Duane Allman was born on this day in 1946. He died at the age of 24 in 1971 in a motorcycle accident in Macon, Georgia. He was best known as a founder of the Allman Brothers Band, but was equally influential as a session guitarist. Here’s Duane on the recording of Wilson Pickett’s cover of “Hey Jude,” of all things, that Eric Clapton called his favorite guitar solo ever , leading to Duane’s famous guest gig with Derek & the Dominoes).

Ed Kilgore

Ed Kilgore is a political columnist for New York and managing editor at the Democratic Strategist website. He was a contributing writer at the Washington Monthly from January 2012 until November 2015, and was the principal contributor to the Political Animal blog.