RIP Butch Trucks

Butch Trucks, Allman Brothers Band Co-Founder, Dead at 69

Very sad. Brilliant drummer. I'm going to go listen to "Whipping Post."

 

DAMN IT!

 

When Duane was alive, Allman Bros. were best concert rock and roll band that ever lived. This is sad news indeed.

 

that basically lasted a hot minute

 

I know it was a short time, but being historically great for a short time means a lot. It's like Bill Walton.

 

The Allmans continued to be a pretty damn good band for many years. I saw them several times in the last few years before they quit. They were incredible.

(Of course, I'm a jam band guy so my view is tainted.)

 

Saw the Allmans twice in 2013, including a show at the Beacon in NYC which is easily one of my top five all-time shows.....I shall crank Fillmore East in his memory....

 

Saw the Allmans at Red Rocks. Double win.

 

I had a chance to see the Allman Bros. at Montclair in 1990 on the anniversary of Duane's death.
And I didn't go.

I was very dumb.

Still am, actually.

 

A band playing with more than one drummer can be tricky, if they're not totally in sync all the time, and they can overpower the rest of the band if the mix isn't right. The Grateful Dead, the other prominent rock band that employed two drummers, often had problems in that regard, especially in Mickey Hart's first tenure with the band in the late '60s and into 1970. When Mickey returned after a 5-year hiatus, he and Billy Kreutzmann were much more like Trucks and Jaimoe: in rhythm and more in the background, where a good rhythm section should be. Honestly, there were times with the Brothers when you really couldn't tell there were two drummers playing. That's how seamless Butch and Jaimoe were.

Anyway, RIP to one of the great drummers who ever lived.

 

Ever since the Allmans called it a day in October 2014 Gregg has been hinting at a reunion but those hints should come to an end with his recurring health problems, the refusal of Derek Trucks and Warren Haynes to be involved and now Butch's death.

 

I went to about a dozen Allman Brothers concerts from '95 to '10. They consistently put on a great show, especially after picking up Butch's nephew Derek.

Really sad to hear this news. Butch was fantastic.