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Farewell to a Southern Rock Pioneer

May 30, 2017

If anyone exemplified southern music at its '70s best, it was Gregg Allman.

Born in Nashville, raised in Daytona Beach, and schooled just up the road in Lebanon, Gregg Allman died in Savannah this past Saturday. If anyone exemplified southern music at its '70s best, it was Gregg Allman. Gregg and his brother Duane, playing side-by-side, created the blues / R&B / rock / jazz jam band, The Allman Brothers. Gregg Allman brought his signature voice to hordes of southern rock fans for over five decades. 

The Allman Brothers band recording The Allman Brothers Live at Filmore East is considered one of the greatest rock albums of all time. None other than the Library of Congress deemed this album to be "a landmark in American work to be preserved and culturally, historically, or aesthetically important, and/or inform or reflect life in the United States”. A new recording, Southern Blood, is due for release later this year. 

Gregg’s 2012 autobiography, My Cross to Bear, chronicles his life, rough spots and all, including his five marriages, struggles with substance abuse and tales of life on the road. 

Beyond the various musical recordings, fans may also be interested in the 2014 film  All My Friends. Celebrating the Songs & Voice of Gregg Allman.   

The thing with the piano is, the piano is like percussion almost - well, it is. You have to... not beat on it, but there is more work involved than a Hammond. With a Hammond, you just lay your hands on the keys, man, and you're gone. – Gregg LeNoir Allman

Enjoy the jam. 

-laurie