Southern rocker Gregg Allman was laid to rest Saturday near his older brother Duane in the same cemetery where they used to write songs among the tombstones, not far from US Highway 41. Thousands of fans lined the streets of Macon to honor Allman, who was carried into Rose Hill Cemetery as a bagpiper played a somber tune. Family and friends, including musicians who played in The Allman Brothers Band over the years, gathered next to his grave and on a nearby hillside shaded by huge oak trees. Toward the end of the service, a freight train rolled in and stopped alongside the cemetery, reminding some mourners of Allman\u2019s lyrics to \u201cMelissa.\u201d Music and memories Along the funeral route, many shared memories of concerts, and some blared the band\u2019s songs from their cars and trucks. One carried a sign saying \u201cYou made our soul shine. We\u2019ll miss you brother Gregg.\u201d \u201cI wouldn\u2019t have missed this if I lived in China,\u201d said Kelli Jo Hickman, who drove in from Murphy, N.C. She said her mom, Dixie, introduced her to the band in the 1970s, and she\u2019s listened to their music ever since. The funeral service was private, with room for about 100 people inside the small chapel. Allman\u2019s ex-wife Cher and his band mates, including the drummer Jaimoe and guitarist Dickey Betts, who wrote and sang \u201cRamblin Man,\u201d also attended. Some slipped into the chapel through a back entrance. Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter had said he would attend, honoring the keyboardist who drew large crowds to campaign events during his 1976 presidential race. Southern rock trail blazers Allman, who blazed a trail for many Southern rock groups, died May 27 at the age of 69 at his home near Savannah, Georgia, said Michael Lehman, the rock star\u2019s manager. He blamed liver cancer. With Gregg at the organ and Duane playing guitar, the band began its rise to fame in the central Georgia city 90 miles south of Atlanta about five decades ago. They used to write songs while hanging out in the cemetery, Alan Paul wrote in \u201cOne Way Out: The Inside History of the Allman Brothers Band.\u201d \u201cHe\u2019s somebody who has been in my life first as an artist and later as a real person since I was about 8 years old, and so it\u2019s shocking to think of the world without him,\u201d said Paul, 50, who interviewed Allman many times for his book. Music was medicine Born in Nashville, Tennessee, Allman was raised in Florida by a single mother. Allman idolized his older brother, Duane, eventually joining a series of bands with him. Together they formed the heart of The Allman Brothers Band before Duane died in a motorcycle crash in 1971, just as they were reaching stardom. In his 2012 memoir, \u201cMy Cross to Bear,\u201d Allman said he finally felt \u201cbrand new\u201d in the 1990s after years of overindulging in women, drugs and alcohol. But hepatitis C had ruined his liver, and after getting a transplant, it was music that helped him recover. Allman felt that being on the road playing music for his fans was \u201cessential medicine for his soul,\u201d according to a statement from the Big House, the Macon museum dedicated to the band. Lehman said he spoke with Allman the night before he died. \u201cHe said the last few days he was just, you know, tired,\u201d Lehman said. The night before he passed away, Allman was able to listen to some of the tracks being produced for his final record, \u201cSouthern Blood,\u201d Lehman said. The album is scheduled to be released in the fall. \u201cHe was looking forward to sharing it with the world and that dream is going to be realized,\u201d Lehman said. \u201cI told him that his legacy is going to be protected, and the gift that he gave to the music world will continue to live on forever.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Southern rocker Gregg Allman was laid to rest Saturday near his older brother Duane in the same cemetery where they used to write songs among the tombstones, not far from US Highway 41. Thousands of fans lined the streets of Macon to honor Allman, who was carried into Rose Hill Cemetery as a bagpiper played […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":39529,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/toptrendingnews.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39528"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/toptrendingnews.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/toptrendingnews.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toptrendingnews.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toptrendingnews.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39528"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/toptrendingnews.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39528\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toptrendingnews.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39529"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/toptrendingnews.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39528"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toptrendingnews.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39528"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toptrendingnews.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39528"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}