That time Dickey Betts told me that an Allman Brothers reunion “could be a good idea”

By Steve Newton

I did the first of my four interviews with guitar legend Dickey Betts back in March of 1989, when he was touring with the Dickey Betts Band, playing tunes from his first album in seven years, Pattern Disruptive.

Betts’ famous former group, the Allman Brothers Band, had broken up (for the second time) in 1982, but his new album had been recorded at Pegasus Studio in Tallahassee, Florida, which was owned by ex-Allman Brothers drummer Butch Trucks.

Trucks and Betts had recently gotten together with former ABB bandmates Gregg Allman and Jai Johanny Johanson to discuss the possibilities of an Allman Brothers reunion, though Betts claimed at the time that nothing definite had been decided.

“I think it could be a good idea,” he told me. “And it wouldn’t look like a desperate move, because both Gregg and I have pretty good solo albums out now.”

“Good idea” indeed. The four original Allmanites brought along guitar ace Warren Haynes and keyboardist Johnny Neel from the Betts band, added bassist Allen Woody, and a year later had a great new Tom Dowd-produced album out called Seven Turns.

To hear the full audio of my interviews with Dickey Betts from 1991, 1992, and 2001–and my interviews with Allman Brothers members Gregg Allman, Warren Haynes, and Derek Trucks as well–subscribe to my Patreon page, where you can eavesdrop on over 600 of my uncut, one-on-one conversations with the legends of rock since 1982.