http://www.rollingstone.com/music/n...n-brothers-founding-member-dead-at-69-w462870
Butch Trucks, one of the Allman Brothers Band's founding drummers, died on Tuesday. He was 69. Page Stallings, Trucks' booking agent, confirmed the veteran musician's death to Rolling Stone, but said a cause of death is currently unknown.
Alongside drummer and percussionist Jai "Jaimoe" Johnny Johanson, Trucks helped lay the swinging foundation for southern-rock drumming. Jamoe once asked Duane Allman why he wanted two drummers in the group, according to the Allman Brothers biography One Way Out, and the guitarist referenced Otis Redding and James Brown's dual-drummer bands.
"Jaimoe was a real good drummer, but more of a pocket guy … he wasn't really able to handle the power," Allman Brothers guitarist Dicky Betts said in the book. "We needed Butch, who had that drive and strength, freight train, meat-and-potatoes thing. It set Jaimoe up perfectly." Although Jaimoe left and returned to the group in the Eighties, Trucks provided a constant beat throughout the band's lifespan.
Claude Hudson "Butch" Trucks was born in Jacksonville, Florida on May 11th, 1947. He started playing drums in the eighth grade and joined Jacksonville's Englewood High School band, according to Skydog: The Duane Allman Story. His parents were strict Baptists and refused to buy him a drum kit of his own until 11th grade when he promised never to play in an establishment that served liquor. Before graduating high school, he played in two bands – the Vikings and Echoes – as well as the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra and Jacksonville Symphonette, where he played tympani. He went on to attend Florida State University where, he once said, he "majored in staying out of Vietnam," and formed a group called the Bitter Ind.
It was at a Bitter Ind. gig in Daytona Beach where Trucks first encountered Gregg and Duane Allman. The latter would later call Trucks and asked him to play drums with them at a gig. Almost three years later, they would form the Allman Brothers Band.
Butch Trucks, one of the Allman Brothers Band's founding drummers, died on Tuesday. He was 69. Page Stallings, Trucks' booking agent, confirmed the veteran musician's death to Rolling Stone, but said a cause of death is currently unknown.
Alongside drummer and percussionist Jai "Jaimoe" Johnny Johanson, Trucks helped lay the swinging foundation for southern-rock drumming. Jamoe once asked Duane Allman why he wanted two drummers in the group, according to the Allman Brothers biography One Way Out, and the guitarist referenced Otis Redding and James Brown's dual-drummer bands.
"Jaimoe was a real good drummer, but more of a pocket guy … he wasn't really able to handle the power," Allman Brothers guitarist Dicky Betts said in the book. "We needed Butch, who had that drive and strength, freight train, meat-and-potatoes thing. It set Jaimoe up perfectly." Although Jaimoe left and returned to the group in the Eighties, Trucks provided a constant beat throughout the band's lifespan.
Claude Hudson "Butch" Trucks was born in Jacksonville, Florida on May 11th, 1947. He started playing drums in the eighth grade and joined Jacksonville's Englewood High School band, according to Skydog: The Duane Allman Story. His parents were strict Baptists and refused to buy him a drum kit of his own until 11th grade when he promised never to play in an establishment that served liquor. Before graduating high school, he played in two bands – the Vikings and Echoes – as well as the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra and Jacksonville Symphonette, where he played tympani. He went on to attend Florida State University where, he once said, he "majored in staying out of Vietnam," and formed a group called the Bitter Ind.
It was at a Bitter Ind. gig in Daytona Beach where Trucks first encountered Gregg and Duane Allman. The latter would later call Trucks and asked him to play drums with them at a gig. Almost three years later, they would form the Allman Brothers Band.
