When Chris Cornell's death gets a huge reception and Gregg Allman barely gets a nod, Houston we have a problem.....
Was it because Duane Allman overshadowed his brother? Probably. I was thinking about this today, what would it actually be like to be the older brother of an iconic, one of the all time best guitar players and be overshadowed by a legend? The obvious comparison is Jimmy Vaughan, older brother to Stevie Ray Vaughan. To be fair, I truly don't think Jimmy Vaughan or Gregg Allman cared about it all that much, but it's still an interesting topic to think about.
The obvious difference here is that Gregg Allman was kind of the frontman of the band and his legendary voice is behind all of their mainstay tracks, their greatest musical achievements whereas Jimmy Vaughan was not the frontman of the band until after Stevie died. Ironically, most of the Allman brother's commercial success came after Duane Allman's death. But enough of that and on to Gregg...He was a pioneer, if not 'thee pioneer' of southern rock, enough that so many successful acts that followed in his footsteps were influenced heavily by Gregg Allman's songwriting style which is featured in songs like Whipping Post and Midnight Rider and Ain't Wasting Time No More.
Though his death comes as no surprise because his of his battle with cancer, I am still sadden by it because we lost a great American Song Writer, Musician and Vocalist. RIP Gregg and thank you for great melodies, your music will live on.
