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Born March 27 1942. Joseph "Red Dog" Campbell is the known as one of the greatest roadies in rock and roll history.Red Dog was an original Allman Brother roadie for the last 30-plus years and celebrated in the movie Almost Famous by writer and director Cameron Crowe,
After hearing the striking slide-guitar piece that Duane Allman added to Aretha Franklin recording of The Weight, Red Dog was enticed to see Allman perform solo. After the show, Red Dog was so impressed he felt compelled to pay Allman his respects. Red Dog first impression of Duane, the founding member of the Allman Brothers who was killed in a motorcycle accident in 1971, lasted. He still speaks of Duane with intense reverence.
Two words: pied piper. Duane just stood out. I heard him, and he was like nothing my ears had heard before, Red Dog said. Soon after their initial meeting, Duane called on his brother, Gregg Allman, and assembled the original Allman Brothers band for a cross-country tour. Red Dog, who at the time had no musical background, was assigned as a roadie
We all loved Duane Allman. You knew him as well as anybody. Could you give us your take on your friend Duane?
"He was my hero. I mean. I would have followed Duane to the end of the earth. I was older than him, but I respected him enough and loved him enough to do it. Duane had a sixth sense- or a seventh sense, man. He just knew what to do at the right time. There's a fork in the road, right? if you go to the left, there's a pot of gold. If you go to the right, you're in a pile of crap. Duane could walk right up to the fork without thinking and say 'let's go to the left.' And he'd come out smelling like a rose. But he was fair. he was honest. He was up front and didn't beat around the bush. You didn't have to hear (drags voice) "Well, you know....I was thinkin'...It ain't really nice for me to say it, but.." You didn't have to hear it. He'd just say, "Red Dog, you messed up bad man. We're gonna have to let you go." There wouldn't be no beatin around the bush. I try to live like that myself. I just don't have the tactfulness or the position in life to deal the other way. So I just hit it, bam-bam-bam. (Laughs) I don't really think you can put it into words, on Duane. He used to say, "You guys do all the work. We just come over and have fun." That's really what it's all about. If these musicians say "I'm out here working my butt off, something's wrong." I mean, if he ain't out there playing and having fun, something's wrong. It's at the stage of the game now where it's not work. It's "Hey, let's enjoy ourselves and play." The roadie's the guy who's doing the work to get the thing going."
"The Fillmore East was unreal, man. Bill Graham had that thing man- it was the place to play. You'd go in there and set your stuff up on dollies. Nowadays we leave a lot of things in the case trays and all like that. But at the Fillmore they had these dollies. And after you played there one time, they knew what your gear looked like. When you'd come back, them dollies were even better, to go with your gear. They put everything on them 4-wheeled dollies, and rather than having to carry everything out onstage, they just rolled it out there. So when it came time to change the stage it was bang-bang-bang and out of there. Next band. the Fillmore just sounded good too. Look at that "Fillmore East" album. That's one of the best live ones ever laid down."
Do you have one particular band member you work for, or do you just do it all?
Well, in the early days you did it all. Matter of fact, when I started, no body actually took care of drums. In those days they didn't really have a drum roadie- or technician- whatever they want to call 'em these days. Everybody has got to have a title. That's why in the book it says "roadie" by my name. I was a roadie thirty years ago and I'm a roadie today. It hasn't changed none. In the old days, we used to have to do it all, drive and everything. I'd set up the drums, and if Kim still needed some help with the amp line, I'd just jump over and start setting up the amp line with him. Or I'd help Callahan with the p.a., you know. And vice-versa. if one of them finished before I did, they'd jump right in and help me. In those days, you didn't have to say 'Hey, can you help me?' There was somebody right there. But nowadays everything is what I guess they call specialization. Everybody has there job. I just take care of the two drummers and the percussionist.
It was very cool to see you portrayed by name in Cameron Crowe's movie "Almost Famous." How did you feel about that?
It felt great! Duane used to say when he'd go out onstage and hear the applause it was music to his ears. That was music to my ears. Me and Dickey kind of took Cameron under our wing back when he first came out to write about us. I can remember Cameron wanting to go over and talk to Gregg or Dickey, they'd be talking to somebody else, and he'd be wanting to interview them. I'd tell him to wait until the time was right. Then I'd say, 'Get on over there. Go on now!' I'd help him pick his spots where he could zip in there and get his interviews, where he'd actually get something. Instead of going over there and something else is on their mind and they just give you little nibbies. My man just paid me back. He throwed me a bone. When he called me and told me he was putting me in it, he said 'We're gonna get you in the rock and roll hall of fame.' Man, he blew me away with what he said about my book. I knew I had done something when he said what he did. and I know he wouldn't just blow smoke. I knew I had done something good.
I read in the book that you knew Janis Joplin. What was she like?
I thought that she was a sweetheart. She was like Duane. She was up front. When you talked to her, you didn't get any bull, you got straight conversation. She was into the people. She was into doing free concerts. She was just a rowdy ol' mama that sang the blues and loved it, and lived it.
And boy could she ever sing!
And the trouble is, she wouldn't make it today. They have disoriented the kids, pumping all that bass and everything. And rap. They think that's singing. That ain't singing.
Was Duane the unspoken band leader of the Allmans?
without a doubt he was the leader. What he said went. Everybody respected Duane. If Duane said 'we're leavin' here right now,' we were leavin.' That's what made the band so good was that everybody respected his opinion. But Oak was the underlying force. Berry Oakley. Oak did most of the talking. At meetings and stuff Oak did the rapping. When we'd go into a meeting, Berry would bring up the questions. Like I said in the book, one time Phil said to Duane, "Do I have to meet with the roadies?" Duane told him, "This is the band." And in the book I was talking about the gold record deal, where Dixie said she wanted it, and Duane told her 'You didn't earn it." A guys tells you something like that right in front of his old lady, that's something. These days that doesn't happen anymore. Sometimes you wonder if people appreciate what you do. It's all business now. You can be replaced tomorrow. The road crew changes constantly. I'm the only original crew man left.
Back to your book for a minute. The book is as much a must for an Allman fan as the "Fillmore East" album, I think.
The book and the music go hand in hand. You can almost tell by the drug what the time period was. The first album was a lot of psychedelics. Second album was speed and downers. of course there was always pot involved. And the "Fillmore East" of course was just pure heroin. On the nod. Here the best, high energy album recorded is on heroin. That's pretty wild. But of course, when you do heroin, you get kind of pumped up for the first couple of hours before it settles in on you. That is when you're first starting to do it. After a few years that changes. This was during our early heroin use. We weren't really bad junkies at that time. We were just users.
How long were you into heroin?
I gave it up about '73. I'm brain dead on that. Sometimes I can remember, sometimes I can't.
When they write the definitive book of Southern rock and roll- how would you like to be remembered?
By my book. (Laughs) Duane had a saying that he he wanted to just leave a mark that he had been here. Hopefully with my book I have put a scratch on that tree of life.
