Please Be with Me - by Galadrielle Allman (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

A deeply personal, revealing, and lyrical portrait of Duane Allman, founder of the legendary Allman Brothers Band, written by his daughter

"Duane Allman was my big brother, my partner, my best friend. I thought I knew everything there was to know about him, but Galadrielle's deep and insightful book came as a revelation to me, as it will to everyone who reads it."--Gregg Allman

In 1969, Duane Allman had a vision for a band with two drummers, two guitarists, and a bass player, anchored by his brother's soulful lead vocals--and the Allman Brothers Band was born. Their fiery, mesmerizing performances tore down barriers and changed the landscape of American music forever, and the tragedies that beset the Brothers turned them into legends. In this remarkable, intimate book, Duane's daughter, Galadrielle, tells the story of how the band came together, their influences and passions, their rivalries and incomparable musical vision. She introduces us to the artists, women, engineers, and roadies who were a part of the family. From Daytona Beach to the Fillmore East, this is both Duane's story and the band's, told with clarity, passion, yearning, and soul.

Praise for Please Be with Me

"Poignant and illuminating . . . brings Duane Allman to life in a way that no other biography will ever be able to do."--BookPage

"Galadrielle Allman offers a moving and poetic portrait of her late father."--Rolling Stone

"[Allman's] descriptions and scenes are vivid, even cinematic. . . . The pleasure of reading Please Be With Me lies as much in its lyrical prose as in its insider anecdotes."--Newsweek

"An elegantly written, heartfelt account."--The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

"Evokes a wistful, elegiac atmosphere; fans of the '70s music scene may find it indispensable."--San Jose Mercury News

"A compelling and intimate portrait of Duane."--The Hollywood Reporter

"Illuminating."--Kirkus Reviews

"Frequently touching . . . Readers will come away feeling more connected to the man and his music."--Publishers Weekly

Review Quotes

"Duane Allman was my big brother, my partner, my best friend. I thought I knew everything there was to know about him, but Galadrielle's deep and insightful book came as a revelation to me, as it will to everyone who reads it."--Gregg Allman

"Poignant and illuminating . . . brings Duane Allman to life in a way that no other biography will ever be able to do."--BookPage

"Galadrielle Allman offers a moving and poetic portrait of her late father."--Rolling Stone

"[Allman's] descriptions and scenes are vivid, even cinematic. . . . The pleasure of reading Please Be With Me lies as much in its lyrical prose as in its insider anecdotes."--Newsweek

"An elegantly written, heartfelt account."--The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

"Evokes a wistful, elegiac atmosphere; fans of the '70s music scene may find it indispensable."--San Jose Mercury News

"A compelling and intimate portrait of Duane."--The Hollywood Reporter

"Illuminating."--Kirkus Reviews

"Frequently touching . . . Readers will come away feeling more connected to the man and his music."--Publishers Weekly

"If you have ever been part of a family that has no photograph left behind to record its wholeness, you know what the absence of that picture does to you: Its nonexistence is itself a portrait of an incomplete heart that doesn't contain you. Galadrielle Allman grew up in the territory of that loss, trying to understand a father who held her but who she never got to hold in return. Her account of the life of Duane Allman--rock and roll's most lyrical guitarist--is the most moving music biography I've ever read. Better than that, Galadrielle has uncovered the heart and motivations, the desolation and saving graces, of the man, and lays it plain in a born-to-write southern voice. She has looked into absence, and from it she has salvaged two hearts: her father's and her own."--Mikal Gilmore, author of Shot in the Heart

" 'You can live forever inside a goodbye, ' Galadrielle Allman knows. But then you embrace it, explore it, and call forth its witnesses. In lyrical prose, and with love and wisdom, the now-mature daughter of guitar legend Duane Allman, who died at twenty-four when she was two, meditates on his outsized grip on her life, and retraces that life, and her mother's, sending us to the South at the end of the sixties, when girls were hapless hippie goddesses, music was male and muscular, and even redneck culture was being transformed. But beyond that vibrant portrait is a comfort. We all idealize someone who left us long ago; we all romanticize some memory. This story invites us to savor our own secret intersection of nostalgia and emotional mercy, and it feels very, very good to have soulful, elegant company as we do."--Sheila Weller, author of the New York Times bestseller Girls Like Us: Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon--and the Journey of a Generation

About the Author

Galadrielle Allman is the producer of Skydog: The Duane Allman Retrospective (Rounder Records). She lives in Berkeley, California. This is her first book.