“Butch was a friend and brother for 48 years. He was a great drummer and highly intellec- tual. He will be deeply missed. I have fond memories of so many magical musical mo- ments, long trips in the Winnebago camper and all the highs, lows, triumphs and tragedies of life in the ABB.”
- Willie Perkins, former Road Manager for The Allman Brothers Band
“Ol' sourpuss Butch, I say with Love, with his rough, serious, opinionated outer skin. But, he always had a hug for me and wasn't afraid to show me his thoughtful, soft, warm- hearted inside. He always treated me with re- spect and let me know how much he dug my music.
Even up through the last few years I
would never let him forget how astonished and pissed he got at me for suggesting we take his "Brothers and Sisters" platinum album off the wall (which was also under spotlight!) and play it so that we would know what recording it really was. Because, you see, Gold/ Platinum award records were never what they said they were, all one had to do was check out the groove on the record and compare the length to the time next to the song title, not so difficult. Anyway, Alex Tay- lor had told me his brother James had played his Gold of "Sweet Baby James" and it was an old Mantovani release! Well, when I received my Gold for
"Laid Back" I could easily see the grooves did- n't remain true to the song lengths mentioned on the label so, what to do? Play it! Carefully I took off the back of the
frame and gently, with reverence and intense attention, removed the one-sided recording (opposite side was always blank) and placed it on the turntable . . .suddenly, I was digging the sounds of "Sweethear of the Rodeo" by the Byrds! Crazy!
So, this is why I was trying to get Butch
to play his Platinum, we had to know what it was. Alas, Butch was not the least bit curious as to what was waiting in the grooves, it was platinum, it was sacred. His first words to me when I men-
tioned it were something like "Talton, you crazy? You don't open these things and put a needle on 'em and mess up the whole presen- tation and, besides, who gives a shit what it is!" Well, I laughed at how ruffled his feathers were over such a thing and we moved on to other conversations there at his old apart- ment back in the day in Macon, Ga. with his first child, Vaylor, running around in diapers. Not the end of this story though, I was-
n't finished, I remembered my old friend Buddy Thornton had received a Platinum "Brothers and Sisters" award too! I believe all the roadies and those closely involved did. Buddy is a curious guy, and it took nothing at all to get Buddy to pull it off the wall and slap it on the turntable. Round and round it spun at 33 and 1/3
rpms, the glorious, high fidelity sounds beam- ing into our ears and putting smiles on our faces. What?! Why, it was the mellow, coun- try feelin' "Sweetheart of the Rodeo!" Couldn't wait to get back to Butch and
tell him. . . rest in peace my friend.” - Tommy Talton, Cowboy, and Solo
Artist
“Butch once told me... (I paraphrase) - Good time (in music) is im- portant. Better not to rush or drag time in a song. But if your going to do it, it's better to rush. When you drag you just kill all the en- ergy in the song. I use that quote today with groups I
play with. But what Butch said wasn't half as im-
portant as to how he played and what I learned from him. In particular, the different way to play (and feel) a shuffle. Most drum-
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