Gov’t Mule frontman Warren Haynes is paying tribute to musician Johnny Neel, a member of the Allman Brothers Band and the Dickey Betts Band, who passed away Oct. 6 at the age of 70.
Neel’s death was confirmed on his official Facebook account, with the post noting he died “from a massive heart failure.”
“Aside from being an amazing musician and singer, Johnny was one of the funniest people on the planet — a true character,” Haynes wrote on social media. “’Johnny Neel stories,’ as we refer to them in our little chunk of the music world, are legendary.”
Waynes then shared tales of him meeting Neel in Nashville, and them both joining the Allman Brothers and the Dickey Betts Band.
“Mostly what I want to focus on, however, is what a musical person Johnny was,” he shared. “There was always music in his head. It was his savior. Whenever we were writing together, he was an endless fountain of ideas, and the same on stage or in the studio.”
“We wrote a lot of music together, we played a lot of music together, and we traveled the world together, and maybe most importantly, we had a lot of fun times and created a lot of beautiful memories. Hence the stories,” he concluded his post. “Johnny’s music and his legend will live on forever. Miss you Neely.”
Neel joined the Allman Brothers Band in 1989 ahead of their second reunion tour. He played keyboards in the group and also appeared on their 1990 album Seven Turns, co-writing four songs on the record, including the single “Good Clean Fun.”
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