Needing to build a band and make records, the Allmans chased their dreams from Florida to Georgia to California. Allman paints Duane - only 18 months older than he - as far more brazen and certain about their musical pursuits.īy the mid-1960s, the brothers were playing and writing music that broke from the conventions of their blues and rock influences, creating signature material still performed today. The relationship between the brothers drives the first half of the book. When the bonds are weakened or broken, Allman inevitably goes into tailspins. When the bonds are strong, great things happen, most notably in the music.

Stories about his brother Duane the band members that became the brotherhood his many wives (with extra attention given to de-tabloidizing his marriage to Cher) and all of the other colorful characters that shaped Allman’s life are basically about searching for harmony - and not just the musical kind. Instead, Allman avoids glamorizing or sanitizing to produce a rich, three-dimensional representation of a person with deep musical talent and fragile emotions.Īs much as his book is about music, Allman essentially writes about the power of relationships. Chronicling innumerable trips to rehab, six marriages, and two dissolutions of the Allman Brothers Band, “My Cross to Bear” could easily have been stock rock-lit caricature. “My Cross to Bear” has a comprehensive sweep, delving into Allman’s childhood in military school and later in Florida with his widowed mother, his professional career inside and out of the Allman Brothers Band, and personal setbacks spurred by years of drug and alcohol abuse.

Gregg allman my cross to bear