RIP Dickey
 

The only two Allman Bros songs I ever bothered trying to play are these two Dickey Betts hits. In honor of his passing, I decided to do quick and dirty recordings. Let's be honest, quick and dirty is how I do most all recordings. I'm a campfire guitarist, so here are a couple of campfire versions of Blue Sky and Ramblin Man.

Other folks, please feel free to add your Allman Brothers stuff if you've got it. With the talent on this forum, I'm sure some of you have some...

-Ray

Thanks Ray…

Dickie brought the heat on that Les Paul. RIP and condolences to his family. His son still plays sometimes with Derek Trucks and Susan.

And thanks for sharing your versions.

2 Classic tunes Ray. Great covers. On one of my group texts my brother and I were remembering that we (18 and 16 ) saw the ABB and Dickey play in the summer of 1979.

Thanks for checking it out Sal. I knew that Dickie’s son had a band with Gregg Allman’s son, but I didn’t realize he also plays with Tedeschi Trucks. I saw them not long before the pandemic and it was a flat out amazing show. I’ve never listened to the sons’ Allman Betts band - I’ll have to check them out.

-Ray

Funny Joe, I first saw them that same summer on a hot night in Mesa, AZ. I’d have been 20 at the time. I think Dan Toler was the other guitarist and he did a good job, but it was clearly Dickie’s band at that point, with Gregg lending his name and some vocals. I remember loving it. Saw them a few more times over the years, but when I want to listen to them I still go back to Fillmore East and Eat a Peach.

As a fan, I didn’t really love Blue Sky or Ramblin Man. I liked them well enough, but it was kind of like Touch of Gray with the Dead - fun songs and happy for them to have those kind of hits. But the real meat was the stuff like Whipping Post, In Memory of Elizabeth Reed, Mountain Jam, etc. I learned the intro to Elizabeth Reed in my more electric days, but I never had the chops to really play their stuff, so I play Blue Sky and Ramblin Man mostly because I can and they’re fun tunes to play and sing without all the solos. They work on acoustics and very little of their stuff does. Little Martha is an obvious exception, but I can’t play that either…

-Ray

RIP
 

Nice job, Ray!

Saw DB with Boz Scaggs at San Diego State amphitheater playing for about 10,000 thrilled people.

Dickie did about a 10 or 12 minute solo where he did all the famous licks from so many hits. It was the highlight of the concert.

His music will live on.

Cheers

Paul

Ray, you are the man, such great musical taste! I enjoyed your covers as well.

Dickey's death was pretty sobering for me when I saw the news yesterday. I knew that he hadn't been doing well and had pretty much stopped playing out years ago. But, Jesus, that dude was rock/blues/country informed by bluegrass, Western Swing, and Gypsy Jazz. And his tone and style was emulated by anybody who called themselves a Southern Rock guitarist. He was a great writer, singer, and player, and he was Bob Dylan's favorite guitar player. What else can you say, right?

I will try to come up with something for this thread. I haven't really played those tunes for many years.

Hey, that was with Dangerous Dan Toler, a smokin' player who was also in Great Southern for a while. Dan and his brother Frankie (a wicked drummer) were dear friends to Dickey and collaborated with him many times over the years.

Man, what a loss--Dickey Betts!!!

Thanks Tim and Paul. Dan Toler was the other guitar player when I first saw the ABB about that same time. Never knew where he came from or where he went, but he was really good playing off of Dickey that night. Good to know a little about him.

-Ray

Here's a little bit about Mr. Toler. He also played with The Gregg Allman Band for a spell--he was actually on "I'm No Angel," if you recall that one, lol.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Toler

Yeah, I do remember I'm No Angell - was pretty into it for a while. And I kind of dug Enlightened Rouges as well, which he also played on. That was around that same time as I first saw them, which it rather messes me up to realize that was 45 freaking years ago now. I mean, I know I was a young guy at the time, and I'm anything but young now, but I remember it pretty well and it just doesn't seem like it could be THAT long ago. Also sad to see Toler died at 64 - I have less than a month left of being 64, so I guess another reminder to appreciate the good fortune I've had and hope to have a good while longer.

-Ray

Man, I love some solo Gregg Allman, always been a huge fan. And Enlightened Rogues is a bit of an underrated ABB album, I think. People tend to poop on that era of the Allmans, but Dickey was in his prime and killing it, and I thought Dangerous Dan was a nice compliment to Dickey. Gregg was mostly drunk and high in those days. I think that was when he was so strung out that the roadies had to hold poster boards with lyrics to songs on them so that he could remember them, lol. Thankfully, he did clean up eventually.

Speaking of getting old, I was looking at pics of Garcia from 1995, and he looked like he was in his 70s. He was about 3 years older than I am now when he passed. You don't think about that stuff when you're in your 20s and really into the music.

One thing I will say about Dickey that I appreciated was that at every show after Jerry passed, Dickey would talk about Garcia and play a few bars of Franklin's Tower before going into Blue Sky, which was so cool. Tony Rice did the same thing with Shady Grove. That tells you a lot about these people, you know.

Okay, here's my take on Dickey Betts's tune "Back to Where It All Begins": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ler65EaQf6s

That sounded great Tim - thanks for adding it. I'd forgotten that tune, glad to hear it again...

-Ray