Surviving Pantera Members Remember Jerry Abbott

When the sad news of Jerry Abbot’s passing made the rounds all over metal internets this past Thursday, it was a stark reminder of the great loss we all felt with the deaths of Pantera‘s late, great Vinnie Paul and Dimebag Darrell. He passed away in a care giving facility in Denton, Texas at 80 years old.

Earlier today, the surviving members of Pantera, frontman Phil Anselmo and bassist Rex Brown, issued a joint statement on social media and the band’s official site remembering the elder Abbott and recognizing his important place in the band’s formative years.

“Jerry was the father of Vince & Darrell & was a huge influence on us, in our formative years. He passed down an incredible legacy of his own. He was a great songwriter and a much sought after engineer & producer. He managed the band from ’82-’89 & taught us a lot. We can look back now & see that without him; we might not have ever made it out of Tejas. But we did…

“Hearing the news of his passing, we immediately thought of all the great times we had with the ‘LD’, a nickname we gave him, and all the things that made him so very special!! This cannot be said enough, he was one of the good ones & will be missed!! He’s in a much better place now… God Bless.”

In addition to his fatherly duties, Abbott was a musician in his own right, working as a country music songwriter and producer over the years. In his sons’ lives, he produced the first three Pantera records and engineered their 1988 record Power Metal, releasing all four under his own Metal Magic Records. He also worked with the band on their 1994 album Far Beyond Driven at his Abtrax Recording studio.

To say Jerry Abbott was a key figure in metal during those times would be selling his legacy a bit short, because it sounds like without his help, Pantera would have had a significantly harder time getting where they eventually ended up.