April 19, 2024 - Dickey Betts

Dickey Betts passed. He made it to 80! Most of the Allman Brothers Band are gone now. Victims of the hard lifestyle. For those of us who worked with them, knew them, and cherished them, this was a fine group of Southern Gentlemen who loved to play the Blues. At the top of their list was playing good music together and having a good time.

I spent a large portion of my playing days being the warmup guy. We were the band sent out to “warm up” the crowd. It was more like “welcoming” the crowd as they walked in, grabbed their beer, and got ready to see the headliner. We were good at it. Usually by the end of our set, we had ‘em. But, even very successful opening acts rarely got to hang with the superstars they played with. And you would never venture over to their dressing rooms or green rooms.

Dickey Betts waltzed right over to our dressing room to chat, with Gregg Allman in tow. Non-pretentious. In their words, we were “Brothers of the Road.” I will never forget that.

He was one of those giants. HUGE on stage, but small in stature, quiet, calm, and pleasant.

David Rook Goldflies was their bassist back then. I enjoyed talking with him. He is a marvelous musician and genuinely a great guy. I saw a recent interview he did, he explained that the core of that band was the four original guys. Dickey was a band leader. He wore it well. Down to Earth while here. Now, he soars with all his fallen Brothers of the Road.