Stage fright is not a thing about 'Am I any good?' It's about 'Am I gonna be good tonight?' It's a right-now thing. It helps me. If I went out there thinkin', 'Eh, we'll go slaughter 'em,' I'm positive something would go seriously wrong.
Gregg Allman
So many people out there can probably sing very good - all they need to do is just drop their inhibitions. That's why most people do their singing in the shower.
My father was murdered when I was two. Duane, even though he was only a year and 18 days my elder, he became a father figure to me. I would have done anything for my brother - I loved him so much.
I got Jimmy Hall from Wet Willie and he also plays now with Hank Williams Jr.
I got tired of playing other people's songs.
The best advice I got really had nothing to do with singing; it came from my brother, who always told me to stick to my guns and to believe in myself. I think Duane saw my talents and believed in me long before I ever did, and that meant the world to me.
You got to be pretty thin to be in the movies, or it helps. I would actually love to do it.
I have been going to the gym instead of the bar, trying to get back down to my fighting weight.
I didn't think we would ever make enough money to pay rent by playing music.
I've come to the conclusion that I'm not supposed to be married.
I really told my story as I saw it in 'Cross to Bear,' and I was pleased - and a bit surprised - by how well it was received and how it sold. No. 2 on the 'New York Times' bestseller list? I'll take that any day, my man!
The thing with the piano is, the piano is like percussion almost - well, it is. You have to... not beat on it, but there is more work involved than a Hammond. With a Hammond, you just lay your hands on the keys, man, and you're gone.
People always lean toward who's the best guitar player, who's the best singer? I don't see it that way. They're all the best, you know? They've all gotten your attention, you've admired them, you've tried to sing like them. That makes them the best, each and every one of 'em.
When you travel on a bus with guys who love all kinds of music, you get exposed to some great stuff, man.
I left home the day after I graduated from high school because I knew we weren't going to make any dough to pay the rent in music.
Gotta take my puppy on the road with me, Killer.
At the Muddy Waters thing, I played the first song by myself on an acoustic guitar. I thought that was great that y'all did that tribute to Muddy Waters. I had a real good time.
I've never sat down and tried to write something for some occasion. You just write the tune and stay totally wide open to everything. It'll find the person or persons who are supposed to do it.
I could not see myself going back into the studio without Tommy Dowd, our beloved producer who passed away in 2002. Then in 2009, Michael Lehman, my manager, really pushed me to meet with T Bone Burnett. I ended up meeting with T Bone in Memphis, and we hit it off right away; I knew he was a guy I could work with.
Pop just didn't have enough substance for me. All this nyah-nyah-nyah, you know, 'Paper Tiger' and 'Hold the Ladder, James' and 'Crimson and Clover.' That wasn't music!
Duane Allman was the best guitar player I ever heard who didn't read a note.
The booking agent had the audacity to take 10 percent, so we wound up with about $100 a week apiece.
My goal is to put out an album with every song being an original composition of mine. I want the credits to read, 'All songs written by Gregory L. Allman' - that is something I really want to make happen.
Clapton asked my brother to play on his record. I thought that was the most wonderful thing in the world.
I said, other people can write songs, let's see if I can. So the first 400 or 500 wound up on the floor somewhere. Then I wrote one called Melissa.
The Beatles had just come out, and everybody had a band. It was incredible competition out there.
When I got out of high school, I thought, I'll take a year or two off and play the clubs, get this out of my system, and then go to med school.
There are as many ways to write songs as there are songs.
In my line of business, there's no better feeling than having a real nice work that you're really satisfied with.
Yeah, like, when I look back on my life, I just remember back what happened in '74, or something. It seems like only the real good stuff comes to mind. I don't think of all the tragedies and all the funerals. That just doesn't come to mind at all. I guess I'm really blessed that way.
As they say in the bible, that you're supposed to rejoice when people die and mourn when they're born, because it's one of the most painful acts you go through in life, is being born, and dying.
I would like to be remembered as a - somebody who could rock your soul or make your cry with a song. And somebody who's kind, who loved to laugh, and loved his God.
I play every show like it's my last. Fortunately, that's never turned out to be the case.
There's only one cook in the kitchen, only one chef. I let the soloists do their thing - you've gotta let a man do a solo the way he wants - but as far as picking the tunes and working on the arrangements, I take full responsibility for it.
Before I got into rock n' roll, I was going to be a dentist.
I was always the Doubting Thomas of the bunch, and I don't think I was convinced about the Allman Brothers until 'Fillmore East' hit - that one removed all doubt!
'Queen of Hearts' is one I'm really proud of because I worked so hard on it, and then I was told it wasn't good enough to be included on an Allman Brothers album. That directly led me to go into the studio and cut 'Laid Back,' my first solo release. So 'Queen of Hearts' is special to me.
When I got out of high school, I thought, 'I'll take a year or two off and play the clubs, get this out of my system, and then go to med school.' More than 40 years later, I figure it's finally time to write about this crazy journey that's taken me around the world and back.
