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Dwayne alman's death in a high-speed

motorbike crash was even worse than

people realize in her tragic Memoir his

daughter revealed that his doctors that

day made an unforgivable

mistake a musical Powerhouse the Almond

Brothers greatest Triumph came just

before their most heartwrenching tragedy

the death of Dwayne Alman one of the

greatest guitar players of all time

he was born in 1946 in Nashville

Tennessee the almost mythical musical

Kingdom in America's South his brother

Greg was born 13 months later but the

family would soon be on the Move due to

their father's military service ending

up in Norfolk Virginia it's here where

the family's first tragedy would

strike on the evening of the 26th of

December 1949 Dwayne's father Lieutenant

Willis Alman and his friend Robert

Buchanan struck up a conversation with a

hitchhiker after a night of drinking

they agreed to give the man a ride home

they were directed to a farm where the

man robbed them at gunpoint in the

ensuing Malay Dwayne's father was shot

and

killed the family now fatherless would

have to figure out how to make 's

meet Wayne's mother Geraldine decided to

train as an accountant and no longer

able to play housewife sent her children

off to a military academy in Tennessee

but the boys weren't destined to follow

in their Father's Footsteps they hated

every minute there in 1957 the family

moved to Daytona Beach in Florida where

the boys attended high school every

summer the two brothers would return to

Nashville to visit their grandmother and

it was here that they would take their

crucial first step on the way to their

musical careers their grandmother's

neighbor started teaching Greg how to

play guitar and in 1960 he saved enough

money to buy a tysco silver tone a

Japanese made guitar Dwayne on the other

hand decided a Harley 165 motorcycle was

more his style but like a lot of

siblings he wanted to have his cake and

eat

it despite being a lefty Dwayne started

hogging his brother's right-handed

guitar but his Harley wasn't long for

this

world in a chilling precursor of tragedy

to come Dwayne soon crashed his bike the

wreckage was still good enough to sell

giving him the money to buy a silver

tone all of his own and he would quickly

become the better guitarist of the two

brothers the brothers joined or formed

their own bands around Daytona as they

took to the stage for the first time

just one taste and they were

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details Dwayne's enthusiasm apparently

knew no bounds as he dropped out of

school to focus on music in 1965

Dwayne's band The escorts opened for the

Beach Boys but this early success

couldn't stop the band from eventually

breaking up the good news was that his

brother had graduated and together with

some members of the escorts they formed

a new band the Almond

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Joys playing one gig after another the

Almond Joys made their way through the

southeastern states and returned to

their hometown of Nashville to set up

base where they changed their name to

hourglass Dwayne went missing for 3 days

then burst into their hotel room to

announce that he'd driven to Daytona to

propose to his girlfriend Patty chandley

then to South Carolina to get married

Dwayne Alman was living like there was

no

tomorrow as a friend of his said years

later he wasn't much of a family typee

of man so the marriage was likely doomed

from the start though they did have one

daughter

together meanwhile the band hit the road

and made their way to the bright lights

of Los Angeles where they succeeded in

signing a contract with Liberty records

and recording two albums but the

brother's vision for their band differed

from that of the label Liberty was

trying to sell them as a pop band but

the boys saw themselves as a L outfit

and they just couldn't bend to fit the

record company's ideas the deal fell

apart and suddenly it was all over for

hourglass the brothers returned to

Florida and recorded some demos with a

folk rock band called the 31st of

February whose drummer was B trucks no

one knew it yet but the Almond Brothers

band was already taking

shape weeks ler later the new Almond

Brothers Band featuring Bo trucks on

drums was on the road heading to New

York with hopes higher than

ever the band played lots of live gigs

and recorded their first album the

Almond Brothers Band it came out in

November 1969 but failed to hit the

charts disappointed the group went back

to the drawing

board it was no surprise that Dwayne's

marriage was over pretty quickly and he

met his next love interest at a tour

stop in St Louis her name was Donna

rusman and she'd be another of Dwayne's

girlfriends with history quickly

repeating

itself the couple had a child together

another daughter named

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Galadriel life on the road brought

Dwayne into a world of sin and he Dove

right in by 1970 he'd already ODed on

opium once after a show but he wasn't

going to slow down anytime

soon Dwayne and the band performed an

astonishing 300 gigs while on tour in

1970 alone along the way they squeezed

in recording sessions for their second

album in May 1970 the band moved into

the big house in Mak Georgia along with

various family members and Friends

Dwayne would eventually boot his

girlfriend Donna out of the big house

along with their young daughter his

latest love was Dixie Lee Meadows and

she seemed to spark something inside him

the only song he ever wrote on his own

was Little Martha and he wrote it for

Dixie the band was on the road so much

they rarely had a chance to see the big

house Fame and Fortune still eluding

them released in August 1970 there

second album Idle Wild South managed to

sneak into the Billboard charts but

progress seemed slow then a famous

musician made an offer and Dwayne would

have to make a difficult

Choice the Almond Brothers band played a

Miami concert the same month their

second album came out and Eric Clapton

and his bandmates were in the audience

Clapton was in town recording his band's

latest album and he was impressed with

Dwayne

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after they got to know each other

