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Delaware mourns Johnny Neel from Allman Brothers, dead at 70

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Delaware mourns Johnny Neel from Allman Brothers, dead at 70


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Wilmington native Johnny Neel, a blind rock star who played keys for The Allman Brothers Band, died Sunday, Oct. 6. He was 70 years old.  

Forty years ago, Neel left Delaware for Music City in Nashville. 

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Neel’s passing was announced on his Facebook page by Wilmingtonian Doug Jones, who is a business manager at Straight Up Sound Studio in Nashville, a studio Neel owned.  

“We have sad news to share. Johnny Neel passed away today from a massive heart failure. His wife Christine and his daughter Johnna were by his side,” the post said. “As many of you know, Johnny had a stroke in 2019 and never quite recovered from it. We are deeply saddened and will miss him greatly.”  

Jones created a GoFundMe for Neel’s family. It has raised over $4,400. The goal is $25,000.  

Bruce Willis, Allman Brothers, Willie Nelson linked to Johnny Neel 

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Despite being blind at birth, Neel had a vision for greatness. After moving to Nashville in 1984, he played keyboard and organ for musicians and acts ranging from Gov’t Mule and Peter Wolf to Willie Nelson and Todd Snider. 

And after years of working as a session musician and songwriter in Nashville, Neel joined the reunited Allman Brothers Band in 1989 for one album — “Seven Turns” — and an extensive tour behind the single, “Good Clean Fun,” which was co-written by Neel. On that same Allman Brothers Band album, the song “True Gravity,” with Neel on the keys, was nominated for a Grammy Award for best rock instrumental. 

Additionally, Neel toured with jam bands like Blue Floyd, Deep Fried and Grease Factor before taking to the road with Bruce Willis and his blues band, the Accelerators, in 2005.  

The decorated keyboardist was inducted into the Delaware Rock & Roll Society’s Hall of Fame in 2019.  

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George Thorogood praised Johnny Neel 

Before making his debut at the Freeman Arts Pavilion in Selbyville this past summer, for his 50th anniversary tour, Wilmington-born rock legend George Thorogood praised Neel during an interview with Delaware Online/The News reporter Ryan Cormier that published in April.  

When asked which Delaware bands where his contemporaries back in the day, the 74-year-old Thorogood answered: 

“All of them. There was Lisa Jack and the Boys in the Back. The fabulous Watson Brothers. Blind Johnny [Neel] who was a genius and should have been a superstar.” 

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June Jam was one of Johnny Neel’s favorite spots 

In April, Neel told The News Journal that the June Jam festival in Houston held a special place in his heart. Neel said he played the event about 20 times and whenever he returned, it was like a reunion.  

“It was like the highlight of my year. I’d look forward to come back up there and see my old friends and play [for] Bob [Hartley],” Neel explained about June Jam. 

He was friends with Bob Hartley, the longtime president of June Jam. Hartley died suddenly at age 68 in April, and Neel said he appreciated that Hartley, who grew up in Dover, treated his festival staff and the other music artists kindly at June Jam, which the keys player noted isn’t always the case at other music festivals.     

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Johnny Neel had a wild sense of humor 

Neel had a comical sense of humor, and he displayed it when reminiscing about a funny story involving his late pal Hartley.  

As the story goes, Hartley purchased a limo at a Philadelphia auction that previously belonged to famous opera singer Luciano Pavarotti, and he’d bring June Jam staffers in the limo with him to see Neel and other popular rockers in concert over the years, said Brian Manges, who is Hartley’s best friend and longtime June Jam musical director.   

Manges, of Dover, said it was cool hanging out with Hartley backstage at Allman Brothers shows. Neel fondly recalled Hartley’s posh ride.  

“I was driving the limo!” the visually impaired keyboardist joked. “Bob Hartley’s a very good person and he loved music. … I hope he rests in peace.” 

Delaware music artists grieve Johnny Neel  

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A wave of musicians and supporters from Delaware and Nashville have flooded Neel’s Facebook wall with over 700 comments, writing tributes in memory of the legend:

“RIP Johnny Neal,” singer-songwriter Warren Haynes, best known for being a longtime guitarist for the Allman Brothers, wrote on his own Facebook page. “Aside from being an amazing musician and singer, Johnny was one of the funniest people on the planet — a true character.” 

“Oh my goodness. I’m so sorry to hear this. Prayers of comfort and healing for all who knew and loved him,” wrote Judy Mangini, lead singer of the band Judy Sings the Blues, which was inducted into the Delaware Rock & Roll Society’s Hall of Fame in 2023.  

“So sad.. he will forever be a huge inspiration on all of us in many ways. My deepest condolences to you and Johnny’s family,” said Jake Banaszak, guitarist of Lower Case Blues, a band that is in Delaware’s Blues Hall of Fame.   

“He was a great mentor to me. A musical genius, and a bad mf,” said Pat Kane, a guitarist/vocalist for Kid Davis and The Bullets, a band that was inducted into the Delaware Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in September.  

