 To promote the album , Allman embarked on a nationwide tour with the musicians who helped record the album as his band . Long inspired by Joe Cocker 's Mad Dogs & Englishmen ( 1970 ) , Allman hired a string orchestra to accompany the group . Drawn from the New York Philharmonic , it consisted of three cellos , six violins , and seven violas . The tour lasted one month and performed exclusively in upscale theaters , which Allman requested for the best sound quality possible . He found performing with the orchestra strikingly different than singing with the Allman Brothers Band , having to adjust his normal singing volume to blend better . A live album of material from the tour was released as The Gregg Allman Tour later that year , to help recoup costs for the tour . " I was really pleased with how the tour went . Some nights were better than others , but they were all good , " Allman would later recall . 
