In putting together all these songs with performers as varied as John Hiatt, Keb Mo, Jackson Browne, and Martina McBride, among many others, the producers of this February 2014 concert at Atlanta’s Fox Theater show how crucial and soulful Gregg Allman’s body of work is.

Many critiques of Allman’s music gets caught up in his public persona and the ups and downs of the Allman Brothers. Here, it is just the music being played and sung by his many virtuoso musician friends.

To hear his hit songs and more obscure tunes done so well by such a variety of musicians is testament to how ingrained they are in American culture. There are elements of rock, blues, country, folk and jazz. Each performer sounds like they are putting all they’ve got into it, and a listener can hear it when Warren Haynes or Sam Moore’s voice almost cracks, or when the horns punch their riffs over the endless boogie of the drums and slide guitar and John Hiatt sings like a man who knows in “One Way Out.”

This is most evident in the duets between long-time friends Jackson Browne and Allman on the classics “These Days” and “Melissa.” Here, both the sentiments of the song and the long relationship between the singers give this rendition a depth of feeling rarely equaled. These lead well into cuts of Allman Brothers classics “Dreams” and “Whipping Post.”

For songs that have such a pedigree and weight behind them, the band—possibly knowing that these would be some of their last performances—leans in and simply wails with Allman’s voice singing all the pain and blues of these tunes with a weary energy.

As a compilation of great musicians playing great music or an encompassing survey of Gregg Allman’s body of work, this can’t be beat.

In addition, many of the people responsible for this are also responsible for the recent tribute at the Saenger Theatre in New Orleans “The Musical Mojo of Dr. John: A Celebration of Mac and His Music,” so this bodes well for that.