The Allman Brothers Band’s Chuck Leavell Talks “Jessica” 50 Years Later How The Allman Brothers Answered Tragedy with the World’s Happiest Song

“The piano solo in ‘Jessica’ is one of the greatest pieces of music I’ve ever heard in my life,” says actor Billy Bob Thornton in the 2020 documentary Chuck Leavell: The Tree Man. Chuck, Thornton explains, “plays another song within the song.” The euphoric peak, no less—though Betts’ guitar solo will also make your insides tingle.

The thing that astonishes me most about “Jessica,” however—more than any of its bravura musicianship—is that it exists at all. I was relieved to find that I am not alone in feeling that it is the sunniest piece of music I’ve ever experienced. “It’s the happiest song I’ve ever heard,” said the band’s producer Johnny Sandlin in One Way Out: The Inside History of the Allman Brothers Band. “It still makes me smile every time I hear it.” Alan Paul, author of One Way Out and, later, Brothers and Sisters, concurs, writing: “‘Jessica’ is a contender for the world’s happiest song, reflecting its origins.” READ FULL ARTICLE