Duane Allman — Macon, Georgia and the Allman Brothers

The Allman Brothers Band formed in Macon, Georgia, in 1969 after Phil Walden's Capricorn Records signed the group and established the city as the capital of Southern rock. Duane Allman, the band's slide guitarist and spiritual centre, had already made his reputation as a session musician in Muscle Shoals — his slide playing on Wilson Pickett's 'Hey Jude,' on Aretha Franklin's sessions, and most famously on Eric Clapton's 'Layla' gave him a reputation that preceded the Allman Brothers' own recordings. The band's communal house at 2321 Vineville Avenue in Macon — known as the Big House — was their base and rehearsal space.

Duane Allman was killed in a motorcycle accident on October 29, 1971, at the age of 24, at the intersection of Hillcrest Avenue and Inverness Avenue in Macon — just months after the release of the At Fillmore East album that many consider the greatest live rock record ever made. His slide guitar technique, derived from Robert Johnson and Elmore James but utterly contemporary in its execution, was one of the most influential in rock history. Eric Clapton called him the finest guitarist he had ever heard.

Macon has embraced its Allman Brothers heritage with the Big House Museum at 2321 Vineville Avenue, Duane Allman's grave at Rose Hill Cemetery (where Berry Oakley, the band's bassist who died in a similar accident the following year, is also buried), and the annual Allman Brothers Band Museum at the Big House events. Rose Hill Cemetery is one of the most visited music pilgrimage sites in the American South.