The Tucker community will honor the life of musician and owner of Music Trader, Paul Allison, with a memorial jam on April 26.
Allison died on March 6 at 66 years old after battling with ALS, a terminal neurodegenerative disease. He was found outside Music Trader that night and passed the next morning.
Allison owned and ran the buy-sell-trade music store since it opened in the same location on Lawrenceville Highway in 1985. Over the last 40 years, he earned a reputation as an honest and trustworthy business leader.
“Paul was a great small business owner who focused on people,” Matthew Lee, the Executive Director of the Tucker-Northlake Community Improvement District, told Rough Draft. “He was never going to take advantage of anybody. He was more interested in getting the person what they need than the sale… He wasn’t the kind of guy to take center stage, but he just represented the kind of business owner that you want in your town.”
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Allison is survived by his wife Christine. The couple were together for 24 years, married for 23, and Christine told Rough Draft that it was “love at first sight” when he pulled up to Tucker Federal Bank, where she was a teller. She remembers Paul as a talented musician who was deeply passionate and loyal.
“If he loved you, he loved you forever,” she said. “All his friends were his brothers and sisters.”
Allison was one of the founding members of THUNDERGYPSY, a local Blues band who will be headlining the memorial show on April 26 at Moonshadow Tavern. The concert was organized by Heather Petero, a musician and longtime friend of Allison’s, with Christine’s permission.
“He was just a cool dude. He was not outspoken unless you asked him,” Petero said. “He was a gentle person, but don’t get me wrong: if you wanted to talk about things, he had strong opinions. He knew who he was, and that’s a rarity.”
Petero said that while Allison did not want a service, she believes the concert will help those grieving his death find some closure.
“To be honest with you, I think Paul would hate that we were doing something like this,” she laughed. “He didn’t want to be the center of attention – even though, when he played, he was the center of attention, trust me, he was that good. If he was here, I’d tell him to get over it! But seriously, I think this concert is a great way to honor his life.”
With Allison’s death, Tucker has also lost a valued business. Music Trader has closed, and the inventory was sold to Music Go Round in Duluth. Lee said the closure is a huge loss for the Tucker community.
“As everything goes to big box [stores] and online, you lose the human touch, an interaction with somebody who really knows what they’re doing through experience and can guide people through things that they might not fully understand,” he said. “…I hope that we do have an opportunity to get another business that operates like Paul’s for musicians.”
The Paul Alllison Tribute Jam is April 26 from 3 to 6 p.m. at Moonshadow Tavern on Lawrenceville Highway. For more information and to sign up to play, contact Heather Petero at 678-230-7005.
