Butch Trucks Of The Allman Brothers Band Dies At 69

Butch Trucks, a drummer who was one of the founding members of The Allman Brothers Band, died Tuesday night, according to his publicist. He was 69.

The group became iconic for its sprawling mix of Southern rock and jam-band improvisation — and Trucks was one of its rhythmic lynchpins. The Allman Brothers featured two drummers, Jaimoe Johansen and Butch Trucks. Their interlocking rhythms propelled the sound of the band in songs like "Ramblin' Man," "Whipping Post" and "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed."

Trucks was born in Jacksonville, Fla., in 1947. After he flunked out of college, he become a founding member of the Allman Brothers in 1969. Throughout the band's many ups and downs — which included three breakups and reunions — Trucks was a constant.

As Trucks told Rolling Stone last year, "I get to know what people were playing well enough that when they start going somewhere, once they arrive, I'm already there."

After the Allman Brothers stopped touring two years ago, Trucks focused his attentions on another group, Butch Trucks and the Freight Train Band.

The cause of death hasn't been announced. On the Allman Brothers' website, the surviving members of the group said Trucks died in West Palm Beach, Fla.

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