Tough to think it has been 2 years without Butch. I played some original 6 today. What a band they had.
Long live the Allman Brothers Band...
Amen!
I miss hearing Butch, Jaimoe and Marc together. What a wave of comfort that would come over me when I'd hear/feel that that in person. This intro to Why Does Love Have to Be so Sad at the Crossroads Festival is an example. Butch & Marc start it and then Jaimoe joins in....it is just so good.
RIP Butch.
Yep. Nothing like it!
I caught the Hampton Beach, NH 9/8/16 Les Brers show. Brothers played for 3 hours and Butch, Jaimoe & Marc
were just outstanding. I left thinking 3 years to the big reunion. 🙁
Is Derek playing Duane's goldtop?
Tough to think it has been 2 years without Butch. I played some original 6 today. What a band they had.
Long live the Allman Brothers Band...
They still do up there in heaven. The road really does go on forever!
Butch was a syncopation master. He and Jaimoe could turn the beat inside-out, sideways and backwards and still come out on the 1 consistently. Truely a highly original and propulsive percussion ensemble those guys were in the original lineup. Very similar to the way Elvin Jones played with Coltrane, only in a rock idiom. Very rhythmic and always pushing forward and making the music percolate and cook.
There are drummers and then there are rhythmic “stylists”, guys who have an instantly recognizable groove all their own. That was Butch.
As stated above, they could run all over the place and keep such a solid groove. We all are missing him.
Miss Butch bad, it's a little ache that may never pass?........Peace.......joe
Little link here about Butch and some of his collaborations.
https://www.jambase.com/article/remembering-butch-trucks-5-standout-collaborations
Great drummer, he never got the recognition he deserved when it came to drumming.
Great drummer, he never got the recognition he deserved when it came to drumming.
Agreed. His passing was very tragic.
I need to separate the legendary drummer from the off stage person since the Dickey ouster. It was difficult to read his anger even after Dickey left. He rallied against much, and at one point disowned the country. It was hard to understand his unhappiness at much. So I, like yesterday again. put Fillmore on and marvel at it all. I even hear things I never picked up on before, like yesterday when I noticed how Butch really starts Statesboro.
Warren was really in shock when Butch died (who wasn't?). Here is a short tribute by Warren as printed in Rolling Stone not long after Butch passed.
Bird72. By the mid 1970s Butch was fed up with Gregg Allman. He was quoted in the press " You can't depend on Gregg Allman for anything". The band finally broke up over Gregg in 1976 but by 1978 Gregg and Dickey were on good terms again and wanted to get the band going again. Butch was reluctant. He was fed up with Gregg's unreliability on and off the stage. Dickey went to see Butch and sang and played Crazy Love to Butch and assured Gregg was in good shape now and committed to recording and playing with the ABB.
In the early 1990s Butch posted on the ABB site his displeasure of Dickey not allowing him a writing credit on Elizabeth Reed. Butch wrote that drum break and some changes. But Dickey got Duane's backing that it was Dickey's song and others in the band were only involved in the arrangement. Butch said the same thing happened on Madness on the West from Reach For the Sky. Butch said he wrote part of that song after Dickey showed what he had to the band but it wasn't complete. Butch complained on this site back then this CD of Capricorn recordings called A Decade of Hits was released by Polygram which then owned the Capricorn albums and it sold over 2 million copies, far more than the band's new Epic albums and Dickey, and Gregg too, made over a million dollars and Butch got NOTHING. There wasn't a band member money cut off the old songs, just money for the writers. Well that means Willie McTell's estate made money because Statesboro Blues is on it. Duane's Little Martha is on it too. But Dickey had Ramblin'Man, Jessica, Southbound, Revival, Blue Sky, Crazy Love, Liz Reed and Gregg had Dreams, Whipping Post, Melissa, Wasted Words etc. So Dickey and Gregg cashed in big time and Butch got nothing. Butch was the one that always brought 110 percent and never missed a show from the very first ABB show in 1969. Gregg and sometimes Dickey would at times be on stage missing lyrics and sloppy jaded play because of dope and drinking. So Butch said he was going to find some ways to make money other than playing in the band like Gregg and Dickey. But Dickey opposed everything Butch wanted to do. Dickey said he would not have ABB business mixed with Butch Trucks business and Dickey said the band may play at these festivals Butch is putting on but Dickey Betts won't be there.
