Trucks tells Premier Guitar: "He was getting to the point where he didn't want to be on the road as much. Once he realised how much we were going to work and how it wasn't going to be a short-lived project, it became time for him to take a break.

"It was not an easy transition, in the sense that you have all this momentum going, then you have to find a new bass player. That role is pretty big, especially with Oteil�he's a serious player.

"When the situation went down, we said half-jokingly, 'Let's pretend we just got out of a long relationship. We'll date a bunch of hot-ass bass players and then we'll settle down.'"