... Butch later said he was sorry he didn't try to block it from being on the album. ...
The irony here is that Butch's ... demise from this earth was tied to his personal finances (as I understand it). Like it or not, Ramblin' Man (and Brothers and Sisters) put several figures on the left side of the decimal point in all of their bank accounts. At that point in their careers they were $hittin' in high cotton. Don't bite the hand that feeds ya!
@porkchopbob In Johnny Sandlin's book, he generally stays out of all the personal soap opera stuff the plagued the band at the apex of their career. Reading between the lines, one gets the impression that he just might've gotten a little irked with Dickey a time or two. One such story involved Dickey showing up late one night at a mixing session and directing Johnny over the speed adjustment on one of the songs. Johnny said that eventually, he just hit a couple of buttons and faders that actually didn't do anything to the speed or sound - but resulted in Dickey suddenly being happy with the sound and thinking/feeling that he had something to do with it. George Martin had similar stories involving John Lennon attempting to steer a mixing session.
... Butch later said he was sorry he didn't try to block it from being on the album. ...
The irony here is that Butch's ... demise from this earth was tied to his personal finances (as I understand it). Like it or not, Ramblin' Man (and Brothers and Sisters) put several figures on the left side of the decimal point in all of their bank accounts. At that point in their careers they were $hittin' in high cotton. Don't bite the hand that feeds ya!
I wasn't in the room, but I think it's revisionist history and they were just sick of playing and being pigeon-holed for "Ramblin' Man" 20 years later.
Dickey's account is that he didn't think it fit the ABB and was going to pitch it to Nashville but the band said it was an ABB song. Meanwhile, Gregg said Butch vetoed the jazzy "Queen of Hearts" which lead to Laid Back.
@porkchopbob In Johnny Sandlin's book, he generally stays out of all the personal soap opera stuff the plagued the band at the apex of their career. Reading between the lines, one gets the impression that he just might've gotten a little irked with Dickey a time or two.
For sure, and Gregg as well. Producing the Allman Brothers as they were falling apart sounded like quite a chore.
@porkchopbob Dickey has stated several times he thought Ramblin' Man was sped up in the studio which resulted in not liking the way his voice sounds on that track. Said to this day it bothers him if he hears it on the radio.
And several times I read Dickey thought it was too country. Said Johnny Sandlin came to him and said it turns out they are a song short for Brothers and Sisters. ( Queen of Hearts not making the cut??) and Johnny asked Dickey if he had anything. Dickey said yes but it's too country to be an Allman Brothers song. So they began the sessions and it was the second song they recorded and the last of Berry Oakley's studio work and Dickey said he wanted to send it to Nashville and sell it to Merle Haggard or someone and Butch said that is what he thought.
But Dickey said they said no this is an Allman Brothers song. I've read that several times over the years and don't know who "they" is. Gregg didn't like it and Butch really didn't like it. And Butch said when he found out they ( who is they? Phil Walden and Capricorn could hear a hit single??) wanted to put it on the new album Butch said he was skeptical but it had a long guitar solo at the end and that sounded like the band so he said "okay". Butch in recent years said he would have tried to block it if he had it to do over.
As to Queen of Hearts. Not long before Gregg died he was asked about that and it was printed " Oh that was a long time ago so I don't want to drag that up again..but there was one guy in the band who was opposed to that song being on the next album...I'll just do this and tell you his initials. It's Butch Trucks!!"
@robertdee All the respect in the world for the late. Butch Trucks. But we ain't ever gonna hear a "Butch Trucks Greatest Hits" compilation. 😉
Butch only said decades later he didn't like "Ramblin' Man". He didn't seem to have a problem playing it with the ABB and BHLT. The whole band was tired of the song when they reformed in 1989 and they purposefully shelved it for a few years in the early 1990s. Even when it was present in the set lists it was played pretty infrequently. I don't buy that Butch was shooting down both "QoH" and "RM", contradicts both Dickey and Gregg. They all have suspect, if not completely selective memories.
@rusty Not long after the big blowup in 2000, Butch was real P. O.'d at Dickey for telling Butch he owed Dickey for a high dollar car Butch bought and was driving around Macon about 1974 ( Can't remember what kind of car. Maybe a Mercedes) because Dickey said he was the reason Butch was able to purchase the vehicle.
Butch stayed mad at Dickey until the end. It's a shame. He was a great drummer and the backbone on the band. The meat and potatoes of the drumming in the band.
Warren Haynes said he discovered some of why Butch was mad at Dickey went way back to when Duane was still alive.
