Midnight Riders

One of my friends at work said I should paint Duane Allman as part of my series of dead musicians. I didn't know much about Duane Allman so she lent me the book Midnight Riders by Scott Freeman.

Freeman writes a concise history of the Allman Brothers Band, not just Duane Allman. I am up to the chapter where Duane has already died in a motorcycle accident, Berry has also died in a separate motorcycle accident a year later and Gregg is battling his heroin addiction and is dating Cher.

The Allmans created their music in a small town in Georgia named Macon. This little town is responsible for Little Richard and Otis Redding. Its also my fathers home town where he grew up and went to college (Mercer University). The cemetery they speak of frequently is named Rose Hill and is the same cemetery that my grandfather was the caretaker for awhile back in the 50's. My father says that he used to say about his job that he had five hundred men under him and not one ever talked back.

The book has now given me a great appreciation for the music of the Allman Brothers Band and I have been downloading their tunes on iTunes and listening to some of the lesser-known songs. Good stuff.

If you like Rock anthologies like Hammer of the Gods (Led Zeppelin) or No One Here Gets Out Alive (The Doors), you would like Midnight Riders.