And when it's time for leavin', I hope you'll understand
April 18, 2024 3:04 PM Subscribe
Singer, song writer, guitarist Dickey Betts has died. A driving force and original member of the Allman Brothers Band, Dickey Betts was an early pioneer of two part guitar harmonies in rock music.
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Never a fan back in the day.
But will never hit skip on "Jessica"
posted by Windopaene at 3:14 PM on April 18 [4 favorites]
Never a fan back in the day.
But will never hit skip on "Jessica"
posted by Windopaene at 3:14 PM on April 18 [4 favorites]
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One of my best friends to this day and I bonded at a university party geeking out together over Live at Fillmore East.
posted by The Card Cheat at 3:20 PM on April 18 [2 favorites]
One of my best friends to this day and I bonded at a university party geeking out together over Live at Fillmore East.
posted by The Card Cheat at 3:20 PM on April 18 [2 favorites]
I think the older I get the less I'm interesting in the Single Guitar Gods of classic rock and more into the dual guitarists who weave their way together, taking turns and creating something greater than the whole: Keith Richards/Mick Taylor, Lou Reed/Sterling Morrison, Thurston Moore/Lee Ranaldo, Jerry Garcia/Bob Weir, Tom Verlaine/Richard Lloyd. It was impossible to top Duane Allman and Dickey Betts. While Betts was never totally comfortable taking the lead once we lost Duane, he actually was in control when the band was at its commercial peak: "Revival," "In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed," "Ramblin' Man," "Blue Sky," "No One Left To Run With," "Southbound," "Jessica" and a co-credit on the MIGHTY "Mountain Jam" (the greatest half-hour track in rock history). A fantastic guitarist and songwriter (and his first few solo albums are solid too). R.I.P.
posted by HunterFelt at 3:31 PM on April 18 [15 favorites]
posted by HunterFelt at 3:31 PM on April 18 [15 favorites]
Otis Gibbs tells the story of Dickey Betts' friendship with Bob Dylan.
posted by swift at 3:33 PM on April 18 [2 favorites]
posted by swift at 3:33 PM on April 18 [2 favorites]
It's not generally know, I think, that SoCal in the 60's and 70's had a taste for southern rock/blues/country along with whatever AOradio and top40 was being hustled. My older brother and sister ran in the surf communities and the Allman Bros, and Dickie Betts, were huge; every beat up Volkswagen bus had those cassettes rattling around. I know all those songs, that silky winking guitar tone, those harmonies.
So long, and thanks for all the notes
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posted by winesong at 4:25 PM on April 18 [5 favorites]
So long, and thanks for all the notes
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posted by winesong at 4:25 PM on April 18 [5 favorites]
More on Dickey and Dylan in the always excellent Flagging Down the Double E's
posted by stevil at 4:50 PM on April 18 [4 favorites]
posted by stevil at 4:50 PM on April 18 [4 favorites]
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posted by charris5005 at 4:58 PM on April 18
posted by charris5005 at 4:58 PM on April 18
Was never a hardcore AB fan, but I can say that their Greatest Hits tape was sometimes just the thing when driving around the southeastern states to various job sites in my mid-20s. I certainly liked them a lot better than Skynyrd, which a bunch of people I've known have been really into for reasons I could never really fathom.
I can peg Dickey's "Blue Sky" as my favorite of theirs - I included it in my wedding playlist! But I've always had soft spots for "Melissa" and "Little Martha", which I know are Gregg's and Duane's respectively, but Dickey's contributions to both makes them part his too.
RIP Dickey.
posted by Pedantzilla at 5:26 PM on April 18 [3 favorites]
I can peg Dickey's "Blue Sky" as my favorite of theirs - I included it in my wedding playlist! But I've always had soft spots for "Melissa" and "Little Martha", which I know are Gregg's and Duane's respectively, but Dickey's contributions to both makes them part his too.
