I got Jimmy Hall from Wet Willie and he also plays now with Hank Williams Jr.
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 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.
I've come to the conclusion that I'm not supposed to be married.
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.
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.
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.
