And Greg Allman wrote his first song “Melissa” after Dwayne got killed in the traffic accident. Melissa was what he called his guitar.
I saw them at the SMU McFarlin Auditorium. I was in a band with a several other guys and somehow we got front row seats through a mutual friend. I left that concert thinking I’ll never play that good I might as well quit now”! he was something else. Completely on his own level of greatness.
False on both. Gregg wrote “Melissa” well before Duane died, in fact they (the brothers)recorded it as a demo in 1968 before the Allman Brothers Band was formed. Gregg has stated many times it was Duane’s favorite song that Gregg had written.
The name came from a funny source. Gregg had the song written, but was struggling with the name. One day he was in a grocery store and there was a young girl running around in the store and her mother called out to her to come back, and child’s name was Melissa. At that moment Gregg had his name for the song.
Duane only named one of his guitars, naming it “Hot ‘Lanta.”