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“RIP Soul Bear. You certainly were one of a kind,” wrote Nashville’s Joanna Cotten, a former background singer for country superstar Eric Church.  

Cotten added, “So honored God crossed our paths on this earth. Now go find Aretha and Ray and have the best jam session ever known!”  

Have a story idea? Contact Ryan Cormier of Delaware Online/The News Journal at rcormier@delawareonline.com or (302) 324-2863. Follow him on Facebook (@ryancormier) and X (@ryancormier).

If you have an interesting story idea, email lifestyle reporter Andre Lamar at alamar@gannett.com. Consider signing up for his weekly newsletter, DO Delaware, at delawareonline.com/newsletters. 





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Delaware

Sussex County blocks state-approved plan for medical marijuana biz to open store

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Sussex County blocks state-approved plan for medical marijuana biz to open store


Chip Guy, the Sussex County spokesman, said Stark was mistaken in believing the county was awarding her a building permit.

“To be clear, the county DID NOT issue a building permit,’’ Guy said in an emailed response to questions about The Farm’s bid to put astore in Sussex.

Guy said an official “notified the applicant that the building plan review [tenant fit-out] had cleared initial steps. That is but one step that is part of the process in determining whether to issue a building permit in the first place.”

Guy said the county’s “due diligence’’ found that The Farm’s location simply did not qualify for approval.

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Stark remains flabbergasted by the decision, saying she had relied on the state’s approval of the location as well as the state’s identified patient need for that area of Sussex.

“In my mind, when they approved that location and we started spending money and had rent to pay, and drawings put together, and had to start seeking other approvals and permits, it was an established use,” Stark said.

Robert Coupe, the state’s marijuana commissioner, said the state’s hands are tied as long as the current state law remains in effect.

“There’s nothing for me to do. They have to fight that fight,’’ Coupe said of Stark.

Coupe, whose office will soon issue 30 licenses for retail recreational marijuana stores statewide, added that Sussex’s “three-mile buffer, as it currently exists, definitely presents challenges for our selected applicants” in Sussex, where 10 retail licenses will be granted.

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“If it appears that it will be difficult for them to find areas to operate, probably a focus for them will be on specific towns that have said they will allow operations,” he said.

Guy, who has not agreed to do any interviews on the Sussex law, wrote last month that he disagrees with the assertion that no parcels exist in unincorporated Sussex for retail stores. Yet he would not identify any permitted sites, or consent to a request by WHYY News to analyze the zoning map to find any.

Stark said she has spoken to a lawyer about her options, and if her efforts fail, is also considering whether to find a site elsewhere in Sussex, perhaps within the town limits of Frankford, which hasn’t banned cannabis stores.

“It’s ridiculous,’’ Stark said of her company’s predicament in Sussex. “And more people just need to know it’s ridiculous.”

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U.S. House GOP bans Delaware’s U.S. Rep. from same-sex bathrooms

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U.S. House GOP bans Delaware’s U.S. Rep. from same-sex bathrooms


From Philly and the Pa. suburbs to South Jersey and Delaware, what would you like WHYY News to cover? Let us know!

Rep. Nancy Mace, R-South Carolina, has introduced legislation that would bar transgender women from using women’s restrooms and other facilities on federal property.

It comes just a few days after she filed a resolution intended to institute a bathroom ban in parts of the U.S. Capitol complex that she said was targeted at Delaware Congresswoman-elect Sarah McBride, a Democrat, who First State voters elected to serve as the first openly transgender person in Congress just two weeks ago.

Mace said to reporters Monday that McBride, who she misgendered during her comments, didn’t “belong in women’s spaces, bathrooms and locker rooms.”

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While not specifically mentioning Mace’s bills, House Speaker Mike Johnson issued a statement Wednesday dictating that House policy in January would ban transgender women from using facilities — like bathrooms and locker rooms — that do not correspond with the sex they were assigned at birth.

“All single-sex facilities in the Capitol and House Office Buildings — such as restrooms, changing rooms, and locker rooms — are reserved for individuals of that biological sex,” Johnson said in a statement. It was not clear how the policy would be enforced.

“Each Member office has its own private restroom, and unisex restrooms are available throughout the Capitol,” he added.

Mace’s resolution, which she said she wanted to be included in the rules package for the next Congress, requires the House sergeant at arms to enforce the ban.



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Delaware Co. woman charged with DUI after crashing into Pennsylvania state police vehicle

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Delaware Co. woman charged with DUI after crashing into Pennsylvania state police vehicle


Wednesday, November 20, 2024 10:33PM

A Drexel Hill woman has been charged with DUI after investigators say she crashed into a Pennsylvania State Police vehicle on I-476.

RIDLEY TWP., Pa. (WPVI) — A Drexel Hill woman has been charged with DUI after investigators say she crashed into a Pennsylvania State Police vehicle on I-476.

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Police say Sara Lawver crashed into the troopers’ patrol car in Ridley Township just after 11:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Troopers were conducting a traffic stop at the time and barely avoided being hit.

No one was injured.

Lawver also faces charges of reckless driving and recklessly endangering another person.

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