After Dickey was voted out ( Butch was going to quit until he found out Gregg was quiting too because of Dickey's attitude and excessive drinking) Butch was able to merge ABB and Butch business. Butch and Gregg clashed some but not too bad. But poor Butch somehow got his taxes with the IRS all messed up with these side business deals and the U. S. Government was all over him for back taxes, interest and penalities. Apparently they were eventually going to clean Butch out. That and Trump's election knocked Butch off balance. Butch had worked probably harder than anyone in the band to honor the bands music and legacy and became a multimillionaire. To have his hard earned money taken because he failed to or didn't know how to run these side businesses according to U. S. Tax law was more than he could take. He decided at the last moment he didn't want the band to break up in 2014 but Derek, Warren and Gregg were ready to end it and wanted to in 2009 but agreed to go another 5 years because of Butch and the bands legacy. Butch was positive about the two bands he had after the ABB quit in 2014 but he was very disappointed the ABB never did the last big tour it planned but postponed due to Gregg's medical issues, and in the press he began to fuss about Warren and Derek not wanting to take chances like the original band did and jump.off the deep end and take him somewhere new with no worry about a train wreck like the original band and becoming so predictable, that during the last years he knew exactly what they were going to do before they played it. I think he was probably more hurt than really tired of playing with them. The whole thing with Butch at the end was so sad and tragic. I wish he could have made a go of it with his new bands and later retired with money in the bank and happy about his country and the rich history and legacy of the Allman Brothers. He loved that band as much as anyone did. Butch was the backbone of the ABB at every show from 1969 to 2014. I miss him and it makes me sad he was under such pressure. Making mistakes and having to go to jail or loose all your money and your home will really mess with anyone's head. Butch, Duane, Berry...it's doesn't seem fair but life is not a picnic for many people. Yes Fillmore East is the best darn live album ever and Butch Trucks' drums are really pushing those songs. Man o man is Butch hitting the note on that album. Okay The Allman Brothers Band the man says. Butch came to knock it out of the park. I miss Butch!!!
Nice post blackey. Thanks.
Blackey, I started reading your post and thought to myself that you're just regurgitating stuff most already knew... but by the 2nd paragraph, it really turned the light on in my head. Thanks.
That sucks how royalties work and how being a drummer is not that rewarding (financially) unless you take the reign for other duties.
I'm only in my early 40s, but I can see how anger can envelop one's self. I'm starting to see it in my life. Not that I'm suffering any type of depression or thoughts, but things set me off that before I'd never GAF about. And not to get political, but at least there's a shimmering light in this story (for me) is that Butch was so outraged about our current dude in office. It makes me smile when I see old white dudes who aren't on that train.
Sobering post Blackey.
The first time i saw the ABB was at the Nassau Coliseum in 1973 and i was lucky enough to sit in the second row. i was blown away by Betts as at that time i thought Gregg was the "big name" and would dominate the show. However it was the "musicality" of this band that blew me away. When the band went into a drum solo during Les Brers in A Minor, I was transfixed. From the second row, Butch and Jaimoe put on a show of power and musicianship that i can feel to this day.
Jonesy and Chris. Much of my information came from Butch's posts on the ABB website. Butch was the only one who communicated with the fans online and answered questions. Berry Oakley often would come out before shows or after and mingle with the fans answering questions and asking questions and making sure band merchandise was worth what was charged and telling us they were trying hard to keep ticket prices down so band fans could afford to see them.
By 1973 I had a different impression of the band. Duane Allman and Berry Oakley's absence was HUGE. The band's sound was greatly affected. But after several shows I warmed to Chuck and Lamar. It was a different band and Brothers and Sisters sold as well as a Rilling Stones or Beatles album. The band was no. 1 in the US. And many new fans thought the Brothers and Sisters band WAS the Allman Brothers. In 1973 the band did try their best to hit the note and rock.
I remember at the 1973 shows I saw the drum solos were during Les Brers in A minor and Butch and Jaimoe were powerful then and on every song. I remember a musician friend said " With due respect to Dickey and the piano player, who wouldn't sound good playing on top of that". Of course Lamar Williams was part of "that".
Butch first posted a negative note about Dickey around 1994 when A Decade of Hits went Platinum. Then in 1995 it passed the 2 million in sales mark and on the old Capricorn songs the people who played in the Allman Brothers got nothing!! Only the song writers and Butch wasn't one of them. So he was angry again because he felt he should have had a credit on Liz Reed. Not 50/50 but something. Gregg gave Kim Payne part of Midnight Rider but only after Payned complained to Gregg. On Midnight Rider royalties Gregg's estate gets 95 % and Payne gets 05%.
But Butch also posted positive things about Dickey sometimes up to after Derek Trucks joined. Butch said Derek reminds Dickey of Duane and that has really inspired him. That Dickey is playing the best right now in years. That was 1999. By 2000 Butch wasn't friendly about Dickey at all. Butch more of less trashed Dickey for the rest of his life.
