DICKEY BETTS December 12, 1943 - April 18, 2024

Dave Ling looks back at the life and music of one of the co-founders of the Allman Brothers Band, one of the pioneers in bringing southern rock to the masses.

Dickey Betts, a co-founder of the Allman Brothers Band and one of the most influential and colourful figures in the realm of music known loosely as southern rock, has died following a period of declining health. His passing at 80 years old leaves just co-drummer Jai Johanny Johanson, aka Jaimo, as the last surviving member of the original line-up of the group.

A statement on behalf of the band recalled how Betts’s “extraordinary” guitar playing, alongside that of Duane Allman, “created a unique dual-guitar sound that became the signature sound”. Until that point it had been traditional for two-guitar bands to have defined roles for soloists and rhythm players.

The statement remembers Betts as being “passionate in life, be it music, songwriting, fishing, hunting, boating, golf, karate or boxing”, adding: “Dickey was all-in on and excelled at anything that caught his attention.”

It concluded: “Betts joins his brothers, Duane Allman, Berry Oakley, Butch Trucks and Gregg Allman, as well as ABB crew members Twiggs Lyndon, Joe Dan Petty, Red Dog, Kim Payne and Mike Callahan in that old Winnebago in the sky touring the world, taking their music to all who will listen.”

The Allman Brothers Band formed in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1969, their freeform style fusing together elements of country, rock, blues and jazz. While brothers Duane (guitar) and Gregg Allman (keyboards, vocals) were the band’s leaders, Betts was a significant member, writing many of the band’s quintessential songs including Blue Sky and Ramblin’ Man, and also the instrumentals In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed and Jessica, the latter of which became the theme tune to the British TV show Top Gear.