Duane Allman

Album: Goodnight Tender (2014)
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Songfacts®:

  • This song is about Duane Allman, the founder and guitarist of The Allman Brothers Band who died in 1971 when his motorcycle hit a truck. Amy Ray grew up in Georgia where the band was founded, and she became a huge Allman Brothers fan. She had been listening to them for years before learning that Duane was dead. That sense of loss inspired this song, which was included on her fifth solo album Goodnight Tender.
  • In our interview with Amy Ray, the Indigo Girl said this song is "a metaphor for all the things that you feel like you lost or you'll never be the same without."

    When she was working on the song, she had conversations with a friend who had problems with addiction. This made Amy realize that a sense of loss can take many forms, and the pain felt from finding out someone is dead can be quite similar to the pain of drug or alcohol withdrawal.
  • The blues singer Susan Tedeschi contributed vocals to this track.

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