Remembering a Brother

My phone blew up with texts and alerts on Saturday afternoon when news spread of the passing of founding Allman Brothers Band member Gregg Allman. Many friends and family members know of my affinity for the ABB and related groups. Gregg Allman was the cornerstone of the group and the jam band movement that many of us know and love. He had not been in good health for some time, so the news was not surprising, but sad nonetheless. The first time I saw Gregg Allman live was in the summer of 1986 or 1987 along the Poughkeepsie riverfront. At that time, he was playing with the Gregg Allman Band (the Allman Brothers Band would re-form a few years later). The first song they played was "Don't Want You No More" (a keyboard heavy instrumental), which bled right into "It's Not My Cross to Bear." These two songs were the first two on the first ABB album back in the 1960s. The initial sound of Allman's bluesy growl of a voice that afternoon is something I'll never forget. I would go on to see the Allman Brothers Band many, many times in the 1990s and 2000s. More times than I can count. Always, always, Allman was off on the left side of the stage (from the crowd vantage point), swaying his shoulders and his shoulder-length hair, playing the keys and singing that bluesy growl. Another great voice silenced, but the ABB's music will live on forever.