Please Be with Me: A Song for My Father, Duane Allman

It is truly astounding that at the age of 45, this is Galadrielle's writing debut. The quality of the writing is that of a seasoned author rather than a first timer. Her prose is skilled and her depictions are carefully crafted. Her chronology reflects a careful piecing together of her father's life through interviews and other personal accounts. This is the story from a girl who grew up with only glimpses into her father's past until recently. Later in her adult life, she became drawn in to his history and went on a journey to put it all together in this very personal account. While the writing is superb, one must consider that this biography is the result of a fairy tale fascination that she has inherited from her mother regarding Duane's legacy. We feel deeply the heartbreak and soul searching that has draped much her life as she struggled to come to terms with the celebrity father she never knew.Duane was a man with immense God-given talent, abundant self-confidence and a clear vision for where he wanted his music to go and who would go with him. Despite Donna and Galadrielle's often feckless admiration for him, we get the clear picture that they lived with a tyrannical and oppressive husband and father. In Galadrielle's revelations from the female perspective (primarily from her mother Donna and Linda Oakley), we gain a true understanding of the role that the wives played in the backdrop of the sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll. Donna and Galadrielle were portrayed as not much more than distractions to his more important things. Donna seemed to have lived in a school girl type subservience around Duane, always walking on egg shells so as to not incite his anger. You get the distinct feeling that the many years passed have jaded Donna into a forgiving reminiscence of Duane. The reality was that in the months leading up to his death, he was all consumed by the glory of his successes and the abundant excesses of cocaine, heroin and any other substance to bring him down from the highs of this tumultuous 2-3 year period of constant touring and recording.In the book, there is a brief reference to a startling interview of Duane on Dec 9th, 1970 where he delivered a stinging rebuke of his wife and daughter. This is one of only a few interviews known to exist. While obviously high at the time, it casts some doubt on the details of his and Donna's courtship and that 1-2 years at `The Big House' depicted in the book. How Galadrielle could listen to that interview without seething inside is unimaginable. Perhaps the most gripping passage from the book is Galadrielle's narrative describing a dream where she has an encounter with Duane as they board a taxi on a rainy night. They glance into each others eyes as they embrace as she says "I can't live without you." Their souls part once again as she wakes violently and trembles at the brilliance of the moment. The epilogue/outro is equally memorable as she boldly recounts and forgives the fatherless watershed moments of her life where his absence is redeemed through his masterful recordings that live on.As for Duane, the end came early and abruptly. One can only imagine if he had not died on that motorcycle 43 years ago. Like many of his peers, his lifestyle was on a collision course for tragedy that could have ended in a variety of predictable ways. One final famous quote from the book adeptly draws to a close her restless struggle to personalize her fatherlessness: "Death becomes the territory where our love lives, a dangerous place for the living to stay for very long."

Great reading

I was expecting a trashy rock biography, but this is actually a beautiful work of literature in its own right. Whatever artistic genius Duane had certainly was inherited by his daughter Galadrielle, who's prose reads like poetry. It not only recounts her father's life, but also her own personal journey in piecing together his legacy among those who knew him best. A child whose life is lived beneath the legend of a father she never got the chance to know, trying to find herself amid the legendarium that has sprung up around her dad. This is an account of a family coming to terms with itself, by baring their soul for Duane's kid in a way they never would for any other interviewer. I actually found her journey to be more fascinating than that of her father, who's story has been recounted elsewhere many times already but never with such intimacy. This is a daughter sitting down with her mother to finally learn the whole story, a niece with her uncle to learn the tale from the inside. Intimate, thoughtful and spiritually powerful, told with an authorial, feminine voice with a real gift with words. I would read anything this author wrote.

