96.9 The Eagle Afternoon Host Forest had a chance to interview Rock & Roll Hall of Famer & Allman Brothers founder member, Gregg Allman.  He has a new book out called “My Cross To Bear” and the flim ‘Midnight Rider” about his life is currently being filmmed.  He will be live at the Morrison Center on July 1st.

Forrest: How did the idea for My Cross To Bear Come up? Was it hard to write?

Gregg: I actually started writing my memoirs, off and on, back in the ’80s, but I didn’t stick with it. Then about ten years ago I noticed that one of our tour personnel had this uncanny memory for dates, shows, and events in the band’s history; he was like some kind of a savant, man. He would come over to my house for a few days at a time and we would just talk and talk while he ran a tape recorder. We ended up with dozens and dozens of cassette tapes, but then, for a lot of reasons, we had to fire him. So I’ve got all these tapes just sitting there, and Michael Lehman, my manager, decided we should finally do something with them. He found some good people to help sort things out, including Alan Light and the folks at Harper Collins. Once we started working, the book actually came together pretty quick.

It wasn’t as hard to write as it was to let people read it! That was the hardest part, man. You open truly open yourself up when you write a book; it is not for the faint of heart! Obviously I was very pleased with the result; #2 on the New York Times Best Seller List is something I never saw coming!

Forrest: What did it feel like to be inducted into the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame?

Gregg: I was honored and it meant a lot to me, although the induction ceremony was not my finest moment. In fact, it was that night that I decided once and for all that I had to get sober. It was get sober or die; I knew it, and I did it.

Anyway, going into the Hall of Fame was bittersweet, because my brother wasn’t there. He got cheated out of so many things, man. He worked so hard, and right when we finally were tasting success, he was gone.

Forrest: Does Derek Trucks’ playing remind you of Duane?

Gregg: Oh sure man; how could it not? Derek even stands a bit like Duane did. One thing I do think people forget is that Derek is now 35 years old and my brother was gone at 24. Duane did so much in so little time, man; he made every minute count.

Forrest: Where were you when you found out Duane passed away?

Gregg: October 29, 1971. I was at home; I got a phone call that my brother had been in an accident. You know the rest.

Forrest: How has your health been with your solo tour?

Gregg: I’ve been feeling fine, man, really fine. I had a little accident at WaneeFest that busted up my wrist, but that is coming around now. I’m ready to go, no doubt.

Forrest: Now for the seious question, what is your favorite guitar chord?

Gregg:I love open tuning; that is something I picked up from my brother, basically by accident. I was in a hotel room and I picked up Duane’s acoustic guitar, which was tuned to Open E. I didn’t know that, but when I started strumming I hit all these beautiful chords. Those chords turned into “Melissa,” which was the first song I wrote and actually kept.

After that, I learned all I could about open tuning, and I came to love it, man. I wrote “Midnight Rider” and “Come and Go Blues” in Open G, so open tuning is just one more thing I owe to my brother.