RIP Dickey.
posted by Pedantzilla at 5:26 PM on April 18 [3 favorites]
Melissa. Always and forever, Melissa.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 5:37 PM on April 18 [3 favorites]
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 5:37 PM on April 18 [3 favorites]
My older brother and sister ran in the surf communities and the Allman Bros, and Dickie Betts, were huge; every beat up Volkswagen bus had those cassettes rattling around. I know all those songs, that silky winking guitar tone, those harmonies.
there's an old Rolling Stone paperback book I've got stashed away somewhere that offers a bunch of old reviews from the late 60s, early 70s. One bit that comes to mind concerns the Allman Brothers Live At Fillmore East, which was considered by many at the time (and probably even now) as one of the greatest live albums ever recorded.
A big part of its mystique was that Duane Allman, the band's leading light, had died mere months after its release (a motorcycle accident). But it wasn't just that, the reviewer was arguing, there was also the fact that the music therein, the astonishing alchemy that the Brothers had conjured over those two nights in summer 1971, was the closest he (the reviewer) had ever heard to freedom itself.
Hyperbolic? Maybe. But I've certainly had my own moments over the years deep inside some of those jams, long night time drives, the stereo cranked, the entirety of the universe not just in tune but also open to improvisation, instigation, the stuff of eternity ripping forth like (as Chuck Berry may have put it) the ringing of bells.
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posted by philip-random at 5:45 PM on April 18 [10 favorites]
there's an old Rolling Stone paperback book I've got stashed away somewhere that offers a bunch of old reviews from the late 60s, early 70s. One bit that comes to mind concerns the Allman Brothers Live At Fillmore East, which was considered by many at the time (and probably even now) as one of the greatest live albums ever recorded.
A big part of its mystique was that Duane Allman, the band's leading light, had died mere months after its release (a motorcycle accident). But it wasn't just that, the reviewer was arguing, there was also the fact that the music therein, the astonishing alchemy that the Brothers had conjured over those two nights in summer 1971, was the closest he (the reviewer) had ever heard to freedom itself.
Hyperbolic? Maybe. But I've certainly had my own moments over the years deep inside some of those jams, long night time drives, the stereo cranked, the entirety of the universe not just in tune but also open to improvisation, instigation, the stuff of eternity ripping forth like (as Chuck Berry may have put it) the ringing of bells.
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posted by philip-random at 5:45 PM on April 18 [10 favorites]
Probably depending on whose side of the story you side with, Betts and his (fifth) wife either were the neighbors from hell or had the neighbors from hell.
posted by pracowity at 6:04 PM on April 18 [2 favorites]
posted by pracowity at 6:04 PM on April 18 [2 favorites]
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posted by ducky l'orange at 6:05 PM on April 18
posted by ducky l'orange at 6:05 PM on April 18
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posted by Halloween Jack at 6:05 PM on April 18
posted by Halloween Jack at 6:05 PM on April 18
Grew up a huge fan of the Allman Brothers. The classics have all been mentioned above. What I came to love after Dickey was kicked out was the first and second Dickey Betts and Great Southern albums. Run G*psy Run and Sweet Virginia had me appreciating Dickey even more.
Just being transported along with one of Dickey's jams while high on bad 1970s paraquat weed is one of the lasting memories of my youth. Dickey and Duane were one of the reasons I came to love the Grateful Dead. Two bands where the jams were driving the bus, moving you from here to there before you even realized the bus was moving.
(It is also why I love me some Warren Haynes who is also a rock guitar god in my opinion and the hardest working man in showbiz, but I digress...)
Dickey was certainly a flawed human being. Almost as certainly an amazing artist and musician.
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posted by JohnnyGunn at 6:19 PM on April 18 [4 favorites]
Just being transported along with one of Dickey's jams while high on bad 1970s paraquat weed is one of the lasting memories of my youth. Dickey and Duane were one of the reasons I came to love the Grateful Dead. Two bands where the jams were driving the bus, moving you from here to there before you even realized the bus was moving.
