Gregg Allman began performing "I'm No Angel" live in the mid-1980s and cut the song as a demo in hopes of ending his post-1977 absence from recording. Michael Caplan, a rookie A&R man at Epic and an admitted "longtime, serious Allman Brothers Band fan" would recall "I found Gregg's four-song demo cassette in my boss's garbage...I listened to and the first song was 'I'm No Angel' which I thought was great. So I got in touch with Willie Perkins and Alex Hodges [respectively Allman's tour manager and booking agent and signed Gregg to Epic." The recollection of Perkins is that Hodges was contacted by veteran Epic A&R man Lennie Petze with an interest in signing Allman to Epic, Petze having given a stack of demos to independent radio consultant Bill Bennett to listen to on a flight from New York City to Los Angeles. The demos included Allman's "I'm No Angel", which Bennett had reported back to Petze he (Bennett) could successfully pitch to at least one hundred radio stations. Following Petze's call to Hodges, Perkins brought Allman to CBS Records New York City headquarters to meet Michael Caplan and Epic vice-president Frank Rand: Caplan and Rand would soon afterwards sign Allman to Epic ensuant to seeing perform at a New Jersey gig.