GALADRIELLE ALLMAN BOOK SIGNINGS
3-5 p.m. Saturday. Eagle Eye Bookshop, 2076 N. Decatur Road, Decatur. 404-486-0307, www.eagleeyebooks.com.
4-6 p.m. Sunday. $40 (includes signing, stories from Galadrielle and former Allman Brothers Band tour manager Willie Perkins and acoustic set from Tommy Talton). The Big House, 2321 Vineville Ave., Macon. 478-741-5551, www.thebighousemuseum.com.
7 p.m. Monday. Barnes and Noble Buckhead, 2900 Peachtree Road N.E. Suite 310, Atlanta. 404-261-7747, www.barnesandnoble.com.
It took Galadrielle Allman nearly five years to research and write the story of her father’s life, but a lifetime to feel ready to share it.
Allman recently released “Please Be With Me: A Song for My Father, Duane Allman,” an elegantly written, heartfelt account of the legendary guitarist’s life told by the daughter who lost him to a senseless motorcycle accident when she was just 2 years old.
But Galadrielle — named by Duane after a “Lord of the Rings” character — combines a journalist’s knack for probing with a poet’s ability for storytelling. Duane’s letters sent home from the road to Galadrielle’s mom, Donna Roosman; interviews with her uncle Gregg Allman and other members of the Allman Brothers Band; more letters shared and stories from Linda Oakley, the wife of ABB guitarist Berry Oakley, who died a year after Duane (also, eerily, in a motorcycle accident); Galadrielle’s own memories of growing up with the Allman name.
It’s a tale she says she first knew was “epic” during her junior year at Sarah Lawrence College in New York, when the class was assigned to write a paper about a family story.
“That was the first time I wrote about my family, but I waited. Because with a story like this, you only get one chance so I had to wait to get confident enough to write it,” the gregarious Allman said recently in a phone call from her longtime home in Berkeley, Calif. “When I was about to turn 40, I had one of those moments when I realized, this is my dream. I’m pretty private, but you have to believe in your core. You just get stronger and smarter.”
Galadrielle will be in Atlanta and Macon this weekend for book readings and signings. Her Sunday appearance at the Big House in Macon also will include a performance from Tommy Talton of southern rockers Cowboy, the band behind the song (famously covered by Eric Clapton) that provides the book with its title.
But first, Galadrielle talks about how “Please Be With Me” jelled and how she feels about coming back to the state where her father is buried.
Q: Did it give you a sense of closure to do all of this research and interviews about your dad?
A: It really changed my feeling of longing. I did always have this feeling that there was this big gap. I didn't have that basic confidence that you can't really explain to someone if you haven't lost someone in your family, so that really has shifted. I'll never stop missing him, but I definitely feel a much deeper connection to him.
Q: I know you didn’t really grow up here (Donna moved them back to her hometown of St. Louis shortly after Duane’s death; they then moved around the South before heading to California), but is it hard for you to come back to Georgia?
A: I love it, actually. I do come back very often. I try to visit my dad's grave in Macon at least once a year, and I have family in North Florida and friends in Atlanta. I do have a sense of homecoming. I was just there for Gregg's tribute concert (at the Fox Theatre in January). I think that event really, really touched him. I was standing next to him when Sam Moore performed and he looked like a little kid. At his core, he's still really a music fan.
Q: You recount a few instances in the book where you didn’t want people to know your name. But how do you deal with that now — especially with a book out — of having the Allman attachment?
A: It's a big change for me. When you're raised around concerts, I sort of had this sense as a little kid that this sea of people in the crowd is intimidating. When I would see my uncle get recognized, it definitely wasn't something I wanted. I was the opposite — (fame) felt scary to me. But once I finished the book, I realized I was proud of it and wanted to share it. The thing that used to make me uncomfortable was that I didn't have anything to offer fans who wanted to talk about him and now at least I feel like I do. It's such a cliche but it's such a fact that Allman Brothers Band fans are really, really kind and have this ethic about family, and the outpouring of love has been really overwhelming.
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