Butch Trucks has seen the music world and many of its intrigues from one of the great drum thrones in rock history.

Trucks and Jai Johanny "Jaimoe" Johanson were the double-drum juggernaut in the Allman Brothers Band, a pioneer in the jam band world that also wrote some of rock music's great melodies. The Allmans played their final show in October 2014, but Trucks was not interested in giving up the band's music.

In a phone call last month, Trucks said that the band didn't quit because the audiences weren't showing up anymore. They were still showing up by the thousands. But guitarists Warren Haynes and Trucks' nephew, Derek Trucks, had announced plans to move on. And Gregg Allman had long held a completely different idea about the way he wanted his music to be played.

"Gregg almost quit the band the second day that he showed up in Jacksonville [in the band's founding era] because of 'Whipping Post,'" Butch said of one of the band's most famous songs. "He wrote 'Whipping Post' as a slow ballad. Needless to say, what we did to 'Whipping Post' was not a slow ballad.

"Now Gregg is out there doing 'Whipping Post' not only as a slow ballad, but [also] without a damn guitar solo. But that's what he's always wanted to do. And I'll say that I'm really, really glad that he's getting an opportunity to go out and play music the way he wants to play it."

Trucks said his ideal for such music more closely matches that of Gregg's brother, the late guitarist Duane Allman.

Trucks and the members of his recently formed Freight Train Band - which plays Harvester Performance Center on Friday - are not looking to recreate rote performances of Allman Brothers classics "Jessica," "Whipping Post" and "Hot 'Lanta." Instead, they think there is still improvisational ground to be covered and ensemble performances that can still excite fans.

The Freight Train Band plays the classics, but with a couple of twists. Instead of two drummers, it is just Trucks behind the kit. Johanson has his own Jaimoe's Jass Band, and the two also share the groove in another act, Les Brers.

Instead of two lead guitarists, the Freight Train has three. Chris Vitarello, Damon Fowler (who has made past gigs at Blue 5 Restaurant, in Roanoke), and Heather Gillis combine for three-part guitar harmonies that Trucks said are inspiring.

The work those three are doing in concerts reminds him of what used to happen with Dickey Betts and Duane Allman, in the original incarnation of the ABB, he said.

"What we have here is really special, because we've got three lead guitarists," he said. "We've got the whole triad, and it's really fuller and richer. We do 'Jessica' with three-part harmonies, and it really does sound good."

Vitarello, a frequent musical associate of the Freight Train's keyboardist, Bruce Katz, has only recently joined up. When the band started in 2015, Trucks' son, Vaylor Trucks, was one of the guitarists. But that was only for a short run, as Vaylor Trucks wanted to stay on his Atlanta-area day gig as an IT boss at an insurance company and devote time to hometown projects including the hyper-jazzy Yeti Trio.

"It was always temporary," Butch Trucks said. "He had built up a lot of off time, so our first couple of tours last year, he was able to take off and come out play with us. It was really great to finally get to be able to play with my son ... because he really is one hell of a guitar player."

The band also began its run with Berry Oakley Jr. - son of a late Allman Brothers founding member, bassist Berry Oakley.

"I did have fun playing with BO2, but he hasn't made it to the level of his dad," Trucks said in a follow-up email. "We had a personal spat so he had to leave the band. Sorry, but that's the story."

Matt Walker is the new man on bass for the Freight Train. Percussionist Garrett Dawson completes the lineup.

Like the Allmans, this band is down for shows that last at least two hours, Trucks said. The long shows were one thorn in Gregg Allman's side, along with "all the jamming," Trucks said.

"Toward the end, there was one rehearsal, I remember him saying, 'Dammit, why do we have to have two g-----n guitar solos in every song we play?' We all looked at him and said, 'Because we're the f-----g Allman Brothers Band.' He said, 'Why in hell do we have to play two-and-a-half, three hours? We can just play 90 minutes. We don't have to do that.' We said, 'Yeah we do, Yeah we do.'"

Trucks holds out for one more full summer tour with the Allmans. The final run in 2014 was an off-and-on affair, with Allman's various illnesses forcing show cancellations. If they are able to pull it off, it will be without Trucks' nephew, the brilliant guitarist Derek Trucks, who is now fully engaged in writing, recording, co-producing and performing with his wife, Susan Tedeschi, in the Tedeschi Trucks Band.

If it does happen, it will probably be with longtime Allman Warren Haynes and past Brother Jack Pearson on guitars, he said.

Butch Trucks remains unsure, though. Gregg Allman's continuing health issues, which caused him to cancel a tour last summer that included a FloydFest appearance, could scuttle plans as easily as they did in the summer of 2014, when the band had to cancel most of a national tour and most of its traditional run at New York City's Beacon Theatre.

Either way, he'll be happy, because he has dates to play with Freight Train and Les Brers (Trucks said the latter plans to change its name to The Brothers). Trucks is 69, but something in the music keeps him wanting to play, he said.

"Every night is completely different. You never know what's gonna happen," he said. "And that's what we were with the Allman Brothers up until Duane died ... And that's why I am out here playing with these two bands. We're out here, we're not making any money. We're playing small clubs and everything else, but we're having a f-----g ball. It's just so much fun.

"I'm playing with all the strength I have. I don't understand it. I don't know how I can do what I do, but it just happens. I'll walk on stage, can barely stand up, and halfway through the second song, I'm a 25-year-old superman. There's something magic about this music we play. ... It's like I get stronger and stronger as the night goes on, rather than get tired.

"But, that being said, about a half-an-hour after we're finished playing, I can barely walk."

With that, he lets out a long laugh, the laugh of a man who still loves what he's doing.
Butch Live!!

Host Hotel

We are pleased to announce we have teamed up with Ramada Midtown Phoenix as this year's host hotel. A computer glitch prevented a code from being activated but interested parties can call the desk and mention Phoenix Blues for a discounted room rate.

The hotel is located at 2nd Ave & Osborn, about five minutes from Hance Park.

Check it out!!