<\/p>\n
As an actor, James Keach\u2019s most memorable roles involved playing a younger brother \u2013 Orville Wright in \u201cOrville and Wilbur\u201d and Jesse James in \u201cThe Long Riders\u201d \u2013 alongside his real-life older brother, Stacy Keach.<\/p>\n
Keach, who has been directing and producing for decades, has turned his attention increasingly to those endeavors in the past decade, finding success with music-related documentaries, producing or directing films about Glen Campbell, David Crosby and Linda Ronstadt.<\/p>\n
His latest, \u201cGregg Allman: The Music of My Soul,\u201d proved a natural fit. Much of Allman\u2019s life<\/a> was driven by his relationship with his older brother Duane \u2013 first in childhood and later in the band Duane started, The Allman Brothers Band<\/a>. Duane died in a 1971 motorcycle accident, and his death forever haunted Gregg, who talks in the film about feeling his brother\u2019s presence throughout his life.<\/p>\n The movie, which is in theaters on June 17, covers The Allman Brothers Band\u2019s greatest successes and the turmoil that followed, but also Allman\u2019s solo career, his numerous marriages (most famously to Cher) and his long battles with addiction.<\/p>\n Keach says he was a fan of the band, especially classic songs like \u201cMelissa\u201d and \u201cMidnight Rider,\u201d but he didn\u2019t know much about them as people until he was approached by Allman\u2019s manager, saying he wanted him to direct a film about the late singer, who died in 2017. In a recent interview, Keach discussed what he discovered when he dove into Allman\u2019s story.<\/p>\n \u201cI chose the documentary\u2019s name from a song that I didn\u2019t know before this,\u201d Keach said, referring to a lyric from \u201cMy Only True Friend,\u201d which was released posthumously. \u201cHe sang, \u2018I hope you\u2019re haunted by the music of my soul when I\u2019m gone,\u2019 and when I heard that, it just moved me, and I knew it was right.\u201d<\/p>\n This interview has been edited for length and clarity. (Disclosure: This reporter was the ghostwriter for Stacy Keach\u2019s memoir, \u201cAll in All: An Actor\u2019s Life On and Off the Stage.\u201d)<\/p>\n