The Last Interview With DUANE ALLMAN
“As long as there’s someone who wants to go and see rock... I’ll be there to play it for them.”
When Duane Allman died in a motorcycle accident late in 1971, his Allman Brothers Band was poised on the verge of a tremendous commercial breakthrough. Their third album, Live At The Fillmore East, had just been certified gold and was the first time they’d reached that plateau. In addition, the band’s practice of non-stop touring was finally beginning to pay off; their audiences seemed to grow larger and more enthusiastic with each successive show.
Following Duane’s death, the Allman Brothers Band made that breakthrough, and now stand as perhaps the premier American music band. We present this interview with Duane Allman, the man who formed and guided the Allman Brothers Band, because it will hopefully afford a basic perspective on the band’s much-deserved success of the past two years. It’s not so very different from the scores of interviews he gave in the course of his career but, recorded August 1, 1971 (when he was in New York for some sessions with Herbie Mann), it was the last interview Duane Allman ever gave. — B.E.
