Warren Haynes recently spoke to Guitar Player Magazine about misconceptions surrounding his and Derek Trucks‘ split from the Allman Brothers. While most people believed they had made the decision on their own to separate from the legendary band, the situation was much more complicated than that.

“During several meetings over about a three-year span, the band decided to call it quits after the 45th anniversary,” he explains. “As it got closer and closer to fruition, at least one band member started getting cold feet—but keeping it together wasn’t a possibility for Derek or I.” The two already had their own plans in mind for the future to focus their attention on their own bands — Haynes with Gov’t Mule and their Sco-Mule collaboration with John Scofield, Trucks with Tedeschi Trucks Band, and beyond — and there was no going back.

He goes on to explain how their drummer Butch Trucks “accidentally on purpose” spread the word on Jam Cruise 2014 that Derek was going to be leaving the band. When pressed by news outlets for comment, Trucks and Haynes discussed their options and knew a statement had to be made one way or the other. “For five or six years we’ve been saying that if one of us left the band, then we would both leave, because neither wants to be there without the other,” Warren told Derek.

“So we decided to make a joint statement, even though it convoluted the truth that it was a group decision to stop in 2014,” he continues. “It turned into an interpretation that he and I made that decision. People eventually saw so many different statements that nobody knew what to believe.”

Haynes has been extremely busy since the split. Recently he jammed with Dave Matthews in NJ and sat in with moe. at Mountain Jam. He’ll also hit the road with Railroad Earth for a tour this summer. Trucks will return to NYC’s Beacon Theater with Tedeschi Trucks Band for a massive residency this fall.

[Via Guitar Player]