She keeps on trucking
Melody Trucks pays tribute to dad Butch in concert.
For years, Melody Trucks had a tentative relationship with the family business.
She was always musical — had to be as the daughter of iconic Allman Brothers drummer Butch Trucks, sister of Vaylor (Yeti Trio) and cousin of Derek (Tedeschi Trucks Band, Allman Brothers) and Duane (Widespread Panic, Hard Working Americans).
But Trucks, a percussionist, did not share her bluesy vocal skills with her father until she surprised him at an open jam in Tallahassee in 2015. Trucks soon accepted her father’s invitation to sit in with his band, Butch Trucks and the Freight Train, but only on tour stops near Jacksonville, where she and her husband have two teens at home.
“I started my first band when I was 45 years old,” Trucks says. “I never thought that I was going to do this. But then after Dad passed, I felt like it was time for me to do something for myself.”
Longtime Palm Beach County resident Butch Trucks died in his West Palm Beach condo in January 2017, reportedly from a self-inflicted gunshot. He was 69.
Shortly thereafter, his daughter formed the Melody Trucks Band, a sevenpiece ensemble that will perform Thursday at the Funky Biscuit in Boca Raton. They’ll open for the Allman Goldflies Band, featuring guitarist Gary Allman (Gregg’s cousin) and veteran Allman Brothers bassist David Goldflies.
The MTB set will include her first song, written for her father, titled “Freight Train.” On it, Trucks sings: “Thunder rolling from his hands in his feet / You couldn’t stop the train. / The rhythms flowing from his soul wouldn’t stop / He couldn’t wait to do it again. / Skydog sent him down that track / And then, there was no looking back. / There you go, boy, just like that / Ride that groove right on home.”
By phone from Jacksonville recently, Trucks spoke about the song and her father.
How did “Freight Train” come about? Where did you find the initial spark?
I started the song very shortly after he passed, but the trajectory it was going down was way too sad. So I set it aside for probably about six months. And then, after being with these gentlemen [in the band] — it’s been so healing — I was finally able to view it with a little more joy and not so much sadness. I finished the rest of the words in one night. I brought the lyrics to my guys at the next rehearsal, and they built a chord structure around it.
How did it feel to take it off the written page and first sing the words in public?
The first time we performed it was very special. We actually did it at [the Wanee Music Festival in Live Oak eight weeks ago]. Wanee was my father’s festival, and I felt that it was important that the first time that song was played was on that site. We ended up having over 300 people show up at the campfire jam that night.
The Allman Goldflies Band and the Melody Trucks Band will perform at 8 p.m. Thursday at Funky Biscuit, 303 SE Mizner Blvd., Boca Raton. Tickets: $15-$30.