(It is also why I love me some Warren Haynes who is also a rock guitar god in my opinion and the hardest working man in showbiz, but I digress...)
Dickey was certainly a flawed human being. Almost as certainly an amazing artist and musician.
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posted by JohnnyGunn at 6:19 PM on April 18 [4 favorites]
Probably depending on whose side of the story you side with, Betts and his (fifth) wife either were the neighbors from hell or had the neighbors from hell.
From pretty much all accounts, he was pretty much exactly the character he was in his songs. I remember having a friend in college who was a hardcore jam band follower and when the Allmans and Dickey Betts had their big falling out, I expected him to be upset about this but his response was simply: "it was overdue." As others have pointed out, the fact that he made it to 80 years old is somewhat astonishing.
posted by HunterFelt at 6:23 PM on April 18 [2 favorites]
From pretty much all accounts, he was pretty much exactly the character he was in his songs. I remember having a friend in college who was a hardcore jam band follower and when the Allmans and Dickey Betts had their big falling out, I expected him to be upset about this but his response was simply: "it was overdue." As others have pointed out, the fact that he made it to 80 years old is somewhat astonishing.
posted by HunterFelt at 6:23 PM on April 18 [2 favorites]
"Midnight Rider" has kind of gone Milkshake Duck.
There's a worse one by the Stones, yes?
Jerry was a junkie, but always has seemed like a good due. Bobby is still kicking it at whatever his age and beard is at. Phil seems to be sick.
"We will live this place an empty stone, or that shining ball of Blue, we can call our home..."
posted by Windopaene at 6:40 PM on April 18 [2 favorites]
There's a worse one by the Stones, yes?
Jerry was a junkie, but always has seemed like a good due. Bobby is still kicking it at whatever his age and beard is at. Phil seems to be sick.
"We will live this place an empty stone, or that shining ball of Blue, we can call our home..."
posted by Windopaene at 6:40 PM on April 18 [2 favorites]
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I played Blue Sky when I heard. It has long been my favorite song.
posted by jvbthegolfer at 7:06 PM on April 18 [1 favorite]
I played Blue Sky when I heard. It has long been my favorite song.
posted by jvbthegolfer at 7:06 PM on April 18 [1 favorite]
Never heard Blue Sky before...
Listening to it now. What a lovely song.
Wish I could play like that. Love doubling and chorus and such.
Another
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posted by Windopaene at 8:36 PM on April 18
Listening to it now. What a lovely song.
Wish I could play like that. Love doubling and chorus and such.
Another
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posted by Windopaene at 8:36 PM on April 18
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posted by billsaysthis at 10:09 PM on April 18
posted by billsaysthis at 10:09 PM on April 18
Jerry was a junkie, but always has seemed like a good due. Bobby is still kicking it at whatever his age and beard is at. Phil seems to be sick
Jerry was more like an addict than a junkie in my mind although I am not sure of the distinction other than I think addict is more not in your control than junkie. Bob is now and always has been to me fried, burnt beyond repair. He is/was younger than the other band members. He joined when he was 16, about 8-10 years younger than the others. He looks as ridiculous in that beard as he did wearing his short shorts to outdoor shows. But a good Bob cowboy in the first set still gets me going. Phil is in his 80s and is sick in that he has had some organ transplants and generally does not tour beyond The Capital Theater in Portchester NY outside his NYC apartment and his place in Marin, Terrapin Station. Bill Kreutzman is now having health issues that prevent him from touring. Mickey Hart is simply the weirdest dude in rock I have seen interviewed.
Having said all that, I am a Deadhead. 150+ shows BEFORE Jerry died and probably about the same for the various iterations of the band since. Through in the DSO shows and JRAD and the number is too much money to contemplate.
