With the band: 1980–1982
Instruments: Drums
Brothers in Music
David “Frankie” Toler came from Indiana, and he was the younger brother of guitarist Dan Toler. The two made their names together in Dickey Betts & Great Southern, and you can hear Frankie’s drumming on that band’s 1978 album Atlanta’s Burning Down. Frankie was also the one who first jammed with bassist David Goldflies and pointed him toward Dickey.
Joining the Allman Brothers
When Jaimoe left the band in 1980, Frankie joined Butch Trucks in the Allman Brothers Band’s two-drummer lineup. He played on Brothers of the Road (1981) and appears in the concert video of the same name, which the band filmed in December 1981 at the Capitol Theatre in Passaic, New Jersey. He stayed until the band went on hiatus in January 1982.
On the Road with Gregg
Frankie and Dan then became core members of the Gregg Allman Band. They toured through much of the 1980s and recorded I’m No Angel (1986) and Just Before the Bullets Fly (1988). In 1986 Frankie also went out with his brother, Gregg and Dickey on a tour that brought their solo bands together.
Marshall Tucker and Beyond
From 1992 to 1994 Frankie drummed for the Marshall Tucker Band and recorded the album Walk Outside the Lines with them. He and Dan also recorded and toured as the Toler Brothers.
Frankie struggled with his health for years and went through two liver transplants. He died in hospice care in Bradenton, Florida, on June 4, 2011, at age 59. The musicians who played with him remember him as an inventive and generous drummer.