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Legendary Drummer Butch Trucks Has Passed Away At Age 69 January 25, 2017 08:38

Legendary drummer and founding member of the Allman Brothers Band, Butch Trucks, has passed away at age 69.  The news was confirmed early this morning by Trucks' cousin, Lee, as well as the Chesapeake Bay Blues Festival.  The cause of death is currently unknown.  

Trucks helped form The Allman Brothers Band in 1969, along with Duane Allman (guitar), Gregg Allman (vocals and organ), Dickey Betts (guitar), Berry Oakley (bass), and fellow drummer Jai Johanny Johanson. Together, the two drummers developed a rhythmic drive that would prove crucial to the band. Trucks laid down a powerful conventional beat while the jazz-influenced Johanson added a second laminate of percussion and ad libitum cymbal flourishes, seamlessly melded into one syncopated sound.

Trucks would be one of the constants in the band until their disbandment in 2014 and continued playing after that with various projects including his Freight Train Band. Trucks also led the Les Brers project, featuring numerous ABB alumni and put together various Allman-related superjams at festivals like Wanee.  He is survived musically by nephews Derek Trucks (Tedeschi Trucks Band) and Duane Trucks, who plays drums for both Widespread Panic and Hard Working Americans.

Watch this 1984 interview with Butch Trucks and Dickey Betts here: