Rest in peace, Gregg Allman

Blooby · May 27, 2017, 02:14:26 PM

Lots of speculation about his health over the last two years, but Gregg Allman has passed. Those of you who know me already know they were and are my favorite band. I'm sure BrettBob has been knocked sideways as well as first I met him in the Allman Brothers forum.

Blooby

Farrell Jackson · May 27, 2017, 02:33:16 PM

I just heard the news about his passing Blooby. The news said he had been fighting unspecified health issues. A real loss and a sad day. R.I.P. Gregg Allman..............

AndyR · May 28, 2017, 03:17:17 AM

Yep

I heard last night when the news broke. Wasn't unexpected, and he "had a good innings", but I still shed a little tear... I thought of you, Blooby.

It took me a while to appreciate Gregg. I've been a Duane Allman fan since getting my first copy of Fillmore in 1981 or so. Took me some years to really get into them... I was a UK rock fan, who'd found and adored Lynyrd Skynyrd (too late, sadly - but I knew some guys who went to the Knebworth gig) ... The Allmans had some cool stuff, but they "went on a bit" for me, and they didn't have that "immediate" rock thing that Lynyrd Skynyrd seemed to have... But slowly over the years I've come to value Fillmore East a lot higher than One More From The Road.

Anyway, Duane was the brother for me for many years (and Berry Oakley, what a bassist!).

Then when the Complete Fillmore Recordings came out a few years back (have you got it? It's FABULOUS), I went on a HUGE Allmans trip and added various books to my Christmas lists.

I only read My Cross To Bear a year or so ago. I'd only picked it up to read Gregg's take on his brother, but I got a lot more than that... I suddenly "got" or appreciated "little bro" a bit more. A few months back I read Please Be With Me by Duane's daughter, too.

Then I finally started collecting Allmans albums without Duane on (I'd only ever owned the first three and the original Duane Anthology album, then the Ludlow Garage and Atlanta Pop recordings).

I was just shaping up to start looking into Gregg's solo stuff...

Listening to Fillmore now. Gregg's organ solo in Stormy Monday.

RIP Gregg Allman

Blooby · May 28, 2017, 08:37:37 AM

This may be a bit disjointed, but I had a moment.

The Allman Brothers have been my favorite band since the late eighties when I finally wrapped my head around bands that stretch things out. I was elated when the reunion tour happened and saw them 100 or so times through the years. I imagine if you included off-shoots of the band, that number would climb toward 500 (Warren Haynes solo, Gov't Mule, Jaimoe's Jasssz Band, Butch Trucks' Freight Train Band, Les Brers, Jack Pearson, Oteil and the Peacemakers, Gregg Allman solo, The Derek Trucks Band, Scott Sharrard and the Brickyard Band, and the Tedeschi Trucks Band) I am fortunate that I'm only an hour from the Spirit of Suwannee Music Park in Florida so I've been able to easily hit all the Wanee Festivals as well. I type this while sitting below a poster of First Set, signed by all the Brothers (except for Thom Doucette who guested on that album). I still haven't mustered the fortitude to listen to that last Beacon show. In a word, I am a fan (bordering on fanatic).

For some reason, I was concerned his passing would go by largely unnoticed, but I had a gig last night with my acoustic duo, and multiple folks kept requesting Allman tunes. We ended up doing "Midnight Rider," "Ain't Wastin' Time No More" with a "Jessica" tease," "Back Where it All Begins," and "Melissa." I have played the latter so many times, it's been played out for me, but I set up a loop for an outro solo and found myself tearing up. There was a table of super young folks (maybe seniors in high school or freshman at the University of Florida), and there was one young man who was educating the others about Allman and his songs. Made me feel good.

Maybe his passing will draw some younger folks to his music and realize that if you do a bit of searching, there's plenty of good stuff beyond the pablum that gets shoved down their collective throat.

Rest in peace, Gregg.

Blooby