But, in the mid to late 70s and 80s, I saw the Allmans about 25 times and used to go to the Beacon for their residency there at least 3 or 4 shows a year. Say what you want about Dickey being a bad drunk and a bad person, but he could play and play damn good!
posted by JohnnyGunn at 10:53 PM on April 18 [5 favorites]
Jerry was more like an addict than a junkie in my mind although I am not sure of the distinction other than I think addict is more not in your control than junkie. Bob is now and always has been to me fried, burnt beyond repair. He is/was younger than the other band members. He joined when he was 16, about 8-10 years younger than the others. He looks as ridiculous in that beard as he did wearing his short shorts to outdoor shows. But a good Bob cowboy in the first set still gets me going. Phil is in his 80s and is sick in that he has had some organ transplants and generally does not tour beyond The Capital Theater in Portchester NY outside his NYC apartment and his place in Marin, Terrapin Station. Bill Kreutzman is now having health issues that prevent him from touring. Mickey Hart is simply the weirdest dude in rock I have seen interviewed.
Having said all that, I am a Deadhead. 150+ shows BEFORE Jerry died and probably about the same for the various iterations of the band since. Through in the DSO shows and JRAD and the number is too much money to contemplate.
But, in the mid to late 70s and 80s, I saw the Allmans about 25 times and used to go to the Beacon for their residency there at least 3 or 4 shows a year. Say what you want about Dickey being a bad drunk and a bad person, but he could play and play damn good!
posted by JohnnyGunn at 10:53 PM on April 18 [5 favorites]
It’s long perplexed me as to how the Allman Bros. have seemingly slipped into relative obscurity. They were a big part of the soundtrack of the 70s (IME, anyway) and a far better, more musical, example of “southern rock” than, say Skynyrd.
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posted by Thorzdad at 1:11 AM on April 19 [5 favorites]
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posted by Thorzdad at 1:11 AM on April 19 [5 favorites]
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posted by bacalao_y_betun at 5:11 AM on April 19
posted by bacalao_y_betun at 5:11 AM on April 19
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posted by May Kasahara at 6:55 AM on April 19
posted by May Kasahara at 6:55 AM on April 19
In the late '70s, after the AB had broken up, I saw Dickey Betts' Great Southern in Central Park. And his band put on a good set, hitting their new material and a few of his old AB tunes.
Then, after their set, they went offstage, as I recall, and we were hollerin' for an encore. He comes out and says that he wants to bring on some old friends…and the frickin' Allman Brothers reunited on that stage and knocked out a set of classics. The audience, myself included, was levitating.
This would appear to be the gig in question (thank you, invaluable Internet Archive).
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posted by the sobsister at 7:07 AM on April 19 [8 favorites]
Then, after their set, they went offstage, as I recall, and we were hollerin' for an encore. He comes out and says that he wants to bring on some old friends…and the frickin' Allman Brothers reunited on that stage and knocked out a set of classics. The audience, myself included, was levitating.
This would appear to be the gig in question (thank you, invaluable Internet Archive).
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posted by the sobsister at 7:07 AM on April 19 [8 favorites]
Fillmore East is a defining album for me, and my favorite Dickey Betts work. Dickey's soft, dreamy opening notes of the introductory solo on "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed" still give me a shiver. Just as he seemed to need Duane to play his best, I think he brought out the best in Duane. Dickey's solo in "One Way Out" from Eat a Peach has this bending note at 2:40 the makes me sit up straight *every* time I hear it.
Thanks, Dickey, for your amazing playing. Rest well.
Thank you the sobsister for that link.
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posted by conscious matter at 9:15 AM on April 19 [4 favorites]
Thanks, Dickey, for your amazing playing. Rest well.
Thank you the sobsister for that link.
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posted by conscious matter at 9:15 AM on April 19 [4 favorites]
As a rock guitarist who came of age in the 70s, this one hits hard.
My band's gonna do a full set of Allman Brothers songs tomorrow night. Just sitting here going over Blue Sky right now.
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posted by spitbull at 10:38 AM on April 19 [2 favorites]
My band's gonna do a full set of Allman Brothers songs tomorrow night. Just sitting here going over Blue Sky right now.
