Duane Allman died fifty-four years ago. But his legacy lives on.

Fifty-four years ago today Duane Allman was killed in a motorcycle accident. He was only 24 years old. And yet, every list of the greatest guitar players of all time has Duane in their top ten. It is hard not to wonder how the world of music would have been changed if he'd lived longer. 

When it comes to the Allman Brothers Band there are lots of interesting stories to tell. For example, here is what Warren Haynes wrote about their impact on a young Southern boy growing up in Asheville, North Carolina.

Over the next few years I would begin to play guitar as everyone of my music loving friends became Allman Brothers’ freaks. That music spoke to anyone who heard it but in the South it resonated with us. It spoke volumes. It brought a voice to people like myself in the midst of some confusing, ever-changing times. Here was this group of Southern hippies with an integrated band coming out of the Deepest South with equally deep music on the heels of some extremely deep changes. We didn’t realize how heavy that was at the time but we sure realized how heavy the music was. Every guitar player in every Southern town was listening to the Live at Fillmore East record and worshipping at the altar of Duane Allman and Dickey Betts.

It can be hard to imagine how Duane and Gregg Allman - two white brothers from the South - so effectively maneuvered the deep changes that were happening in this country in the 50s and 60s. But for them, it was all about the music. Here's how Gregg described it:

Duane and I were raised in Panhandle, Florida. We used to listen to a station that called itself “The black spot on your dial”. It played Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf, and it hit Duane and me like spaghetti hitting a wall...

I learned to play mostly from black people: the clubs on Daytona Beach, Surf Bar, Paradise, all black dudes.

While another famous Southern Rock group played their concerts in front of a Confederate flag, Duane and Gregg would have none of that and, instead, celebrated the Black Southern blues players they admired so much. The day after Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated, Gregg wrote this song - which he later recorded with Duane.

 

As that song demonstrates, it was through their experience with Black Southern blues music that they viewed the struggle for civil rights in this country.

Duane is known for being the best slide guitar player in history. One of my favorite stories about him is that he was inspired to learn that skill after hearing Native American Jesse Ed Davis playing slide on Taj Mahal's recording of Statesboro Blues. Take a listen to that one. 

There are lots of tunes you can listen to that explain why Duane's guitar-playing is so revered. But one of the best comes from the time he spent as a session guitarist at Muscle Shoals studio (prior to forming the Allman Brothers Band). At the time, Wilson Pickett was recording there. The other session musicians were all white men, who would go into town for lunch. But both the Black guy and the long-haired hippie weren't welcome in small town Alabama in 1968. So Duane and Wilson hung back together at the studio. That is when Duane convinced Pickett to record Hey Jude, even though the Beatles version was still topping the charts. It's worth noting that this is the one that grabbed Eric Clapton's attention and inspired him to ask Duane to join Derek and the Dominoes in recording Layla and Other Love Songs. Stay tuned for the guitar riffs near the end of this one.

 

There was, however, a lot more to Duane's playing than shredding and jamming. Here's one of my favorites where he makes the guitar sing during his fills for the blues song Gregg wrote - Please Call Home.

Finally, there is only one song the Allman Brothers Band recorded that was written solely by Duane - Little Martha. This one, which was recorded just a couple of months before he died, demonstrates that Duane also had a softer, more gentle side.

 

 

While it is difficult to avoid wondering how the world of music might have been affected if Duane had lived beyond his short 24 years, Alan Paul described why his musical legacy lives on.

Duane’s continued relevance – his ongoing musical dialogue - is in large part because he consciously set out to create something that was bigger than himself. The lack of egocentrism in his vision for the Allman Brothers Band guaranteed that he and his ideas would live forever. For all his charisma, technical facility and musical inspiration, he did not build a band aimed merely at casting a spotlight his way...

“They wanted him to form the Duane Allman Band, but he had something different in mind. Something bigger,” says drummer Jaimoe.

As a testament to that legacy, last April Jaimoe (the only surviving member of the original line-up) gathered The Brothers for two nights at Madison Square Garden.  

 

Derek Trucks said there were ghosts in the room when he and Warren Haynes recorded Real, Real Love. You can definitely hear him channeling Duane on this one.

Today we mourn the loss of Duane. But clearly, his legacy lives on.