Exit Stage Neff…

John Neff who goes back to the beginning of DBT announced that he was quitting DBT today on his Facebook page. All I know is that with Luther Dickenson will be on hand for New Year’s Eve and Jay Gonzalez can play guitar and write songs and that this weekend at The 9:30 Club will be like none other as the Rock Show continues to evolve. The official statement from Patterson is copied below from the DBT Facebook page:

Note from Patterson – 12/27/2012

by Drive-By Truckers on Thursday, December 27, 2012 at 1:34pm ·
Y’ALL:

As I guess most of you have heard or read by now, John Neff has left

Drive-By Truckers. Effective immediately.

I was actually first informed by my sister who was up earlier than me

and read it on Facebook.

In all fairness, he did send me an email saying he was quitting his

“job” and wouldn’t be going with us to DC this weekend a few minutes

before he posted it, but I was attempting to sleep in.

Kind of a sad way to end a sixteen year relationship, but we’ve all

known that things have been strained on that front for over a year now.

He made no mention of future plans, a player as fine as Neff will have

no trouble ever finding work.

He would be an asset to whatever situation he applied himself to.

We certainly appreciate the incredible work he’s done with us and as I

said, we wish him nothing but the absolute best.

DBT will continue onward, as we always do.

There are no plans to try to replace John.

I’ve never considered anyone ever to be replaceable in this band.

We have constantly changed and morphed and this will be no exception.

We always say, play every show like it’s your last, it could be.

But not right now.

DBT is making definite plans towards starting a new album in the

spring and I’m always excited about recording new songs and seeing

where that leads the band.

This band has been a big part of my life for nearly 20 years. It’s

never been a job to me and I’d rather quit and move on than have it

ever be that.

We’re a big, sometimes dysfunctional family, but we’ve always drawn

strength from each other and the big glorious noise we make.

I always try to treat every new year as a new beginning and this will

certainly apply this weekend.

Onward and forward and may everyone have a safe and prosperous 2013.

See you at The Rock Show.

Yours Truly,

Patterson Hood

Drive-By Truckers

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