In Memory of Butch Trucks

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

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 the 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 ask him to play drums at a gig. Almost three years later, they would form the Allman Brothers Band.