The great Allman Brothers guitarist has passed away at age 80. Iconic Southern rock legend.
That sucks. I remember trying to comprehend the news that Greg Allman fired Dickey. What a band! I’m glad I got to see them with Dickey as the important member he was.
A year or so after Jerry Garcia died Dickey (with the Allmans) was playing the Franklin’s Tower intro into Blue Sky and it was wondermous!
My understanding is that it was pretty much unanimous by the other band members as well, Betts having thoroughly pissed off everyone. But that’s nothing new for those guys - Greg Allman had a turn in that same odd-man-out barrel in an earlier decade. Booze and drugs were always a major bane for all of them - they were in the running for the #1 most excessive of all excessive rock bands. Including Duane and Berry Oakley before they died.
Brilliant band at their height, but an awful lot of rough falls.
This is my favorite solo piece by him.
That’s cool.
You tube even had this…
Sad. I’ve been watching “Justified” reruns and for a minute I was sure this was somehow about Dickie Bennett.
Letterman posted this today:
An under-rated band, and under-rated guitarist/vocalist, IMHO. “In Memory of Elizabeth Reed” (which he wrote) is a masterpiece in my opinion, and his lead vocal on “Ramblin’ Man” is such a fond memory from my childhood.
“Elizabeth Reed” is indeed one of the greatest rock instrumentals. They were for a while the greatest American band and Betts was fundamental to that. Our generation is leaving the stage.
I don’t think you can reasonably call the band underrated - they’re pretty famous and well-respected in general. But it might be fair to say Dickey Betts was perhaps a little, at least relative to the two Allmans. Or maybe a little over-shadowed is a bit closer.
They are pretty famous and well-respected, just not as famous and well-respected as I feel they deserve. Obviously this is all opinion, but considering their influence on countless bands, and their superb musicianship, I don’t think they get as much respect as they deserve.
How many of their tunes got regularly played on the radio? A half-dozen or so? On the top 100 Greatest Rock Band list, Rolling Stone ranked them at 53, under Run DMC, Public Enemy and Simon and Garfunkle. That’s a travesty to me (although not surprising for Rolling Stone).
There are so many great tunes by Betts. I especially like his playing where is on the “light” side. Clean picking, as it were. Here’s one you may not have heard. An instrumental featuring the great Vassar Clements and the equally great Chuck Leavell. Oh, and Jeff Hanna. Not bad for debut solo album.
