In his 2012 memoir titled My Cross to Bear, Gregg Allman, the lead singer for the Allman Brothers Band, recounts the regret he still carries about his brother's sudden death. For most of their lives, the two brothers were best friends. Duane, who was a year older than Gregg, called him "baybrah," a contraction of "baby brother." After the tragic murder of their father, the two brothers stuck together, attending military school and then learning to play the guitar. But Duane was especially gifted. In 2003 Rolling Stone magazine voted him the second-best guitarist of all time, after only Jimi Hendrix. Gregg wrote, "We were like Lewis and Clark, man—we were musical adventurers, explorers. We were one for all and all for one."

But in 1971, all of that unraveled when the two brothers had a nasty argument. Gregg explains that he'd given Duane money to buy drugs. When Duane failed to deliver the drugs, Gregg stormed into his brother's house, stealing the drugs and then lying to his brother about it. Shortly after their quarrel, Duane died in a motorcycle accident.

To this day, Greg Allman can't forget the incident or find forgiveness. Allman said,

The last thing I ever said to my brother was a lie …. I have thought of that lie every day of my life, and I just keep recrucifying myself for it. I know that's not what he would want—well, not for long anyway …. But the thing is, I never got the chance to tell him the truth.