backstage Dwayne joined in the recording

sessions for the Domino's album Leela

and other assorted love

songs critics and fans think Dwayne's

work on that album was some of his best

playing Clapton was clearly enthralled

so he offered his musical brother a

permanent role in his

band Dwayne clearly enjoyed playing with

Clapton and his group he even appeared

on stage with them at least twice but he

never toured with them and he never

joined the band as a member instead

Dwayne was faithful to his band but kept

up his work as a session musician on the

side his cover of he Jude with Wilson

picket even hit the charts so it was no

surprise when he headed to New York to

work with ARA Franklin it was there that

a prophecy was made

when he got to New York in early 1969

Dwayne went to famed Manhattan Rock

venue the Filmore

East Johnny Winter was playing and it

was then that Dwayne turned to a friend

and vowed that within a year he'd be on

that very same

stage by the end of the year the Almond

Brothers band was on that very same

stage but as impressive as that

achievement was the name Filmore East

would make for an even begger

Triumph unrelenting live performers that

they were the band decided that their

third album should feature them live in

concert so for three nights in March

1971 they performed at the Filmore

East but beyond the sense of

satisfaction was a burning question

would ditching the studio and embracing

the rawness of live performance finally

make this new album a hit

the band had put in long hard hours to

get their music heard playing countless

free concerts in their formative years

now they hoped the Relentless touring

would finally pay

off live at the Filmore East proceeded

to chart for weeks on end helped by

Dwayne's slide guitar playing using a

technique he discovered by accident

thanks to his

brother Statesboro Blues was was the

first track Dwayne ever played with his

famous slide guitar technique but

without two birthday gifts from his

brother a record and a bottle of pills

Dwayne might never have made the

leap in 1968 Dwayne fell off a horse and

injured his left elbow an accident he

apparently blamed on

Greg subsequently on Dwayne's birthday

the younger brother dropped off a Taj

Mahal album and a bottle of

antihistamines rang the doorbell and

made a hasty Retreat assuming his

brother was still mad at

him a couple of hours later he received

a phone call from Dwayne telling him to

come over right

away upon arriving Greg saw that his

brother had dumped the pills out washed

off the label and was using the empty

bottle to play the guitar strings he was

sliding along to statesborough Blues on

the Taj Mahal album it became a Hallmark

of the band's

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sound Dwayne was clearly a huge driving

force behind the success of the band but

the rock and roll life didn't exactly

encourage restraint he kept on living

big even though teenage Dwayne had

traded in a wrecked motorbike for his

first guitar he' never really lost his

Need for Speed in the Autumn of the

band's biggest Triumph tragedy was about

to strike but it all started pleasantly

enough Rolling Stone reported that the

group had been enjoying their first real

vacation in more than 2 years when

Dwayne left a party held at the band's

big house in

Min Linda Oakley the wife of basist

Barry Oakley was celebrating her

birthday Dwayne rode away from the party

at 5:45 p.m. saying goodbye to the big

house for the last

time it was October 29th 1971 a day

etched in music history after leaving

the party Dwayne would shortly be racing

down Hillcrest Avenue in the western

part of this quaint Georgia

city soon a flatbed truck was clearly in

view ahead of him when everything

suddenly went horribly

wrong the truck suddenly stopped at the

intersection Dwayne swerved to avoid a

collision but he hit either the back of

the truck or a ball on the truck's

crane he hit the road and his bike

landed on top of him pinning him to the

ground as it skidded another 90 ft when

it came to rest he was miraculously

still

alive Dwayne's girlfriend Dixie Meadows

along with Barry Oakley's sister candy

were taking the same route They Came

Upon the accident scene and waited in

horror for the

ambulance Dwayne reportedly stopped

breathing twice on the way to the

hospital and had to be revived each

time in her 2014 book please be with me

Dwayne's daughter Galadriel talks of the

Heartbreak at the

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hospital doctors assured the family that

Dwayne would survive so as he was

wheeled into surgery hopes were

high but 3 hours later came the horrible

news Dwayne had suffered a collapsed

chest ruptured coronary artery and badly

damaged

liver as the attending surgeon later

stated any one of these injuries would

likely have killed someone but the

combination left little hope

and so after hours of surgery Dwayne

Alman was pronounced dead at just 24

years

old friends family and the musical World

At Large mourned at Dwayne's funeral

service in Mak Days

Later record producer Jerry Wexler gave

the eulogy stating that Alman had

attained his place among the great Blues

musicians of the

South after a period of mourning the

band marched

on the now five members of the Almond

Brothers Band prepared their next album

which featured plenty of guitar work

from

Dwayne he'd recorded Little Martha for

Dixie just weeks before he died but

memories weren't enough for Dixie who

sued unsuccessfully to gain control of

the estate

Dwayne's death had hit the group's base

player Barry Oakley particularly badly

Depression was chipping away at him even

as he tried to guide the band

forward 1 year and 13 days after Dwayne

had died in a motorbike accident Oakley

smashed his motorbike into a city bus

just three blocks from where Dwayne had

met his own

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fate he was able to walk away from the

crow and made his way back to the big

house but he was soon rushed to

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hospital his injuries doctor said meant

death had been inevitable even if he'd

received treatment right

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away in tribute to their friendship

Oakley was buried in a plot right next

to Dwayne at Rose Hill

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Cemetery the Almond Brothers Band

continued on through various incarnation

ations and breakups but Greg died in

2017 the same year drummer but trucks

took his own

life in 1995 the band that Dwayne Alman

had been so instrumental and starting

and shaping was inducted into the Rock

and Roll Hall of Fame and Dwayne remains

high on lists of the greatest guitarists

of all

time despite his early departure his

legacy remains

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