Warren Haynes and Derek Trucks have just announced their plans to leave the group at the end of 2014 in a joint press release that shocks and saddens.


via Rolling Stone

Frontman/guitarist Warren Haynes has been playing with the band for the past 25 years when not working with his other band, Gov’t Mule. Guitarist Derek Trucks has likewise seen a lot with the group in his 15 years with them. So, to say the least, the announcement comes as a bit of a surprise.

We will be forever grateful for the opportunity and the experience, and for the love, enthusiasm, and support of the incredible fans. We are both preparing to dig even deeper into our various creative and musical endeavors and, as a result, 2014 will be our final year as part of the band.

The two went on to explain that their musical ambitions lay elsewhere and that this move would allow for more focused efforts. With all their newly found free time perhaps we can expect timely followups to Gov’t Mule’s Shout and the Tedeschi Trucks Band’s Made Up My Mind. The group still has their annual run at New York’s Beacon Theater to look forward to, and hopefully more appearances to be announced. We have yet to see who will fill the extra-wide shoes to be left by Haynes and Trucks.