Melody and Vaylor Trucks – Capturing the true essence of The Allman Brothers sound

Melody and Vaylor Trucks, along with Garrett Dawson and Eric Sanders on Drums, Matt Stallard on Bass, Pete Orenstein on Keyboards/Vocals and Willis Gore on Guitar/Vocals, pay tribute to their late father Butch Trucks, founding member of The Allman Brothers Band; not by playing the exact copies of the Allman Brothers songs, note for note, but by understanding the true essence of what made their music stand the test of time.

With next year marking the 50th anniversary of the Allman Brothers Album “Brothers and Sisters”; Melody and Vaylor Trucks sat down with Vizions of Rock to talk about their tribute band, the state of the music industry and growing up with their Allman Brother Dad.

Vizions of Rock:  How did the band come together?

Melody & Vaylor Trucks:

(Vaylor) Melody and I performed in a Colorado-based tribute project in 2019 called The Family Peach. That project included drummer Eric Sanders – someone I have worked with for more than 20 years. Once those shows were concluded, it was Eric that suggested that we look into finding musicians in the Southeast to do something similar.

Vizions of Rock:  How is this Allman brothers tribute band, different from other Allman brothers tribute bands?

Melody & Vaylor Trucks:

(Vaylor) I really like what Dweezil Zappa did with the music of his father, Frank Zappa. I like the idea of treating the music as a body of work to be executed according to the vision of the composer, rather than trying to do a stage / costume show where the musicians are playing exact copies of the recordings. For the music of the Allman Brothers, so much of what they did was based upon the improvisational nature of the American musical tradition, so it seemed to me that the best way to execute the music of the Allman Brothers was not to play their solos note for note but rather to execute the composed parts accurately but also actually improvise the improvisational parts – and do so with musicians that were capable of both the exacting nature of the songs forms but also quick minded enough to entirely jam when that’s what the song calls for.

Vizions of Rock:  How did growing up with your father, the late great Butch Trucks, founding member of The Allman Brothers Band influence your music? 

Melody & Vaylor Trucks:

 (Vaylor) Perhaps not in the ways you might anticipate. At home, Butch didn’t listen to southern rock. It was through dad that I developed an appreciation for both classical music and jazz. Butch was a fan of Romantic-era piano sonatas, of early 70’s fusion, of Stravisnky, Miles Davis, and Robert Johnson. Those are the kinds of things that I learned from him.

 Vizions of Rock: How do you think music, (not the industry) but music has changed since the days of the original Allman Brothers?

Melody & Vaylor Trucks:

(Vaylor) There are entire genres of music that are enormously popular now that did not exist in 1969. There are ways of making music today that were not technologically possible when the Allman Brothers started. The tools needed to record and distribute music have been put into the hands of anyone that wants them – if you have a laptop you can make an album, and you can make it available to anyone with an Internet connection.

That being said, in 1969 music was a unifying force. Music was the singular means for creative expression for an entire generation. Since then, so many other modalities have surfaced. In the cultural space that once belonged exclusively to music you now have TV, movies, video games, performance art, manga, tabletop games, thousands of niche communities who, thanks to the Internet, can flourish around the world with just a few thousand devotees. The cultural impact of anime now, for example, is greater than the cultural impact of new jazz.

And even within the sphere of music, it’s no longer just a handful of discrete genres that appeal to pretty much everyone. These days you can be a lifelong devoted music fan and still be utterly surprised when millions of albums are sold by an artist you’ve never heard of in a genre you didn’t even know existed.

Vizions of Rock: As a follow up, how has the music industry changed since the days of the original Allman Brothers?

Melody & Vaylor Trucks:

(Vaylor) The gatekeepers are becoming less relevant every day. In just the last 20 years, the rise of independently produced and distributed music has pretty much eclipsed the notion of traditional record companies offering contracts to promising young artists. You can even see it in the contracts currently on offer. What was once an 85/15 split in favor of record companies has almost completely disappeared. These days the standard contract is rapidly becoming a 50/50 split, because the record companies are finally catching on to the fact that they’re not as necessary as they once were.

Also, you no longer have to tour or work the clubs to be successful. There are musicians and producers loved by millions who have never played a live show. In the past, being a solely studio musician was something that was reserved for the already wildly successful, like The Beatles or Steely Dan.

 Vizions of Rock:  Who are your influences?

Melody & Vaylor Trucks:

(Vaylor) For guitar, my 3 biggest influences are John McLaughlin, Ralph Towner, and Frank Zappa. Once we get away from guitar and once we get away from those 3, the answer becomes much longer and much more complicated.

Vizions of Rock:  How do your original songs come together, where do you get your inspiration?

Melody & Vaylor Trucks:

(Vaylor) This project doesn’t have original songs but for my other projects, I tend to be most creative while under constraints. I find that I do my best work in collaboration. I am much stronger when seeded with an existing idea to play with, I find.

Vizions of Rock:  What is the creative process like when writing your original songs?

Melody & Vaylor Trucks:

(Vaylor) For The Yeti Trio, our songs all started as group improvisations.

Vizions of Rock:  Do have any advice for up-and-coming musicians who want to follow in your footstep, aside from “Stay in school” and “Don’t quit your day job”?

Melody & Vaylor Trucks:

(Vaylor) For guitarists the advice I give is – first, practice with a metronome. It doesn’t matter how strong your sense of rhythm is, if you can’t play in time against an outside source, you’re going to struggle. Next, learn to read music. I’ve met so many guitarists who not only have avoided learning to read music but somehow think it will make them a poorer musician if they do. Learning to read music does not make you a poorer musician any more than learning to read English will make you an inferior public speaker. Finally, I recommend that you get a practice pad and a set of drumsticks and learn some rudiments and grooves. If you learn the melodic and harmonic side of music but not the rhythmic side, you’re missing a lot. Plus, it makes it easier to communicate with your drummer.

 Vizions of Rock:  What do you like best about being a musician and what is the worst part about being a musician?

Melody & Vaylor Trucks:

(Vaylor) Well to quote Frank Zappa again, music is the best. It’s the primary modality for expression and creativity that I grew up with. Music is the best way I know to connect with others.

What’s the worst thing about it? 

Well, it’s expensive and the gear is heavy. Plus driving in a van all day can get pretty old.

Vizions of Rock:  What is on the horizon for the future?

Melody & Vaylor Trucks:

(Vaylor) Next year is the 50th anniversary of the album Brother & Sisters, so we definitely plan to make a big hairy deal about that.

 Vizions of Rock:  How can we find you music?

Melody & Vaylor Trucks:

(Vaylor) I sincerely hope you find it pleasing. 😊