A Brief Tribute from Niagara At Large reporter/publisher Doug Draper
Posted April 20th, 2024 on Niagara At Large
A young Dickie Betts wowing fans with a solo during his years as a frontman with The Allman Brothers Band
Before we leave April behind, this music fan cannot resist saying just a few words for Dickie Betts, the late founder and guitarist and songwriter par excellence for the 1970s super group, The Allman Brothers.
Betts, whose guitar playing placed him in the same club with such greats as Eric Clapton, Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page and of Jeff Beck (who died last year) of Yardbirds fame, died this past April 18th at age 80.
The cover of one of The Album Brothers. most popular albums from the 1970s – ‘Brothers and Sisters’
His great latent as a musician first began attracting world-wide attention at the tail end of the 1960s when a traded lead guitar chores with Duane Allman in The Allman Brothers Band- a southern rock and blues band that dared to feature an inter-racial lineup at group members at a time when the world was still recovering from the assassination of civil rights leader Martin Luther King and white bots from the south were still doing their best to keep everything from schools to hotels, restaurants and washrooms fully segregated.
Duane Allman died in a motorcycle shortly after the group’s classic album ‘Live At The Fillmore East’ was released and became a monster hit in 1971.
Duane Allman’s death left many wondering if Dickie Betts could fill the void in the lead guitar department and the group’s 1973 album Brothers and Sisters, put an end to any doubts. That albums was a bestseller for the group and included that Betts wrote and sang lead on. The song was ‘Ramblin’ Man’ that remains to this day, The Allman Brothers’ biggest hit.
Here are Doug and Mary Draper’s cats Woody (in front and at the left) and Jessica who, in her case, was named after one of our favourite Dickie Betts songs.. file photo by Doug Draper
The album also includes a much played instrumental written by Betts called ‘ Jessica’. This reporter and his wife Mary loved that song so much that we later named one of our cats Jessica.
To hear and watch Betts on lead guitar and The Allman Brothers perform Jessica live at a concert in the early 1980ss, click on the screen below –
Dickie Betts, as so many of his fans may remember him
Put on any Allman Brothers album today and you can’t help but marvel at how talented all these guys were. There have been few that could match them for their high level of musicianship to this day.
I was fortunate enough to see The Allman Brothers in concert at the old Buffalo Aud in 1975 and it is right up there with Bruce Springsteen, Joe Cocker and Stevie Wonder as one of the best concerts I have ever attended.
R.I.P. Dickie Betts
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