Duane Allman

Duane Allman rose from complete obscurity to rank among rock’s most celebrated guitar virtuosos and then perished as an icon, a transformation that unfolded in roughly two years. Scant time remained for him to solidify either his achievements or his reputation. While the greater part of that standing derives from his work with the Allman Brothers Band—specifically the two studio albums completed during his lifetime (1969’s The Allman Brothers Band and 1970’s Idlewild South), the landmark live recording At Fillmore East issued in 1971, and the posthumous hybrid release Eat a Peach in 1972—plus the extensive performances the group gave, some of which later appeared on radio-sourced bootlegs, additional projects also contributed significantly. Chief among them were his 1970 collaboration with Eric Clapton on Derek & the Dominos’ Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs, an extensive body of session contributions supporting other performers, and material originally intended for an aborted solo album. These outside endeavors collectively warranted two separate anthology releases. Both collections serve as strong entry points, the first of which also includes an expansive biographical essay detailing his career. Dedicated listeners, however, discovered further rewards by returning to the full original albums that supplied many of those selections, including the session tracks. In 2013 the Rounder label issued the comprehensive seven-disc retrospective Skydog: The Duane Allman Retrospective, granting broader recognition to the full range of his recorded output.