brothers compilation Dreams.

Being an instrumental, it has a pretty interesting origin story. The song supposedly came to Duane in a dream (maybe a trip) where none other than Jimi Hendrix appeared to Duane in a Holiday Inn bathroom and taught him how to play the melody on the faucet of the sink.

Audio – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=typ2c8JPkLE

Audio with Berry bass – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=He0gUs8AeBs

Live performed by Derek Trucks – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSduHd4NchM