INDIO, CA - APRIL 25: Musician Gregg Allman performs onstage during day two of 2015 Stagecoach, California's Country Music Festival, at The Empire Polo Club on April 25, 2015 in Indio, California. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images for Stagecoach) Frazer Harrison
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Gregg Allman: The Music of My Soul, a documentary chronicling the life of the revered guitarist and co-founder of The Allman Brothers Band, opens in theaters Wednesday (June 17).
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In this exclusive clip, Allman recalls when his older brother Duane Allman first heard his baby brother play explosive licks on his guitar, instantly sparking a sibling rivalry. “The fights broke out,” Gregg Allman says, recalling that their mother then had to buy two guitars to keep peace in the family. “She bought two electrics: I got a Fender and he got a Gibson.”
Their rivalry gave way to a closeness as playing drew them together, each admiring what the other could do. “And then we started becoming equal, that was such a good feeling. I spent my life trying to impress him. Well, the first 20 years of it anyway,” Gregg Allman says with a painful shrug, clearly referencing Duane’s death in a motorcycle accident when Duane was only 24 and Gregg was 23.
Directed by Oscar, Golden Globe and Grammy Award winner James Keach, who has produced and/or directed such docs as Glen Campbell… I’ll Be Me and Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice, the film also includes interviews with Allman Brothers Band members Chuck Leavell and Jaimoe, as well as with Allman’s ex-wife Cher (one of his seven wives) and friend Jackson Browne.
The Allman Brothers Band are largely credited as founders of the Southern Rock sound through their driving, guitar-based anthems, including “Ramblin’ Man,” “Jessica,” “Whipping Post,” “Midnight Rider” and “Melissa.” Duane and Gregg formed the band in Jacksonville, Florida in 1969 with Dickey Betts, Berry Oakley, Butch Trucks and Jaimoe.
The film examines not only the band’s rise, but also his father’s murder when Gregg was only two, Gregg’s long battle with addiction and the Allman Brothers Band’s role as one of the first racially integrated rock bands. Gregg died in 2017 from liver cancer.
The film closes with “My Cross To Bear,” an original song penned by Julian Raymond and performed by Jackson Dean.