During recording sessions for their upcoming album, vocalist Gregg Allman was also working on his solo album, "Laid Back", and the sessions occasionally overlapped. Chuck Leavell was asked to play piano for Allman's solo album, and gradually found himself contributing to the Allman Brothers as well. Allman and Betts took turns caring for Oakley, taking him outdoors to places like the zoo to keep him from drinking as much. "Time and time again, I have sat and wondered, 'God, what in the hell could I have done, what could have anybody have done, to help him?'" said Allman. Upon Leavell's entry into the group, Oakley went out of his way to make the new member comfortable. On November 11, 1972, overjoyed at the prospect of leading a jam session later that night, Oakley crashed his motorcycle into the side of a bus, just three blocks from where Duane had been killed in a bike accident. He declined hospital treatment and went home, but gradually grew delirious. He was taken to the hospital shortly thereafter and died of cerebral swelling caused by a fractured skull. Oakley was buried directly beside Duane at Rose Hill Cemetery in Macon, Georgia.