RIP Dickey Betts

[SixToe]

Was fortunate to see Betts, Levell and Derek Trucks play a show back probably late 80s or early 90s. Susan Tedeshi was with them. Great show.

 

[Neutral Corner]

The closest I got to seeing the classic ABB was at the Georgia Jam in June of '74. Grinderswitch, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Marshall Tucker, and the ABB at Atlanta Stadium. Halfway through Marshall Tucker,t he heavens opened and it rained hard. We hung in, wet and steaming and uncomfortable, waiting for the Brothers. Problem was that they got so wasted backstage waiting to go on that when they finally did they were trashed. I watched two roadies each take one of Gregg's elbows and carry him up the stairs and plop him on his organ stool. It was a terrible show. It was the best Skynyrd show I ever saw, though.

They put it out later that someone had spiked the punch or something backstage, but damn few people bought that. They just sat around waiting too long and got bored, and "Oh well."

 

[ChrisLong]

Anybody familiar with The Big House in Macon, Ga.?
My brother spent some time in the South and mentioned this place on a FB thread about Betts and the Allman Bros.

 

[hondo]

There may not be a better road trip song than Jessica. Unless it's Revival.

Statesboro Blues. End of story.

 

[hondo]

I never lived there but I've been through there. Cornelia, Commerce, Athens, Madison, Eatonton, Milledgeville, Dublin, McRae, Douglas, Pearson, Homerville and Fargo north to south on 441. And you'd better have SiriusXM or Spotify, because even the radio stations are few and far between.

Little towns with little brick houses, little rundown downtowns and maybe a McDonald's or Hardee's. Like you've gone back to 1960.

Although there's a certain charm about Douglas. If it wasn't for the oppressive summer heat, maybe a nice place to disappear from the world.

The drive from Statesboro to Augusta on Route 25 captures a lot of the essence of the Georgia countryside, at least in the southern part of the state. I've only driven through the North on I75...wouldn't mind see more of the mountains.

 

[hondo]

Although more associated with Macon, Ga., the Allman Brothers Band really originated out of Florida as did Skynyrd, Outlaws, and Molly Hatchet. Combine them with people like Tom Petty, John Anderson, Jimmy Buffett, and the music scene in Florida in the 70s was off that chart.

The Tedeschis/Trucks are doing a good job of keeping up that Florida tradition. Derek Trucks can be spotted at Jaguars practices once in awhile.

 

[Shropshire Slasher]

I forget the name of the book I read about the band, but one story had Betts riding along one night, decide he was hungry, pull over, shoot a cow, an just cut a slab out of it.

That's where all the UFO cattle dissection stories of the day came from.

 

[Azrael]

And with the Grateful Dead helped invent jambands as well. A 42-minute "Mountain Jam!?!" Yes, please.

Phil Lesh cribbed the long modal jam idea from . . . John Coltrane.

 

[User 4332]

Although more associated with Macon, Ga., the Allman Brothers Band really originated out of Florida as did Skynyrd, Outlaws, and Molly Hatchet. Combine them with people like Tom Petty, John Anderson, Jimmy Buffett, and the music scene in Florida in the 70s was off that chart.

An acquaintance of mine in southwest Virginia is a mandolin player in his late 70s who was part of that Jacksonville scene when those guys were around. He worked as a touring musician for several of them before giving up life on the road in the mid-to-late 80s. He's got some incredible stories about the house parties and studio adventures.

Honestly thought he was bull****ing me for a good while, until he started pulling out old pictures.

 

[goalmouth]

Years ago a co-worker and I palled around and she dragged ignorant me to concerts I otherwise wouldn't have seen at the Lonestar, Ritz, Beacon, Palladium, wherever in 80s NYC: Chuck Berry, Joe Cocker, Jimmy Page, Springsteen, what was left of The Band ("Who? The Band?" "You know -- The Weight. You'll know it when you hear it!"). We saw the Dickey Betts Band and .38 Special at the Capitol Theater in Passaic about 1986, and maybe the Gregg Allman Band was on that bill, too. She was smart and nice and a bit of a hippy and recommended I move up to her job when she left the company. We're still friends and I am grateful for the friendship and the memories.

 

[Slacker]

There may not be a better road trip song than Jessica.

Betts' slide guitar solo on "Jessica" is just fantastic. And the piano work by Chuck Leavell is incredibly great, too.

Perfect song for when you're flying down an empty rural highway. I always play it on the road.

 

[Driftwood]

The most disappointing show I've ever been to was Marshall Tucker. My buddy had been before and said it was bad. I said, no, no, it's MTB, has to be good. He said it was so bad he left early.
We went. We left early. They have about 5 songs, and the rest are crap.

 

[2muchcoffeeman]

The most disappointing show I've ever been to was Marshall Tucker. My buddy had been before and said it was bad. I said, no, no, it's MTB, has to be good. He said it was so bad he left early.
We went. We left early. They have about 5 songs, and the rest are crap.

They had more than 5 songs, but they have no original members.

 

[micropolitan guy]

They had more than 5 songs, but they have no original members.

The MTB live album from 73 or 74 is great, we used to go crazy singing "24 Hours at a Time."

 

[Driftwood]

They had more than 5 songs, but they have no original members.

When I saw them, there was one.
Actually, I saw Skynyrd, Outlaws, MTB, and Molly Hatchet each with one surviving member.

 

[Jesus_Muscatel]

When I saw them, there was one.
Actually, I saw Skynyrd, Outlaws, MTB, and Molly Hatchet each with one surviving member.

MTB really hasn't aged well, but they have/had a few really good tunes, Take the Highway, 24 Hours at a Time, etc.

Allman Brothers went through many different lineups, and after they threw Dickey out, and brought Derek Trucks in, the sound definitely changed. And they didn't play the songs Dickey penned, either. Which was too bad, but obviously understandable.

 

[Driftwood]

MTB really hasn't aged well, but they have/had a few really good tunes, Take the Highway, 24 Hours at a Time, etc.

Allman Brothers went through many different lineups, and after they threw Dickey out, and brought Derek Trucks in, the sound definitely changed. And they didn't play the songs Dickey penned, either. Which was too bad, but obviously understandable.

Take the Highway, 24 Hrs at a Time, Can't You See, Fire on the Mountain, Heard it in the Love Song... after that, it goes down hill in a hurry.

For all the greats, Skynyrd is the gold standard. The Outlaws are probably my personal favorite.

 

[Big Circus]

The most disappointing show I've ever been to was Marshall Tucker. My buddy had been before and said it was bad. I said, no, no, it's MTB, has to be good. He said it was so bad he left early.
We went. We left early. They have about 5 songs, and the rest are crap.

I had occasion to mention MTB in one of my marketing pieces (they played at a festival that we were mentioning) and a younger woman coworker proofed the piece and came back with "You need to capitalize the T in The." I don't know if you can develop an instant crush on a person, but I came pretty close that day.