J. P.
Yelp
The wife and I had been on the road now for a few months when we made our way into Macon. I am a HUGE Bros. fan and my wife is, as she puts it, a fan by marriage. I'd been to Macon about ten years ago to see some of the ABB sites around town, but having heard about The Big House I knew we had to check it out.
We got there on a Friday, but unfortunately they were not open. We did, however end up talking to some people outside of The House that suggested we go check out the Georgia Music Hall Of Fame so we did. What a great place that is! On a side note definitely check it out the G.M.H.O.F. if you get the chance. When there we got to talking with a few of the people who worked there and they told us that The Big House was probably closed because The B.H. crew was most likely at the Wanee music fest. Disappointed we made our way back to the campground we were staying at assuming we'd missed our chance, but not one to take no for an answer I got on-line and started searching. I found that although the B.H. was closed for Wanee they would be open Sunday, so we paid for a few more nights and waited for Sunday.
Sunday came and we made our way back to the B.H. only this time excited to see it open and bustling with people and energy. We paid our admission and made our way through the house. I was in heaven and took my time trying to take it all in. For the love of god, there's Duane's gold top that he played on the Layla sessions, and the Tobacco Sunburst that he played at The Fillmore. There's Berry's Tractor Bass, there's the written lyrics to Blue Sky on a wall looking out a window across the street to the same church responsible for "early Sunday morning bells are ringing everywhere".
It was a huge pleasure just to meet other people to talk about music and the Bros. with as I am usually the only one in conversations championing the band as more than just a Southern Rock Band, but here everyone knew exactly the REAL importance and impact of both the band, and they're leader Duane Allman. It was after a couple hours, towards the end of our visit when I struck up a conversation with a guy about the band. I must have been beaming with joy when I showed him my ABB tattoo, at which point he told me his name is E.J. and he's the curator of the museum and if I had the time, he would let me and the wife take the audio tour because he KNEW we'd really appreciate it. We ended up being in the house that first day for almost 5 hours. We were the last ones to leave and it was the beginning of one of the best weeks of my life!
We ended up staying and coming back the next day to volunteer. This is when we met The director of the Museum and Rex one of the regular local volunteers. Unfortunately it wasn't as busy as expected and boo hoo for me, I had to spend most of the day playing one of Dickey's guitars, on Berry's bed in Duane's room! At the end of the day, I grabbed my guitar and me, the wife, and the dogs headed out to Rose Hill Cemetery to hang out and play when we got a call from Rex who took it upon himself to hang out with us and walk us around the cemetery showing us all the "Need to see" spots were. It was a great day and we had a lot of thinking to do because we knew the Red Dog tribute was the following weekend and although we had plans to meet friends in FL we both thought this was too cool an opportunity to pass up, so we decided to stay and just hang out in and around The Big House every day to help out when needed. We worked the front door and the gift shop, but mostly I just shared the kind of infectious enthusiasm one has when they're doing what they love with the people coming through the door. One day a man walked in and said, "Hi, I'm Willie Perkins." I wasn't sure if I heard him right, but yes it was The ABB's road manager for much of the 70's and 80's. He was a great guy who shared stories and made memories for me I'll never forget. In the next few days I got to meet Butch Trucks, Jimmy Herring, Col. Bruce, and a bunch of other really great people. One of my favorite moments was when after hours of a young brother and sister playing with my dogs, I asked the young 8 yr old boy, jokingly, if he was a guitar player. He says, "No... but my daddy is." "Oh yeah, who's your daddy?" "Derek Trucks." to which I replied, "Your daddy is one of my favorite guitar players."
What a time! We went to visit The Big House for 1 day and stayed for 2 weeks, and although I met many amazing people who I was a fan of, I MUST say that it was the local community of fan's, volunteers, and music lover's that I have stolen my heart and made our time at The Big House magical. We made friends and forged relationships with people in Macon that we KNOW will be life lasting. The music is what brings one to The Allman Brothers Band, but it is the spirit of brotherhood that makes you never want to leave!