No I doubt it. I'm rather sure he was talking about Butch. In the early 90s Butch would post on this site and it was cool as he would answer all our questions. Suddenly Butch was irritated about several of the old Capricorn songs getting a release by Polydor as "1969-1979 A Decade of Hits". The CD sold over 2 million copies and it had Dreams, Whipping Post, Midnight Rider, Melissa, Ain't Waisting Time Anymore, Ramblin' Man, Blue Sky, Revival, Jessica, Liz Reed, Crazy Love etc etc. Butch was upset about this CD because the band members no longer got a cut of the old stuff owned by Capricorn but Gregg and Dickey made millions off their writing credits and Butch got nothing. I remember he was especially irritated at Dickey for refusing to give Butch a writing credit on Liz Reed and another song. Butch said he spent time writing and creating the drum patterns and drum break for Liz Reed and Dickey went to Duane and Duane sides with Dickey saying the one who comes up with the melody and lyrics owns the song. The rest is arrangements.

So Butch came up with several ideas for him to involve the band in his side projects including the band eventually being on a record label he was starting and some festivals he was putting together. Moogis was part of it too. Dickey said you guys can do all this and do these festivals but Dickey Betts won't be part of it. Dickey was opposed to mixing ABB business with Butch Trucks business. This resulted in friction and bad blood with Dickey and Butch that kept growing for the rest of the 90s.

I dont know how much Butch was worth before his IRS troubles but supposedly Jaimoe is 2 million, Warren 12 million, Gregg 15 million and Dickey 40 million.

Gregg said in an interview it use to bother him that his brother didn't make any real money with the band. Duane got one decent check off of Fillmore East when it went Gold just before he was killed. Gregg said just after his brother died and Fillmore East and Eat A Peach were really selling... the money just started pouring in. After the 5 man band did 90 shows in 1972 and Eat A Peach went Platinum, they were all millionaires in just a year after his brother's death. Then Gregg said he doesnt feel that way now. That his brother had a hell of a good time, traveled all over the country, played on an Eric Clapton hit album and really left a guitar legacy that is still going strong. And Little Martha is on two Platinum plus albums, Peach and Decade of Hits, so someone, I assume Duane's daughter, should have made a lot of money.

Just remembered another Polydor release of old Capricorn cuts. This one from the year 2000. It's called the 20th century millennium collection. It has many of the same tracks that are on A Decade of Hits. But it also has Hot 'Lanta which is credited to D.Allman, G. Allman, D. Betts, B. Oakley, B. Trucks, J. Johnson. And it went Gold (500,000) copies. Butch got 1/6th of one song.

Stand back is on it too. Berry Oakley's estate got half of this. Berry wrote most of the music as Down Calico Way or Going Down to Calico. I've heard both and dont know which may be correct. But Berry let Gregg have it and Gregg wrote lyrics and some changes and it became Standback.

Always appreciate your insights. Thanks!

And I think it should be noted again that Dickey did not call anyone out by name in that interview... in that regard he has always shown class.

It is sad to see the relative net worth of the individual band members - should be a private matter in my opinion, but as they say it is what it is...

I have always hoped that money was not the reason for Butch's manner of checking out...

Was Kim Payne ever payed for helping write Midnite Rider?

It is also said that Berry wrote or arranged key parts of Elizabeth Reed.

Yes on Midnight Rider Payne gets 5% and Gregg (now estate) gets 95%. Payne came up with one line of the lyrics when Gregg was stuck. He had to complain to Gregg because when Idlewild South was initially released only Gregg got a credit. So Gregg formally registered the writing credit as G. Allman-K.Payne with Payne getting 5 %. Payne has gotten 5 % of Midnight Rider for 49 years. It's been on a lot of albums including one that sold over 2 million copies so I'm sure it has added up to good money especially for just one line of the words.

Berry did come up with the bass line that was used thru 2014 and the bass intro and bass pattern for Whipping Post. Butch came up with the time signature for Whipping Post. But Gregg didn't use either when he recorded it for a solo album. They say Whipping Post was a slow ballad when Gregg brought it to the band. Midnight Rider was more like it is on Laidback when Gregg showed it to the band. The changes and additions the band made to those songs were considered "arrangements " by Duane Allman. Butch didn't agree but at that time when someone had to rule on the final word it was Duane. Dickey said they all knew it was Duane's band. And Duane called for votes sometimes. When Phil Walden objected to Beelzebub for their name, insisting Duane's name be used, they voted and The Allman Brothers Band was chosen. Later Dickey supposedly said he later regretted voting for that name. Later they went to a voting system but only the original members got to vote. But in the last lineup Warren had a lot of pull. Gregg supposedly wanted to vote out Otiel for some reason and Warren put his foot down about that and it was dropped. Who knows if Jaimoe and Butch would have joined Gregg's vote. After Jimmy Herring felt uncomfortable replacing Dickey, Gregg talked Warren into coming back and said if Warren had said no, he would have left and concentrated on his solo career because Gregg didn't want to play in the ABB with a new lead guitarist. So Warren had some pull in the band the second time he was with them.

I think all Dickey had on Liz Reed was the melody and some cord changes. Dickey wrote the foundation of the song thinking about Boz Scaggs' girlfriend. He couldn't name it for her so took the name "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed" off of the tombstone on which he was sitting at the cemetery in Macon when the melody and some cord changes came to him.

I alway's thought he was getting a little rose on a grave stone down by the river with with the girl you mentioned.And when he was ready to peak so to speak,he looked up and the headstone read In Memory of Elizabeth Reed.Could be wrong!That's just what I heard many,many moon's ago in Macon.

the story Dickey told in the Rather interview, which is similar to the legend, is that Dickey said he had no cash to take Carmella anywhere, so they would hang at the cemetary because it's a beautiful place - their spot was near ER's stone.

While I can understand Butch’s financial frustrations regarding his rhythmic contributions to the music, bottom line is you get jack/nada/nothing in major monetary gain for a “drum part”. Obviously, the guys who make the real $$$$ off of the music are the songwriters, the guys who came up with the original “germ” or “seed” of the song idea. And if you’re smart enough to own your own publishing, your money will triple or quadruple. Thats likely what caused 95% of the bad blood between Butch and Dickey right to the end. But Butch, as talented, intelligent and indispensable to the music as he was, had no horse in that race. If your name wasn't Allman or Betts, you mostly made your living off of constant touring. Seems like Butch had a hard time coming to terms with that. But God bless him because he was certainly a huge part of their sound.