But Never Forgotten

Skydog: The Duane Allman Story - Randy Poe

I don’t read biographies of writers and entertainers often because knowing too much about artists’ horrible behavior with fists and guns and cars and alcohol or fringe beliefs sometimes spoils their work for me. For instance, I know it’s narrow-minded of me to have consigned Eric Clapton to my dustbin of history due to his 1976 racist rant. But there it is – it is indeed possible to despise a celeb for more than 40 years and not just because of I Shot the Sheriff or Wonderful Tonight or Lay Down Sally (no links – you’re welcome). But don’t scorn, is my advice, only my soul was hurt by doing so.

Anyway, although this biography tells more about the teenagerly views of fatherly responsibility of the subject than I wanted to know, it is still worth reading for hardcore fans of one of rock history’s preeminent guitarists. Duane Allman played on the greatest live album in the history of creation. He was killed at the age of 24 in motorcycle accident in October 1971 near Macon, Georgia.

The book begins with the birth of the two brothers Duane and the younger Gregg Allman. It describes a childhood darkened by the murder of their father Willis, a WWII veteran, at the hands of another veteran in a robbery at the end of 1949.

The other chapters are devoted to the early musical development and influences of the brothers as well as their first bands such as the Allman Joys and Hour Glass. Here the fan learns in copious detail how Duane Allman worked his way up step by step. He began as a self-taught beginner listening to the radio and learning to same records over and over. Then, through the years of tireless practice, he became a sought-after session guitarist for southern soul artists like Clarence Carter and Wilson Pickett, superstar Aretha Frankllin and later rockers like Delaney & Bonnie and that anti-vaks nitwit.

Poe avoids the common trap of entertainer biographies by skipping detail about contracts and projects that never got off the ground. Mercifully, he skips over lawsuits and the ham-fisted firing of Dickey Betts in 2000 (‘We hope that you will seek treatment and return to us happy and healthy in the fall,’ said the fax). But it is to the credit of the writer that he obviously did his homework by conducting interviews with survivors and digging up articles in old newspapers and magazines.