That surprised me because I always thought they were close. Dickey had Butch in Betts, Hall, Leavell, Trucks. And Dickey went to Butch's house to play Butch Crazy Love before Dickey talked to Gregg about putting the band back on the road in 1978. Butch loved the song but told Dickey he was skeptical of Gregg and I thought he would never work with Gregg again. But Dickey told Butch Gregg was okay now and Dickey thought Gregg would go with them.
The Dickey had Butch come into the studio to help with recording Patterned Disrupted and Butch plays percussion on several tracks.
The raw feelings from the past must have all came out in 2000.
Also after Gregg and Dickey made a big pile of cash off of 1969-1979 A Decade Of Hits which came out in 1991. Tracks from the first five albums plus Crazy Love off Enlighten Rouges and it sold over 2 million copies and Butch said from writing royalties Gregg and Dickey made over a million each and Butch made zero because the actual band gets nothing off those Capricorn albums. Butch said he wrote the drum part and drum solo for Elizabeth Reed and Dickey wouldn't share the writing credit. And Duane sided with Dickey.
I've wondered if that is why Butch put together several businesses. Butch wrote in his blog about 1993 he was going to look for ways to make extra income off the band so he, like Gregg and Dickey, will have another income stream. But Dickey voted NO everytime Butch had something including music festivals and a record label to involve the band. Dickey mentioned it in interviews after the blow up in 2000. Dickey said he always voted no because he didn't think it was wise to mix Allman Brothers business with Butch Trucks business endeavors.
Wow by 1997 or 98 it had become so negative in the band Kirk West thought they could break up at any moment. But ironically they had so HOT shows in 97 and 98 with Jack Pearson and Dickey playing some big time guitar!! And Derek and Dickey in 1999. But it was coming off the rails in 2000.
I still love the 2000 live version of Stand back and Derek and Dickey are kicking butt on this track from March 2000. I can hear Dickey's Strat tone but interestingly it was not that different from the LP.
And here's the evidence. Butch and Dickey interview from the BHLT days talking about "Ramblin' Man" (14:25 - 17:30)
Butch happily compliments the song as "Real singable" and the hook lyrics as a "great line". Maybe Butch was just being diplomatic, but I just don't buy the narrative that he was against both "QoH" and "RM", yet one became the single and the other directly lead to Gregg's solo sessions.
@robertdee Different strokes I guess, I always thought that "Stand Back" was the clunker on a really shaky album to begin with. But I never thought "Stand Back" sounded right with 2 guitars.
@robertdee Songwriter royalties! That, and publishing (buying up rights to other's songs) is probably the real bread and butter of the music industry! In a "band" situation - seems like it would be a nice idea for the songwriters to at least tip the players - like waiters tip busboys and dishwashers in a restaurant. I don't know what the band members get for recording sessions and live gigs. For a gig like the ABB, I'm sure the money is real good while they're touring. When the band played Atlanta and New York I found out that Gregg stayed at the Four Seasons while the others stayed at hotels of decidedly lesser quality.
@porkchopbob Well I agree. I didn't care for two guitar solos on Standback or Don't Keep Me Wondering. Okay with Dickey doing one on Dreams as he usually got out there real good and that is when Dickey takes you away musically.
I just remember Derek and Dickey playing hot licks and it just happened to be Standback.
I just found this one from 1999 with Jack! Jaimoe said a few years ago Jack was the one that really reminded Jaimoe of Duane on slide.
This is hot guitar playing too. Even if it doesn't fit the framework of Standback.
@robertdee I had no problem with 2 different solos, I think that "Stand Back" from Peakin' is a hot mess - totally stuck in the mud compared to its funky stripped-down studio version (which I believe did not feature Butch or Dickey).
@rusty Yes and when traveling between cities Dickey owned the big bus he was on. I've been inside that bus. It is a luxury coach. But that was years ago. Haven't any idea if it even runs now or still exists.
Yes Gregg and Dickey were the big money bags. When Gregg died his net worth was listed at 18 million, Dickey 40 million and Jaimoe 2 million.
But in the early 1980's Jaimoe played in a little dive in Forsyth, Georgia in a house band and did farm work and supposedly lived near poverty. So Jaimoe is just fine now.
Gregg filed for bankruptcy in the early 80's and somehow Rolling Stone in the story said Gregg's partner in crime Dickey Betts was still a multimillionaire. Strange.
@porkchopbob Gregg once said Dickey wanted each guitarists to have a place to solo so that began two solos on most everything. Duane didn't do it that way. A few had one guitar taking a solo during Duane's time. After Dickey was booted in 2000 and Warren came back, Warren said Gregg wanted to go back to one guitar having a solo on certain songs and Gregg said what he told Dickey in the early 90's that he (Gregg) thought some of Gregg's songs didn't need ANY guitar solo!!
