FULLER UP HOME GRIM REAPER PAGE CAUSES OF DEATH SEARCH BY NAME GET IN TOUCH SHAMEFUL DISCLAIMER    Fuller Up The Dead Musician Directory    Joe Dan Petty Joe Dan Petty January 8, 2000 Age 52   Plane Crash     OBITUARY  BIOGRAPHY   LINKS      Buy or Hear the Music

OBITUARY 

Live Daily   Joe Dan Petty, Allman Brothers' Guitar Tech, Killed In Plane Crash       Petty led the battle to get a roadie into the Rock Hall of Fame       By Mark Lewis  Longtime Allman Brothers Band guitar tech and former  Grinderswitch bassist Joe Dan Petty was killed in a plane  crash Saturday (1/8/00) near the Herbert Smart Airport in  Macon, Georgia. The crash took place only hours after  tickets to the Allman Brothers Band’s legendary annual month-long stint at New York’s  Beacon Theatre went on sale.                           Petty, who received a pilot’s license a year ago, was in his                           own plane with friend and co-pilot Ronald Turpin, 57. Before                           the plane went down at 2:45 p.m., one of the two men                           reported problems with the fuel line and attempted to land                           the plane. According to an Allman Brothers Band web site,                           it’s unknown which man was piloting the plane.                           From 1972 to 1982, the fifty-two year-old musician played                           on six albums with Grinderswitch, a bluesy Southern rock                           outfit that was considered soulful and solid, despite never                           gaining the national popularity of the Allman Brothers or                           Canned Heat.                           Posting his remembrances to the Allman Brothers Band                           site, Dru Lombar, lead vocalist and guitarist with the band,                           called Petty “a man of great character, always fair, always  honest and always willing to stand up for what he believed in. I learned a lot about being a  man from him.”  Petty was also remembered by the Allman Brothers road crew as the one who had the  idea to get roadie Red Dog Campbell inducted into Cleveland's Rock 'n' Roll Hall of  Fame. Petty reasoned that great musicians and songwriters were there, so why not the  people behind the scenes who fixed the equipment, set up the gear and made the music  possible? Campbell hasn't been inducted yet, but the crew is still encouraging people to  write the Hall and change music history.  Red Dog, along with the rest of the extended Allman family, will pick things up for the  band’s traditional month-long run at the Beacon Theatre from March 9-25. After polling  3,000 fans about which nights they preferred to hear the band, the group elected to play  Thursdays, instead of Sundays, along with gigs on Monday, Tuesday, Friday and  Saturday.  According to Amusement Business, if the band sells out all the shows, it will have sold  out the theater 89 consecutive times.        Published: Wed Jan 12, 2000 at  17:40:13 Pacific Time        Writer: Mark Lewis for Livedaily.com        The Sky is Crying...  Dear Family,     There is tragic news to share. Joe Dan Petty, the Allman Brothers Band's  much-loved brother and guitar technician, was killed Saturday (1/8) as the private plane  he was aboard crashed about a mile from the Herbert Smart airport near downtown Macon.     The accident occurred about 2:45 in the afternoon after the pilot reported fuel line  problems and was attempting to land the aircraft in an opening. Also aboard the  plane was an unidentified second person, thought to be a friend of Joe Dan's and  fellow pilot. It's not clear who was piloting the plane at the time of the accident.  Joe Dan received his pilot's license about a year ago and had owned the plane for  two years.  Joe Dan is survived by his wife Judi. Please extend your love and prayers to Judi  and all those who loved Joe Dan ... and embrace him as his journey continues..  If you would like to provide a remembrance, Judi requests that in lieu of flowers,  please make a contribution in Joe Dan's name to:  The Methodist Home for Children  304 Pierce Ave.  Macon, GA   31204  (912) 738-2230 or (912) 722-6430  There's a Forum to collect your thoughts and remembrances of Joe Dan:  http://www.allmanbrothersband.com/cgi-bin/netforum/abb/a/3--334  He'd recently celebrated his 52nd birthday.  Take care and know that you are loved,  Lana, Rowland, and the ABB

 

 

BIOGRAPHY

All-Music Guide   Grinderswitch  Grinderswitch was a white blues-rock band that never rose above being a second-tier Capricorn  Records act, not remotely as popular as the Allman Brothers or the Marshall Tucker Band. But Dru  Lombar (vocals, guitar, slide guitar), Larry Howard (guitar), Stephen Miller (keyboards), Joe Dan  Petty (bass), and Rick Burnett (drums) built a loyal following in the tens of thousands playing music  that was influenced by British blues outfits like John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, Cream and T.S.  McPhee's Groundhogs, but also the real article, especially Albert King and Booker T. and the MG's  -- Lombar sounded more Black than any White rock singer you've ever heard. They could have  been a more soulful and exciting competitor to Canned Heat, but they weren't lucky enough to  appear in hit festival movies or get the right single out at the proper time. Working in the commercial  shadow of better-known acts, they counted as fans members of the Marshall Tucker Band and a lot  of other musicians who felt they deserved a break. The group failed to emerge as much more than a  top regional act and an opener for the Allmans and Charlie Daniels, among others, despite recording  seven album between 1972 and 1982, first for Capricorn and later for Atlantic. -- Bruce Eder, All  Music Guide

 

LINKS

Allman Brothers Band Allman Brothers Band Crew Page Dr. Hector & the Groove Injectors -- Dru Lombar Larry Howard Site

 

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