Duane Allman April 1969

Duane Allman April 1969, hand-drawn, with his 1957 Goldtop Les Paul recording with the Allman Brothers at Redwal Music, Macon, Georgia in April 1969, age 22.
The Goldtop Les Paul was his primary instrument on the first two Allman Brothers albums, countless concerts, and perhaps most significantly, Duane’s guitar of choice for almost the entire Derek & the Dominoes “Layla” album.

This was the Allman Brothers Band first rehearsal for Phil Walden (co-founder of the Macon, Georgia-based Capricorn Records) at Redwal Studios (which would become Capricorn Studios) in Macon, GA.
Studio demos recorded: “Don’t Want You No More”, “It’s Not My Cross To Bear”, “Trouble No More” and “Dreams”.

Phil Walden served as Otis Redding’s manager from 1959 until Redding’s death in 1967. In 1965 Redding and Walden co-founded the Redwal Music Publishing Company.

Early in 1969, Walden met guitarist Duane Allman and set about making him a star in his own right, precipitating the formation of The Allman Brothers Band.

The Allman Brothers were not an instant success, selling just 33,000 copies of their debut album, which stalled at #188.
However, the breakthrough of 1970’s Idlewild South (which peaked at #38) and the 1971 live double set At Fillmore East (which peaked at #13 and ultimately attained a RIAA platinum certification) convinced Walden to end Capricorn’s affiliation with Atlantic and move to Warner Bros. Records.
The success of the Allman Brothers led Capricorn to become the crucible of the blues, souland country-based “Southern rock” subgenre.

On October 29, 1971, while the band was on a break from touring and recording, Duane Allman was riding his Harley-Davidson Sportster motorcycle at high speed on Hillcrest Avenue, in the western part of Macon.
As he approached Bartlett Street, a flatbed boom truck stopped suddenly in the intersection, forcing him to swerve sharply.
He struck either the back of the truck or the ball on the crane and was thrown from the motorcycle, which landed on top of him and skidded another 90 feet with him pinned underneath it, crushing his internal organs.
He was alive when he arrived at a hospital, but despite immediate medical treatment, he died several hours later from massive internal injuries.

He was 24.

#DuaneAllman, #AllmanBrothers, #AllmanBrothersBand, #MusicArt, #PaulKing, #PaulKingArtwerks, PaulKingArt.com