<p>Phil Walden, the Capricorn Records founder who launched the careers of artists including Otis Redding and the Allman Brothers Band, has died after a long battle with cancer, a family friend said Monday. He was 66.</p><p>Walden died at his home Sunday, said Leon Jones, law partner of Walden's son, Philip Walden Jr.</p><p>The Macon, Ga.-based record label was influential in creating the Southern rock sound of the 1970s.</p><p>Walden promoted groups including the Charlie Daniels Band and Wet Willie over a career that spanned more than three decades.</p><p>"Phil was a visionary," said Chuck Leavell, who joined the Allman Brothers on keyboards in 1972 and now plays with the Rolling Stones. "He just had a great vision and a true, deep passion for the music."</p><p>Walden's two most famous artists, Redding and guitarist Duane Allman, both died tragically, Redding in a plane crash in 1967 and Allman in a motorcycle accident in 1971.</p><p>The Allman Brothers Band, the quintessential Southern rock band which the guitarist founded with brother Gregg and others, continued after Duane Allman's death.</p><p>"They weren't trendy," Walden said in a 1996 interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.</p><p>"You had all these British groups dressed up in Edwardian finery," Walden continued. "But there was never any attempt by the Allmans to be a show band. They played music. On occasions, when they were allowed to, for hours."</p><p>Walden also was an early backer of then-Georgia Gov. Jimmy Carter. Walden backed Carter's bid for the presidency financially, as did the Allmans and other Capricorn groups, who played benefit shows for Carter's upstart candidacy.</p><p>"Rosalynn and I are deeply saddened to learn of the death of Phil Walden," Carter said Monday in a written statement. "Phil was one of the pre-eminent producers of great music in America. His many performing partners, including Otis Redding and the Allman Brothers, helped to put Macon and Georgia on the musical map of the world."</p><p>Earlier, Walden met Redding in Macon in the 1950s, when both were teenagers. Redding became a top rhythm and blues star in the 1960s and was on the brink of wider acclaim when he died. He had recorded his "(Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay" just days earlier</p>
