Gregg Allman Haunts with Southern Blood

Gregg Allman’s last musical words are rather chilling, as heard on posthumous album Southern Blood.

NPR premiered “My Only True Friend” back in late July. Like fellow genre-altering giant David Bowie, listeners will get the feeling that Allman used his final recording sessions to cope with mortality and prepare a fitting farewell.

The true friend in question is life on the road – a common song topic in Allman’s canon. What keeps it from being a “Ramblin’ Man” rehash is one chilling line: “I hope you’re haunted by the music of my soul when I’m gone.” We are, Gregg. It’s not the spooky type of haunted, either. Instead, the raw emotion behind every Allman-related project proves to be immortal whenever old fans and new listeners give those great albums a spin.

For his final recordings, Allman returned to the legendary FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. There he cut several promising cover songs, including Tim Buckley’s “Once I Was” and the Grateful Dead’s “Black Muddy River” under the watchful production of Don Was.

Southern Blood is out Sept. 8th on Rounder Records.