Warren Haynes, Derek Trucks, Jimmy Herring and Former Allman Brothers Band Members Play Butch Trucks Memorial in Macon

February 21, 2017



Last night, an all-star cast of musicians came together to honor the memory of late Allman Brothers Band founding drummer Butch Trucks, who passed away last month, at a private memorial ceremony at the Cox Capitol Theatre in Macon, GA. The night featured many speakers drawn from Trucks’ family and musical collaborators, plus performances from some of the drummer’s former bandmates like Warren Haynes, Derek Trucks, Jimmy Herring, Oteil Burbridge, Jaimoe and more, playing ABB classics in tribute to Trucks.

Trucks’ son and bandmate in The Freight Train Band, Vaylor, handled the host duties for the memorial, and other speakers included Haynes, Burbridge, photographer and archivist Kirk West, booking agent Jonny Podell, tour manager Willie Perkins, Trucks’ goddaughter Kendall Deflin, Dana Dowd, daughter of producer and engineer Tom Dowd and several Trucks family members like his wife Melinda, daughters Elise and Melody and sons Vaylor and Seth. The closing remarks were given by Trucks’ longtime ABB rhythmic foil Jaimoe.

As for the musical portion of the evening, the musicians formed a few different collaborations, kicked off with the biggest reunion of Allman Brothers members since the band’s final shows in 2014, as Haynes, Trucks, Burbridge, Jaimoe and Marc Quiñones came together with Trucks’ nephew and Widespread Panic drummer Duane and Trucks’ Les Brers bandmate Bruce Katz. The collective ran through ABB staples “Statesboro Blues” and “Ain’t Wasting Time No More.”

Next up was Les Brers, a post-ABB group of band veterans that played with Trucks in recent years. Jaimoe, Quiñones, Burbridge, Katz and Lamar Wlliams Jr. son of ABB bassist Lamar Williams, played with former ABB guitarists Jack Pearson and Jimmy Herring, presenting the Allmans’ “Dreams.” Later, Jaimoe, Quiñones and Burbridge teamed up with Susan Tedeschi, Gregg Allman Band member Peter Levin and Jimmy Hall, who played with Trucks in the supergroup Betts, Hall, Leavell and Trucks in the ’80s. The group delivered a poignant cover of Albert King’s “As the Years Go Passing By.”

The Yeti Trio (Vaylor Trucks, Eric Sanders, Brooks Smith) closed out the music with a soul touching rendition of “Song for my Father”, highlighted by Jaimoe joining on drums midway through the song and ended with Jaimoe smiling from ear to ear.