While Macon, Georgia is certainly known as the home of the Allman Brothers Band during their formative years, it is Jacksonville, Florida that is the band’s official birthplace. Over the weekend, Derek Trucks and family helped unveil a historical marker at the home where it all began on Riverside Avenue.
“A lot of music started from this spot,” Derek Trucks told Action News Jax. “Everything I’ve done, that’s for sure, so it’s a significant place.”
“The Gray House” became the birthplace of the Allman Brothers Band during a jam session on March 23rd, 1969—which celebrated its 50th anniversary over the weekend. As the story has been told many times, bandleader Duane Allman threatened everyone in the room that was not willing to be in his band to have to “fight your way out”.
Related: Inside The First-Ever Allman Brothers Band Jam Session
Current homeowner Dennis Price bought the house in 1986 but didn’t learn about the Allman Brothers connection until 1999 when a journalist stopped by to write an article.
“We sent Butch Trucks a picture of the front room, and he said yeah it was,” Dennis Price told Action News Jax this weekend. “Always been a fan. Then to find out they actually lived here and jammed here, it was exciting.”
Price eventually turned a room in the house into an Allman Brothers memorabilia den and walked the reporter through the room where the legendary jam session took place as well as the second-story room where Gregg Allman wrote songs like “Whipping Post”.
“I know my uncle would be proud and Gregg would,” Derek Trucks said about the historical marker. “I think they’d all kick themselves or pinch themselves to know that it all started there, but they knew when it happened — something significant happened.”
[Video: Action News Jax]
The owner of the home tells me this is the second story room where Gregg Allman came up with songs including “Whipping Post.”
He says inside, Allman wrote the song on an ironing board cover with charcoal from matches because he couldn’t find pen and paper @ActionNewsJax pic.twitter.com/MGttpX7wy6
— Brittney Donovan (@brittneyANjax) March 23, 2019
Marking rock history. A historical marker has been placed at a Jacksonville couple’s Riverside home where a jam sesh led to the formation of the Allman Brothers Band in 1969 @ActionNewsJax pic.twitter.com/NU8rFTqwm2
— Brittney Donovan (@brittneyANjax) March 23, 2019
Folks at the unveiling were excited to see Derek Trucks, nephew of founding member Butch Trucks. He told me he’s glad to see Jacksonville marking its rich music history @ActionNewsJax pic.twitter.com/B3rtj3UGaQ
— Brittney Donovan (@brittneyANjax) March 23, 2019