Gregg Allman is best known for his 44 year love affair with the Allman Brothers Band that originally began with two brothers, and some special friends, who loved to play the blues.

After decades of playing, recording and creating some of the most memorable music ever performed; the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995 and received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2012.

Allman is not only one of the founders of the band, he is the unmistakable raspy but soothing voice that lures those who listen into a deep and “soulful” place that not many other artists can reach.

In his recent biography, My Cross To Bear, he definitely bears his life, misgivings, marriages and everything else that a soulful southerner with unrelenting notoriety since the early 70’s might experience. This biography is set to be turned into a biopic titled “Midnight Rider” with William Hurt playing Gregg Allman.

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His remarkability was honored in a recent concert in Atlanta, and after singing a few songs from his Hammond B3 – Allman was joined and applauded by not only fans, but also fellow artists.

An all-star lineup of musicians celebrated Gregg Allman Friday night at a tribute concert heralding the southern rock luminary and the blues rock that influenced many artists to follow his band’s early 1970s success.

Some of those famed artists included Vince Gill to Robert Randolph to Jackson Browne to Eric Church to John Hiatt. And they all played with Allman bringing the fans a treat they may never forget.

And in typical humble appreciation, Allman simply stated: “I try not to think about it just directly. It’s kind of like we all came to the gig together. It’s pretty overwhelming but I’ve got the music to hang onto, to keep me on the ground. Otherwise they’d have to take me out of here on a string, like a balloon.”

Taj Mahal said it was an easy decision when he was asked to join the tribute because the Allman Brothers Band is part of the fabric of American music.

“Anybody who listens to American music is going to have to hear them,” Mahal said. “They just went with good music and stayed with good music.”

Sadly the event had a purpose as the announcement came that two members, Warren Haynes and Derek Trucks are leaving the band at the end of 2014. Haynes joined the group in 1989, and Trucks became a member in 1999. Trucks’ uncle Butch Trucks was the drummer and one of the founding members of the Allman Brothers Band.

Image via Wikimedia Commons 2