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posted by spitbull at 10:38 AM on April 19 [2 favorites]
Allman Brothers Band were the exclusive soundtrack during those long weeks I prepped for the bar exam all those years ago. For me, the ultimate focus music. There is a special place in my heart for those boys.
Thank you Dickey.
posted by MorgansAmoebas at 11:16 AM on April 19
Thank you Dickey.
posted by MorgansAmoebas at 11:16 AM on April 19
Thorzdad, I've often thought that too. The Allmans were a huge part of my life for a long time; the last I saw them was at the Columbia Gorge on a blisteringly hot day and I'll always treasure that. It mystifies me why more people don't know them.
Gonna go listen to "Blue Sky" now in his honor.
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posted by kitten kaboodle at 11:31 AM on April 19
Gonna go listen to "Blue Sky" now in his honor.
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posted by kitten kaboodle at 11:31 AM on April 19
RIP at last. I'm a fairly big ABB fan, I have tons of live stuff along with official CDs/vinyl. There have been a lot of southern rock bands. None came close to the heights the ABB achieved in Betts' lifetime.
I wonder if the deaths of Duane Allman and Berry Oakley are what caused Gregg Allman and Dickey Betts to be such flawed people. Or maybe the seeds were laid before those tragic deaths. Still, Gregg was probably the greatest white blues singer of all and Dickey was one of rock's greatest guitarists. I am glad those two old warriors had a reconciliation before Gregg's death.
The stew the ABB offered was one of those complex synthesis of influences that only the upper tier of rock bands achieve: blues, rock, soul, country, and jazz all thrown into a cauldron and set to boil. Dickey was one the chefs for that dish and I ran a playlist this morning of my favorites that he composed. It's a shame that Gregg just couldn't get his shit together to record more than one studio record with the lineup that had Warren Haynes and Derek Trucks on twin leads. Those two could burn as intense as Allman and Betts, with ferocious songwriting skills. Oh well, I have plenty of live shows of them too.
posted by Ber at 11:39 AM on April 19 [4 favorites]
I wonder if the deaths of Duane Allman and Berry Oakley are what caused Gregg Allman and Dickey Betts to be such flawed people. Or maybe the seeds were laid before those tragic deaths. Still, Gregg was probably the greatest white blues singer of all and Dickey was one of rock's greatest guitarists. I am glad those two old warriors had a reconciliation before Gregg's death.
The stew the ABB offered was one of those complex synthesis of influences that only the upper tier of rock bands achieve: blues, rock, soul, country, and jazz all thrown into a cauldron and set to boil. Dickey was one the chefs for that dish and I ran a playlist this morning of my favorites that he composed. It's a shame that Gregg just couldn't get his shit together to record more than one studio record with the lineup that had Warren Haynes and Derek Trucks on twin leads. Those two could burn as intense as Allman and Betts, with ferocious songwriting skills. Oh well, I have plenty of live shows of them too.
posted by Ber at 11:39 AM on April 19 [4 favorites]
Probably depending on whose side of the story you side with, Betts and his (fifth) wife either were the neighbors from hell or had the neighbors from hell.
I feel pretty confident that whatever the issues might be, that the person pointing a gun at children was the neighbor from hell.
posted by tavella at 11:46 AM on April 19
I feel pretty confident that whatever the issues might be, that the person pointing a gun at children was the neighbor from hell.
posted by tavella at 11:46 AM on April 19
that the person pointing a gun at children was the neighbor from hell.
Yeah, but in an obit/fan post, I always expect defenders of pretty much everything.
posted by pracowity at 4:56 AM on April 21
Yeah, but in an obit/fan post, I always expect defenders of pretty much everything.
posted by pracowity at 4:56 AM on April 21
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He was a flawed person and an incredible musician. Here's my favorite Betts original, In Memory of Elizabeth Reed, performed by the ABB at the height of the Duane years.
posted by joseph_elmhurst at 3:13 PM on April 18 [8 favorites]