Butch Trucks — drummer and one of the founding members of the Allman Brothers — has a new band together and is hitting Boca Raton's Funky Biscuit as part of his three-show tour.
The 68-year-old Jacksonville native has assembled Butch Trucks and the Freight Train Band. His Freight Train is made up of Damon Fowler on lead vocals and guitar, Trucks on the drums, and Berry Oakley Jr. (son of Allman Brothers bassist Berry Oakley) on bass.
"Standing in that spot my father used to fill is just so wild," Oakley tells New Times. "Now, I have moved from the kids' table to the adult table with Butch."
The Freight Train will also have an additional member on keyboards for this show — Funky Biscuit owner Al Poliak. According to Poliak, it was all sort of a happy accident.
The Allman Brothers had just taken another hiatus, and Trucks was trying to get a new group together. "Trucks' manager reached out to [the Funky Biscuit] inquiring about doing a show last spring. At the same time, and totally coincidentally, Berry Oakley's manager reached out to us about having Berry's band here," Poliak explains. Trucks' management asked Poliak to put a band together for the April show. "I, of course, was thrilled and knew that it would be a no-brainer" to connect the two.
"[Trucks] was kind of testing the waters, I think," says Poliak. But the show sold out and led to more using the same group. Poliak wasn't supposed to be in the original lineup, but the intended keyboardist became sick the day of the show, so he slid in at the last minute. Growing up a huge Allman Brothers fan, the transition was easy. Now, he's doing it all over again with a personal invitation from his new friend Butch. "I was informed a month later that Butch was going to do a series of shows and that he was inviting me to join the band."
Trucks and the Freight Train Band play a mix of covers, including ones by the Allman Brothers Band, according to jambands.com.
"People should come out primarily because they'll be treated to some great Allman Brothers music performed properly, as well as some other really great cover songs that the Allman Brothers were known to perform," Poliak says. "This is a great lineup of players and will be a really special night for any fan."
With the Ben Sparaco Band. 8 p.m. Saturday, September 19, at the Funky Biscuit, 303 SE Mizner Blvd., Royal Palm Place, Boca Raton. The event is 21 and over. Tickets cost $20 online or $25 the day of the show.
