Trucks was in two bands before later graduating from Englewood High School in 1965: The Vikings, who released one 7-inch in 1964, and the Echoes, which mainly played Beatles covers.

They relocated to Daytona Beach in hopes of finding greater success, but were often turned away by owners because their patrons were unable to dance to the music.

The band changed their name to the 31st of February fearing legal action from New York nightclub The Bitter End.

Said founding member and co-lead guitarist Dickey Betts of Trucks' addition to the original band lineup, "When Butch came along, he had that freight train, meat-and-potatoes kind of thing that set Jaimoe up perfectly.

"[7] The group became the Allman Brothers Band, who began touring heavily and released their first, self-titled album, later that November.

The suit, initiated in 2008, sought $10 million over royalties from compact disc sales and digital download services such as Apple's iTunes.

[10] Trucks embraced Internet technology for the group and planned to use Moogis.com (now defunct) to make the Web a "real venue" for the Allman Brothers and other jam bands.

The letter further criticized Grover Lewis for his 1971 Rolling Stone article about the band, which Trucks wrote made the members look like uneducated characters who spoke in dialogue "taken directly from Faulkner".

[16] On January 24, 2017, Trucks died of suicide by a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head in West Palm Beach, Florida, at the age of 69 "reportedly after years of financial strife," according to Rolling Stone magazine's coverage of his death.

Another nephew, Duane Trucks (Derek's younger brother), plays drums for Widespread Panic and Hard Working Americans.