5 things to know about Gregg Allman
On Friday night, blues great Taj Mahal and country stars Little Big Town and Chris Stapleton will pay tribute to Southern rocker Gregg Allman during a new edition of Skyville Live. The concert will be live-streamed on the USA Today network beginning at 7 p.m. CST.
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Here are five things to know about Allman before the show.
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1. Gregg Allman was born in Nashville, and, as he told the Tennessean in January, had a few formative musical experiences here:
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There was a guy that lived across the street from my grandma. He was mentally challenged. He was outside painting a 1948 Packard limousine with a paint brush. His name was Jimmy Banes. I went over there and said, "Hey Jimmy, whatcha got up there on the porch?" He said, "Oh, that's my gee-tar." I was just enchanted by it. I'd never been that close to one. I said, "Well, can you play it?" He said, "It wouldn't be up there if I didn't play it!" I said, "Well, come up here and play me something." He put the paint brush down and came up and played "She'll Be Coming 'Round the Mountain." I thought, "Man, if this guy can do this, by God, I can."
2. Gregg and his older brother Duane both attended Castle Heights Military Academy in Lebanon. Gene Hale, who was a barracks officer at Castle Heights before he became a teacher and the CHMA headmaster, remembers that one night, while making his rounds, he heard music in the barracks while the cadets were supposed to be studying. When he went to investigate, he found " Duane and Gregg sitting on the edge of their bunks tuning their guitars. I opened the door and said, 'Put those guitars (away) and get those books out. You might as well amount to something.' "
3. “Midnight Rider,” which was released by the Allman Brothers Band as a single in 1971, has been covered by several country artists, including Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Garth Brooks and Hank Williams, Jr. Alison Krauss and Union Station also included a bluegrass version of the song on their album “Two Highways.”
4. Allman has been inducted into both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (as part of the Allman Brothers Band in 1995) and the Georgia Music Hall of Fame.
5. The Allman Brothers Band ended its run in 2014, but Gregg hasn’t slowed down. Earlier this year, he released a live album called “Back to Macon, GA.”
Learn more about the Skyville Live performers in Friday's live broadcast:
5 things to know about Chris Stapleton