This is taking chances, jumping in the deep end with absolutely NO concern about a train wreck or making a mistake!!

You know, blackey, I wondered about that statement from Butch regarding Warren and Derek not taking chances.

They already had to deal with Gregg, who was sometimes slipping in the later years - missing cues, flubbing vocals. Those elements do throw the feeling in a big room off, I can safely say. He was supplying them with some gaffes that might have made them less eager to serve up more.

It's also true that the guitarists might have been listening to Gregg's preference. Gregg was not a big fan of crazy "out" jams or live experiments. His own band was incredibly tight and concise. Maybe they were trying to honor his wishes.

Yeah Jim. I have a suspicion Gregg and Butch were not getting along at times either. On this site after I read Butch making it clear he didnt see the point of them doing another album with the set up they had after finally getting away from Epic. That and Hitting The Note not selling as well as it should.

Not long afterward, Gregg said they WOULD do another studio album. The guy asking the questions told Gregg that Butch said no. Gregg responded they will and will do it WITHOUT Butch Trucks if necessary. But as we know, for whatever reason, it never happened.

And you are correct about Gregg not being big on jamming and long guitar solos. Gregg said several times that wasn't his bag and several of his songs got changed so much by the Allman Brothers that he likes to play them in his solo band closer to how he wrote them. Whipping Post was almost a slow ballad for example. Gregg said his brother loved that jamming thing and the guitar solos kept getting longer and longer and that you would almost forget which verse is next by the time he got to sing again.

And Gregg said the last solo band he had up to his death was the band he always wanted and it made him the most satisfied.

But he also said when the Brothers hadn't played in awhile, he looked forward to getting together again as it was his brother's creation and it was like a favorite fishing hole that always felt good to get back to when you've been busy elsewhere.

Remember the album cover from TTB's August 20th, 2013 release Made Up Mind? with the bull (DT) taking the train (Butch) head on? Just months before the January 8th separate and joint press release from Warren and DT. That's how I took it anyway. Maybe I'm reading WAY too much into but . . .

Maybe Derek did have a message in that album cover.

To me that album cover represents their determination to do what they feel is right and charge ahead no matter what obstacles come up. Maybe that's one inspiration among many, but they've talked much more often about how crazy their managers through they were for doubling the size of their bands, for example. They're not writing songs and making album art to take shots at their own family members and bandmates. I think there was an interview where Susan acknowledged that "Let Me Get By," a different song on a different album, did in part reflect their feelings about being freer to do their own thing: "Let me get by if you're just gonna stand there/Get out of my way."