There are many books about many musicians but they all have one fatal flaw, an agenda. They unwittingly lean toward making the subject look good.Autobiographies are accurate - at least from the teller’s point of view. Books by fans or friends always show some level of bias. This work was a labor of searching, learning, and trying to find peace to replace the loss of someone unknown. The only agenda was a desire to reconcile a public persona and worship of fans with the man who left his child to grow up without her father. The question it asks and answers is: Who was my father?This work is unique in many ways, the incredible mix of world traveler and southern grace in the writing, the intimate honesty of its portrayal of real struggles and triumphs of the subjects/family and friends, and its driving desire to find a connection to a love and life lost before its time. Ms Allman has the ability to set a scene as beautifully as Tolkien and tap into a true southerner’s voice when they’re telling a tall tale. Both weave a narrative that draws the reader in, triggering laughter and heartbreak with ease. This author paints with words as skillfully as Duane painted with sound.So many of these musicians were my heroes and luckily - a few were passing acquaintances. All of them are portrayed as real people-with problems and promise, gifts and flaws. Honesty and celebrity don’t often share space on a page, but they do in Ms Altman’s work.I’ve studied the licks and techniques of Duane Altman’s work, trying to learn how he could paint a picture with sound and a guitar in his hands. The merging of music and lyric by Gregg fascinated me and gave me permission to immerse myself in the love, pain, and jubilation he sang about, tying to tap into my own soul to write songs with that grace, simplicity, and sincerity. Now I have another Allman’s work to pour over to marvel at.As surely as Duane could take me to places I didn’t expect and Gregg could tap into my heart, Gladrielle can line words up on a page to take me to a world of beauty, respect, love, and loss with graceful craft and honesty.

I had already read Galadrielle's Uncle's book Gregg so was not sure what else I could learn, how wrong I was and gladly so, this book is and was quite brilliant, the written word the poetic phrasing and thoughtful delivery, takes the reader on a course that is navigated tentatively by the author, you feel as if you are learning about her father in a different way from how Gregg Allman's book was written, clearly those who knew Duane opened up to Galadrielle in a way that had it been anyone else, that may not have happened; I had other books to read when I received this one, and I read in order that each book comes, I decided just to read the introduction then go back to my next book waiting in line. I read the introduction and 2 days later I had read it all !! I could not put it down. I did not expect to become so delighted, to have known and read about the author, speaking to many of the people her father had known, many recanting stories not in the public domain was master stroke, Galadrielle fills in many of the spaces left out in her Uncles book, which from a daughters point of view, the reader can feel what she is reaching for, as we would all be doing the same, when trying to walk in our fathers footsteps, and she does not stumble. Her father Duane was not perfect but she did not expect him to be, but you cannot help but adore him, and wonder how Duane and Gregg were so unusual ahead of their time or maybe not, just lucky enough to be who they were born to be, ultimately good and kind human beings who as brothers, were polar opposites of each other, that is why both books are so fascinating to read wonderful to read. Galadrielle captures her fathers spirit and energy his personality and character, you can actually imagine him playing and speaking; Galadrielle did not remember him as she was only 2 when he passed away at just 24, but this book makes all of us who were too young at the time, know him and remember him all over again; what a great gift to herself and her father

I have only recently started to read this and I am 5 Chapters in, so this needs to borne in mind with my comments that follow.This is a work of stunning beauty. I have long been a fan of Duane Allman, but information has been thin on the ground. I have read various books including Gregg Allmans "My cross to bear”, hoping to gain a better understanding. Gregg’s book helped a little but I felt that he held a lot back, possibly because even now it is too personal for him to share, it almost felt like he would be betraying his brother if he said too much, or that , understandably, he just wants to keep the memories of Duane and him to himself because they were so close.Galadrielle’s book is far more revealing, intimate and personal, I feel that by the end of this book I am going to get a true sense of who Duane Allman was, and what made him who he was. I am also sensing that Galadrielle is fulfilling her need to know her father as much as she possibly can.This is a very intimate biography and I can feel the pain of the author wanting to find out as much as she can about her father, and the pain she has gone through to ask those awkward questions that family members and friends may not wish to answer. I truly hope that by the end of the book she has met her needs as much as she possibly can.The book is very well written in a style that I find easy to read. The images portrayed are almost cinematic, as if i were looking on viewing what was happening in my minds eye, in a way that hasn’t happened with other books I have read. (I hope that makes sense).I am thoroughly enjoying the book and looking forward to the story unfolding as I read more.

This book does all the justice to Galadrielle, who proved herself as a intuitive, well researched and well formulated author. She brings her dad, the great guitarist and the people around her to life. Galadrielle uses and incorporates so much information within the stories she researched. The book captures the reader, and brings you into the life of the story that is told.I recommend this book to anyone, not only fans of the Allman Brothers Band, but it proves to be a pleasant read for anyone else as well.

Excellent, really put me in the time it all began with the band and the best guitarist I have ever heard. It is over 45 years since I found the live album and heard Statesboro Blues for the first time in a record shop. Duane has been ever present since and this book has brought it all back to me. Thank you Galadriele your dad would be proud of you.

A very moving account of Duane’s life through the searching eyes of his daughter. Beautifully written. Couldn’t put it down.