Warren said he talked Gregg out of that explaining in the Allman Brothers the fans expect a guitar solo on every song.
According to my deluxe version of Eat A Peach and it sounds like it to me, Gregg is on vocals, organ and electric piano. Duane on slide guitar. Berry on bass. Dickey on electric guitar ( apparently rhythm), Jaimoe on drums and Butch on timbales. When I listen carefully in my headphones I can hear Butch hitting something apparently with sticks opposite of Jaimoe and Dickey or someone on an electric rhythm part in the mix.
@robertdee I was misremembered, Dickey's guitar is there, buried in the mix as the bridge between Berry's bass and Gregg's piano.
Jaimoe is on the kit (and possibly tracked some congas too), but Butch is not on the track. At least he's never been credited and that's story they always tell: https://www.discogs.com/release/1197745-The-Allman-Brothers-Band-Eat-A-Peach
When they rearranged it in the 1990s, they essentially combined the electric piano licks and 2nd guitar lines into one and it never sounded quite the same to me without the 2nd set of keys and 2 extra drummers. "Stand Back" and "Leave My Blues at Home" always sounded a little too heavy on stage to me.
@rusty Yes and when traveling between cities Dickey owned the big bus he was on. I've been inside that bus. It is a luxury coach. But that was years ago. Haven't any idea if it even runs now or still exists.
Yes Gregg and Dickey were the big money bags. When Gregg died his net worth was listed at 18 million, Dickey 40 million and Jaimoe 2 million.
But in the early 1980's Jaimoe played in a little five in Forsyth, Georgia in a house band and did farm work and supposedly lived near poverty. So Jaimoe is just fine now.
Gregg filed for bankruptcy in the early 80's and somehow Rolling Stone in the story said Gregg's partner in crime Dickey Betts was still a multimillionaire. Strange.
Paraphrasing an old joke: How do you make a small fortune? First, become a rock star -make a big fortune ... then, live the rock star life. 😉
Sorry for further mis-directing the original thread!
Wise idea to just exclude Arista years right off the bat
Never liked Loosiana Lou, Crazy Love, Let me Ride, and Everybody's got a Mt. to climb
@porkchopbob Yeah I just got my original Eat A Peach 1972 copy and Dickey is credited on guitar but Butch is not credited at all.
I remember Butch saying when they got ready to record that he (Butch) just heard Jaimoe's style for the main drums and Butch insisted Jaimoe play the drums track. Butch said before that session he often played the main time keeping part and Jaimoe played around him with cool accents and jazzy fills but completely unrehearsed. They just played. And sometimes Jaimoe would just play congas as he does on the studio version of Liz Reed on Idlewild South.
Supposedly on Whipping Post on the first album Jaimoe didn't want to play so is not there. But on Fillmore East he is essential to all the twists and turns they get into while Dickey solos.
Just got back from the grocery store. Now got to cook a little. 🙁
@cyclone88 I agree. Ramblin' Man is another one that can get tiring. Gregg didn't care for it and wasn't expecting Brothers and Sisters to do as well as Eat A Peach. Butch didn't like Ramblin' Man at all. And stated he thought it was going to be a demo for Haggard then we he found out they are wanting to put it on the new album he thought "It has that long guitar solo at the end and that sounds like us so okay" But in the same interview Butch said if he had it to do over he would have tried to block it from being on the album.
Jaimoe, Lamar and Chuck really step up on this live track and make this version a hot stretch of playing. This is one version of Ramblin' Man I like a lot. Jaimoe, Chuck and Lamar are right on it big time on this.
I love Ramblin Man. An iconic song. The studio version is wonderful with the twin leads and the ending with the slide. This live version is incredible. Dickey takes it to the stratosphere with his solo and the rest of the band are rockin right with him. Get the remastered version, really cleans up the sound, especially the drums. This song shows the unique diversity of the band, from Whipping Post to Stormy Monday to Ramblin Man. Embrace it.
I think you hit the nail on the head with this post. One of the most impressive things about the ABB is the fact that they can play in various styles - all different, yet they can pull it off, and these styles are definitively ABB.
I get why people may not like RM, but it was a big money song & radio song. It brought in new listeners. Yes, some were casual listeners, but that's radio and the music business. I'd have to think that song helped grow the base.
Dickey is an amazing writer. It shows his versatility to write songs so different form Ramblin' Man to IMOER.
