R.I.P. Dickey Betts: the 10 best quotes I ever got from the legendary Allman Brothers guitarist

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By Steve Newton

If you’re a fan of southern rock, or just music in general, you may have heard the sad news: legendary Allman Brothers guitarist Dickey Betts passed away today at the age of 80.

Musicians don’t get much more celebrated than Dickey did. His guitar playing–along with that of fellow ABB picker and slide-guitar specialist Duane Allman–set the musical world on fire in the ’70s on albums like At Fillmore East and Eat a Peach.

Betts’ talents as a songwriter were also evident through instrumentals such as “In Memory of Elizabeth Reed” and “Jessica”, and his down-home vocals captured your heart on tunes he composed like “Ramblin’ Man” and “Blue Sky”.

While his time with the Allman Brothers was not without its controversy–he was famously sacked from the band in 2000–the image of a handsome, mustached Dickey Betts cranking out stirring blues-drenched notes on a cranked Les Paul is one that will live in people’s minds forever.

Or it will in mine, anyway.

I was extremely fortunate to have  interviewed Betts four times, in 1989 (just before the ABB reunited), 1991 (after the release of Shades of Two Worlds), 1992 (after the release of An Evening with the Allman Brothers Band: First Set), and lastly in 2001 (after he got booted out of the band).

In recognition of Dickey’s passing here’s 10 of the best quotes I got from those conversations.

1989: “He’d probably be pulling his hair out at some of the music that’s around. But most likely he’d be producing albums–he was always very strong in the studio. And hopefully he’d be playing with me once in a while.” (On what his former bandmate Duane Allman might be doing if he were still around today.)

1991: “The truth is, not one of us in the band really thought we would be that ultra-successful, because we were not commercial at all. We were purposely trying not to be commercial; we were just sayin’, ‘We’re gonna play music, and we’re gonna play for our people here, that we can look in the face and see, and we’re not gonna play for record executives and people that sell things.” (On the Allman Brothers’ original goal to make music on its own terms.)

1991: “I don’t know that Gregg and I have gotten along so good over all the years, but we haven’t gotten along so bad, either. A lotta times when you’re in the public light a little bit, as we are, if you do have a disagreement it gets blown out of proportion. But just like any family, you can’t work this tight and live together like we do without having a few ups and downs.” (On his tumultuous relationship with fellow ABB member Gregg Allman.)

1991: “We were the first band that sounded like this, but we weren’t the first band that could have sounded like this, I don’t think. The thing is, most bands from the south would either move to L.A. or move to New York to get started. In fact, Atlantic Records did everything they could to get us to move out of the South. They said we’d never break out of the South. They said, ‘Move these guys to Los Angeles, dress ’em up, get ’em out of those damn boots and blue jeans.’” (On being the flagship band of the southern-rock movement.)

1991: “Oooh, that’s a good one for you to ask. I don’t know. But that’s a pleasant thought, and I’m sure that they are. Hendrix is right there with ’em, too. They’re probably playin’ ‘Dreams’—you know, that’s a nice drifty, heavenly kinda soundin’ song.” (On what song Duane Allman and the members of Lynyrd Skynyrd would be playing if they were jamming up in heaven.)

1992: “There’s a whole new generation comin’ out to see us, and there’s just a very few bands that are doin’ that: maybe the Rolling Stones and, of course, the Grateful Dead. I’m proud to be of that fraternity, to say that we’ve transcended a generation. It’s difficult to do in rock music, especially as trendy as this music tends to be.” (On the continuing popularity of the Allman Brothers, as proven by a string of 10 sold-out shows at New York’s Beacon Theatre.)

1992: “It’s hard to say something is better than that, but I like to think that we’re playing better than that now. Jeez, it’s 20 years later and we’ve been playin’ all this time—we should be better, or we shouldn’t be doin’ it.” (On how the new Allman Brothers live album, An Evening with the Allman Brothers Band: First Set, compares to At Fillmore East.)

2001: “It’s not just the band, it’s this goddamned heroin, killin’ everybody, man.” (On the 2000 death of bassist Allen Woody,  the third ABB member to die before his time, and the notion that the band is cursed.)

2001: “I always do either ‘Jessica’ or ‘Elizabeth Reed’, and sometimes I do ‘Ramblin’ Man’. And I always do ‘Blue Sky’. I mean, if I bought a ticket to go see Dickey Betts and I didn’t get to hear ‘Blue Sky’, I’d be a little disappointed.” (On the Dickey Betts Band’s current setlist.)

2001: “You know, I refused to get into this dirt-throwin’ contest, but I don’t know how else to put it: it was a dirty little business deal, is what it was. You know, Butch Trucks decided about three years ago that he was the leader of the Allman Brothers Band, and ever since he had come to that epiphany, there’s been nothing but trouble.” (On why he was no longer a member of the Allman Brothers.)

To hear the full audio of my interviews with Dickey Betts from 1991, 1992, and 2001 subscribe to my Patreon page, where you can also eavesdrop on over 400 of my uncut, one-on-one conversations with the legends of rock since 1982.