OT: Dickey Betts, Allman Brothers Band Singer-Guitarist, Dead at 80
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Damn - That’s a big one for me. He was awesome. RIP brother!
Acoustic version of In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed was mind blowing!!
Sad loss. Loved seeing the Allmans and will always love listening to them.
One of my favorite’s growing up. Very influential guitarist back in his prime in the 1970s. RIP.. Only remaining original member of the ABB is drummer Johnny “Jaimoe” Johanson.
Yeah it's a bummer, but these guys are getting up there. Thankfully they produced talented offspring. Glad I was able to see them a few times.
Amazingly Dickie Betts and Great Southern gave a free concert in Eagle Rock Reservation, West Orange in 1977 or so, it was a terrific show.
I last saw the Allman Bros at Roosevelt Stadium in Jersey City in the mid 70's (its now a housing project) right after they played at Watkins Glen. They played for 3-4 hours and their jams lasted forever. Great concert.
Back then you could be lucky enough to stumble on things like that. Not that it was free, but I saw the Allman's in a small theater at Montclair State, Jerry Garcia Band at Livingston College Gym and Bob Weir and his band in the Rutgers Student Center multipurpose room.
I was at that concert. Actually I believe Betts and his band “Great Southern” agreed to do that as a pay back to the promoter John Schere. In 1976 , Betts played with his band (this was during The Allman Bros first breakup in the mid 70’s) at The Capital Theater in Passaic which I attended. The concert was a disaster and lasted about 1 song. Betts seemed very agitated and angry and stormed offstage and didn’t return. At the time I did not realize he had an alcohol problem which did result in some similar episodes from time to time over the years. When sober he was nice and he sounded great. One of the most melodic and interesting guitarists of his generation. The great guitarist Warren Haynes once described Betts soloing style as “Django Rhienhardt on acid”.
Very sad.
I've been a huge Allman Brothers Band fan since they first hit New York and the Fillmore East way back in 1971. I was there. One of the most enjoyable nights of my life. And yeah...they played all night.
Duane Allman was one of the greatest guitarists I've ever seen....certainly the best slide guitarist.
Dickey Betts wasn't far behind. Perhaps he was somewhat overshadowed by Duane's awesomeness.
But the two of them trading solos was for me as good as it gets. Unfortunately that all died when Duane was killed in that motorcycle accident. Yeah, they carried on and tried to replace him...but they couldn't....although the Warren Haynes/Derek Trucks version came closer than I thought was possible.
Dickey was the writer of Revival, Blue Sky, and In Memory of Elizabeth Reed. But it was his guitar playing with Duane Allman that was one of the greatest parts of contemporary music.
Damn...another great one is gone.
I've been a huge Allman Brothers Band fan since they first hit New York and the Fillmore East way back in 1971. I was there. One of the most enjoyable nights of my life. And yeah...they played all night.
Duane Allman was one of the greatest guitarists I've ever seen....certainly the best slide guitarist.
Dickey Betts wasn't far behind. Perhaps he was somewhat overshadowed by Duane's awesomeness.
But the two of them trading solos was for me as good as it gets. Unfortunately that all died when Duane was killed in that motorcycle accident. Yeah, they carried on and tried to replace him...but they couldn't....although the Warren Haynes/Derek Trucks version came closer than I thought was possible.
Dickey was the writer of Revival, Blue Sky, and In Memory of Elizabeth Reed. But it was his guitar playing with Duane Allman that was one of the greatest parts of contemporary music.
Damn...another great one is gone.
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Saw the Allman Brothers many times at the Capitol Theater - late 70s/early 80s. One my all-time favorite.
FWIW, Duane died on his motorcycle when hit by a peach truck. Hence the name of the album, Eat a Peach.
Unfortunately that is not accurate. Allman swerved to avoid a flatbed truck (not a peach truck) and lost control of his cycle which eventually landed on him. The genesis of the “Eat a Peach” album title was based on a quote by Duane Allman. The ABB was born out of the counter culture movement of the late 60’s. He was once asked about what he was doing for “The Revolution” and he replied that “there is no revolution only evolution. But whenever I’m in Georgia I eat a peach for peace”. Probably a double entendre. Anyway, the album was dedicated to his memory.
So true.
You beat me to it.
BTW, anyone who would ask him what he was doing for "The Revolution" has never heard his version of Whipping Post.
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Butch Trucks told me personally, before the unfortunate deaths of Berry and Duane…No one or no band could ever jam the way they did.
Their sound could not be reproduced
Their sound could not be reproduced
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A baseball connection as well. Butch Trucks was the nephew of Detroit pitcher Virgil Trucks.
They were so incredible. My friend whose dad was a jazz/big band drummer, had an interesting observation when we were listening to the first track on their first album. He said the orchestration and arrangement was like listening to a big band performance. And I was like, damn you’re right.
I saw the Allmans a number of times including once when Dickey went into rehab and they had a replacement guitarist instead of cancelling the tour. They were a completely different, one dimensional band without him. I then saw him a handful of times after he was kicked out of the Allman's and his shows were great. RIP Dickey Betts.
I remember when they got back together again in 1990 to support the Seven Turns album. Saw them at Waterloo Village on July 4 weekend and we had a blast! Love that band.
Yup, a great comeback album. And Seven Turns was a highlight when they did MTV unplugged, which was an awesome showcase for bands/musicians back in the day.
This hurts. Like many others here I saw the Allman Brothers many times including at MSG, Roosevelt Stadium, Capital Theater, Mercer County Fair Grounds. Gave me many, many great memories.
If you're ever in the Macon area you MUST stop at The Big House, an Allman Brothers museum. Once you go in you won't want to leave. Some of the things there are Dickey Betts hand written lyrics of "Blue Sky" and the dress worn by his daughter Jessica on the album cover of Brothers and Sisters. Not far away is the cemetery where they're all buried. In the back of the cemetery is a small stage like area. There is the tombstone that says "Elizabeth Jones Reed".
R.I.P.
If you're ever in the Macon area you MUST stop at The Big House, an Allman Brothers museum. Once you go in you won't want to leave. Some of the things there are Dickey Betts hand written lyrics of "Blue Sky" and the dress worn by his daughter Jessica on the album cover of Brothers and Sisters. Not far away is the cemetery where they're all buried. In the back of the cemetery is a small stage like area. There is the tombstone that says "Elizabeth Jones Reed".
R.I.P.
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One of the best shows I ever attended was the allman brothers in Asbury Park either late 70’s or early 80’s.
And uncle of Derek Trucks, one of the greatest guitarists out there.
A few years ago I had a friend telling me about a local 4th of July party he went to.
He passed me his phone and said "this was the band."
It was Gregg Allman playing a private party for billionaire Tom Secunda (a partner of Mayor Bloomberg) .
He would invite 2-250 people from village to his house.
At the time Allman was charging 250k for private parties
He passed me his phone and said "this was the band."
It was Gregg Allman playing a private party for billionaire Tom Secunda (a partner of Mayor Bloomberg) .
He would invite 2-250 people from village to his house.
At the time Allman was charging 250k for private parties
My two favorite lineups of the ABB, the original with D. Allman, D. Betts, B. Oakley and the most recent with D. Trucks, W. Haynes and O. Burbridge:
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