I interviewed Scott Sharrard, who played guitar with Gregg Allman since 2008 and became his musical director in 2015, for my recent Guitar World tribute to...
I interviewed Scott Sharrard, who played guitar with Gregg Allman since 2008 and became his musical director in 2015, for my recent Guitar World tribute to Gregg[1].
I could use only a couple of quotes in that piece. An edited version of the rest of the story is presented below. Sharrard played on and was intimately involved with the writing and recording of Allman’s final album, Southern Blood[2], which will be released September 8.
Gregg’s health was up and down in the last few years, which led to cancelled shows. People always talk about playing each performance like it could be your last, but I wonder if you had a sense of him really thinking about that.
It definitely got more intense. He always had a certain ethos to playing. Certainly, no one could ever question his dedication. That guy fought to the last to go on stage, is what I think. He was fighting against all odds and very few people knew that, because that’s how he wanted it.
The second-to-last show I played with him was at Red Rocks and he was having tremendous breathing problems, struggling with the altitude there. The guy would insist on making the gig! He would not take no for an answer. That night he was backstage and could not move. We had to carry him to the stage and then he picked up the guitar and the songs were slow but they were magical.
And then a month later, he played his final show, October 29, 2016, in Atlanta.
Yes, and the first with the full band in a while, so we were all very happy. The first four songs he came out like a lion and the whole band