To Forrest Richard "Dickey" Betts, with gratitude

Travel out across the burnin' sand, across the ocean to some distant land...

I got news of Dickey’s death while I was heading for an anniversary weekend with the Mrs. at the Moon Crush/Pink Moon festival.¹

My heart goes out to the entirety of Dickey’s family—blood and musical. I’m glad they get to see these celebrations in his honor. They are well-earned.

I’m taking my time percolating on the news, letting it sink in.

I said a helluva lot about Dickey in Play All Night!²—things I’d been pondering for decades. So the book is your best source for my understanding of Dickey’s IMMENSE importance to the Allman Brothers Band. Here’s an excerpt. ³

"It was musical telepathy. We were into individual expression."

Here was my real-time reaction:

Duane built a band to last.

Dickey’s guitar playing, his songwriting, his composing, his very leadership of the Allman Brothers Band has shaped my life every bit as much as Duane Allman did.

And that was by design of course. Duane built a band to last. It outlived him for 43 years, a majority of them with Dickey as the band’s leader.

Guitarist Dickey Betts Macon, 4/9/71. The intensity in Dickey’s eyes burns, a fierceness that fired Duane’s creativity. 📷️Bob Johnson

Duane chose Dickey Betts, THE GUITARIST OF GUITARISTS in Florida at the time, to join his band. Duane, the hotshot lead guitarist of Wilson Pickett’s “Hey Jude,” Eric Clapton’s favorite solo.

Very few bands had two lead guitarists.

Even fewer played harmony together. And this was the place where Duane and Dickey excelled: Betts creating melodies in real-time, Allman improvising harmonies along with him.

“Eric Clapton’s got nothing on Dickey Betts,” Duane said, when he returned from playing with Clapton. He turned down Clapton’s offer to join Derek & the Dominos to stay with the Allman Brothers Band.

An outpouring of love

I have been really gratified to see all of the tributes to Dickey, though I do wish he were here to receive them.

I will be doing one as well, but it’s taking me some time to compose. In the meantime, I thought I’d share some things I’d done and/or come across.

Dickey quote

Here’s perhaps my favorite Dickey Betts quote of all-time:

Tedeschi Trucks Band Podcast: In Memory of Dickey Betts

Was really glad to share remembrances of Dickey on Adam Choit’s podcast with Alan Paul, Andy Aledort, Marley Jay, & Garrett Strand.

Other tributes

• Warren Haynes Y’all have probably seen the Reverend Brother Haynes’s heartfelt tribute to Dickey.

• Alan Paul , the Lorax, the dean of Allman Brothers Band historians hit this one out of the park: “Dickey Betts: Nobody Knows.”

• MC Taylor of Hiss Golden Messenger sums up something I’ve seen other artists comment on as well: the MASSIVE VOID he stepped into as the ABB’s leader in 1973. (I agree with him on Highway Call.⁴)

• Marcus King who paid tribute to Dickey on Friday night at Moon Crush with “In Memory of Elizabeth Reed” and “Southbound.”⁵

  

• Paste “The Unparalleled, Two-Year Rock-Stardom of Dickey Betts.”

• Ray Padgett shared a great Dickey story: “Dickey Betts (RIP) Talks Singing ‘Ramblin' Man’ with Bob Dylan and Getting Shouted Out in ‘Murder Most Foul’”

If y’all have more particularly poignant remembrances, please send them my way.

A little from me on Dickey

I’ve written a lot about Dickey on Long Live the ABB, this one might be my favorite, a place where my love of southern music, history, and culture combined with time in a museum exhibition.

In Praise of Dickey Betts (Part 1 of ???)

Stay tuned.

I’m working on something about Dickey’s instrumentals. Here’s a preview:

Back Where It All Begins

The subtitle of today’s post is a line from “Back Where It All Begins”—one of Dickey’s finest songs from the 90s. Dickey always (and I mean always) paid homage to the founding era of the Allman Brothers Band and the good feeling he and his bandmates engendered together and with their fans.

He captured that sentiment well in the title track from the band’s final studio album with Dickey.

Here’s the full verse, included here for the final three lines:

Travel out across the burnin' sand.
Across the ocean to some distant land.
When we reach the end
We'll all be singin' and we'll all be friends
Back where it all begins.

Godspeed Dickey. Thank you for sharing your talent with us.

1. I’ll be back for Tedeschi Trucks Band’s Sun, Sand, and Soul May 2-4, 2024.

2. I know you have your copy, buy one for a friend and tell them, “You wanna know why the Allman Brothers Band matters? Read this book.” Ya tu sabes.

3. “It was musical telepathy. We were into individual expression.”

4. Here’s a list of Dickey Betts name-drops.

5. Here’s some video of Marcus on Liz Reed April 19, 2024.