re: Time to rank the New SEC's Top Ten Historic Music Destinations

Gregg & Duane Allman were born at Nashville General Hospital. Allman and his brother spent much of their childhood in Middle Tennessee — both at their grandmother's house in Nashville and later at Castle Heights Military Academy in Lebanon. It was in Music City that Allman first saw a guitar up close — belonging to a neighbor — and was inspired to pick up his own. Later, he and his brother went to see a concert at Municipal Auditorium that would change their lives.

“Jackie Wilson, Otis Redding, B.B. King, Patti LaBelle and the Bluebells, and a bunch of folks. It was a whole revue. They had one band, and everybody used it. That was what a revue was all about — one house band, and all of the different stars would come up. Otis Redding just knocked me out. And B.B. King had this piece of furniture (an electric organ) on the stage. I asked my brother, "What is that piece of furniture?" Because we couldn't see the keys.”


To further her lot in life, their mother went back to school to become a CPA and sent her sons to Castle Heights Military Academy in Lebanon, TN when Gregg was eight. Gregg and Duane returned to Music City in 1958. They moved with their mother to Florida when Gregg was 12.

Duane developed into an outstanding slide guitarist. Gregg played keyboards and sang. Music took over their lives. Their grades suffered so badly that they were sent back for a second stint at Castle Heights.

In his autobiography My Cross to Bear, Gregg Allman recalled spending a great deal of time at his grandmother’s house on 18th Avenue South, near what is now Music Row. That residence no longer stands. But his mother’s house on Scotland Place off Leake Avenue still exists.

Deeply influenced by the blues records they heard on Nashville’s WLAC radio, they formed their Allman Joys band. They spent the summer of 1965 in Nashville being mentored by songwriter John D. Loudermilk (1934-2016).

In 1966, they returned to Nashville for a residency at a club called The Briar Patch. During their stay, producer Buddy Killen (1932-2006) recorded what became the sole LP by The Allman Joys. It contained several of Gregg Allman’s earliest songwriting efforts.