Dickey Betts Albums (5)
'Let's Get Together'
Release Date 7/31/2001
Tracks 11
Label Free Falls
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
After being fired from the Allman Brothers Band in 2001, a band he was a founding member of in the late '60s, Dickey Betts dealt with his pain, anger, and loss by putting together a new band, hitting the road, and issuing a new album only a few months after the dirty deed. Let's Get Together is a good-time, swinging, blues and New Orleans R&B-drenched romp through the roots of American music. From the Elmore James/Johnny Otis-inspired R&B of "Rave On" (not the Buddy Holly tune) that opens the album, Betts plays it loud and proud, blasting from the rafters with his own Les Paul and employing a second one via Mark May. Stinging his way through the raucous choruses, Betts reveals he's lost none of his fire nor his impeccable taste as he slips jazz chords, rock pyrotechnics, and shimmering Chicago blues lines into the mix, driving a band whose Hammond B-3 and saxophone punch (courtesy of Matt Zeiner and Kris Jensen, respectively) is fierce. The title track is a throwaway lyrically, but musically it stomps the tar out of anything Brian Setzer tries to accomplish with raw American swing. Betts churns up the tempo and the volume and leaves the production out of the track, preferring an edgy, slippery groove. Betts also proves he can still write a gorgeous country song in "Tombstone Eyes," with its shimmering acoustic guitars and B-3 crescendos. The balladry is simple but the emotion is complex. Betts' voice may have lost its sheeny country whine, but he more than makes up for it with sheer guts. Given its tune, lyric, and instrumentation, there is no reason country program directors shouldn't be playing the hell out of this one. On "One Stop Be-Bop," Betts showcases his immense knowledge of American musical forms as this ten-minute instrumental courses through bop, gypsy swing, Brazilian samba, rock, blues, country, and jazz fusion, all of it done with taste and aplomb; Betts is too much of a musician to have to show off, and he has nothing whatsoever to prove -- though it's true no one could have guessed he was such a fine arranger. The only drawback tracks -- and they wouldn't be if they weren't juxtaposed with Betts' own wonderful songs -- are those written by his sidemen. But here again, if Betts has erred -- and this is personal taste reflected here after all -- he has erred on the side of democracy in his band, and he can hardly be faulted for it. The album closes with the blazing rocker "Sing While I'm Walkin'." Using a Wilbert Harrison riff (from "Let's Get Together" no less!), Betts takes it out with a stomping rouser that uses the I-IV-V progression in inverted fashion and good-times it to death with a slippery backbeat and crunchy rhythm guitar as he slashes the very air with his solo. Though he hasn't done any solo records in a while, this cannot be considered Dickey Betts' comeback; he's simply stepped out on his own again and, in sharp contrast to other acts that are usually more than the sum of their parts, as a result of his split with the Allmans, listeners now have two fine acts to take pleasure in instead of just one. ~ Thom Jurek, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
After a long layoff, Betts cut this blistering guitar rock album in a style strongly reminiscent of The Allman Brothers Band. In fact, his band contains pianist Johnny Neel and second guitarist Warren Haynes, both of whom would join the next edition of The Allmans when they re-formed; Allmans drummer Butch Trucks guests. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
On his third solo outing -- and his second with his backing band Great Southern -- Allman Brothers lead guitarist Dickey Betts moves back into the deep-fried Southern boogie that the Brothers are (in)famous for and serves it up with just a smidgen of country and comes out with another winner. Once again the mood is laid back and greasy with the guitars taking center stage in a funky, spunky mix that concentrates as much on the backbeat as it does on the swinging Southern boogie blues. Hence Betts digs deep into New Orleans as a source of inspiration on tracks like "Good Time Feeling," "Dealin' With the Devil," and "Back on the Road Again." Again relying heavily on the harmonica stylings of Topper Price for color and nuance, Betts uses this cue as a way of bringing the entire band into the proceedings this time out. While it's true that his guitar is the centerpiece of the album, Great Southern is present more as a unit than as Betts' backing band. On the title track, a ballad that offers a ghostly narrative of the end of the Civil war, Betts also uses Bob Dylan's backing choir of Bonnie Bramlet, Clydie King, and Shirley Mathews for added emotional impact as well as a string section. While the string section could have been dispensed with, it doesn't hurt too much as the integrity of the song is so focused and sharp it's a minor nuisance. Production on this set is a bit muddier than on the Great Southern album that preceded it, and this is a good thing. There is more immediacy in the band's presence on the record than the studio's. Given that this was issued in 1978, when the bottom was about to drop out of rock & roll in favor of things like new wave and rap, this album holds up surprisingly well over two decades later. The shuffle and roll that was then Betts' trademark is refreshingly untouched by the production or musical excesses of the time. There is no attempt to be "relevant" or "cutting edge." But there is no retro feel on this disc either; it sounds consistent with a man's vision who's always considered himself right on time and still does. Loud, tough, and funky, Atlanta's Burning Down is a winner. ~ Thom Jurek, All Music Guide
'Dickey Betts & Great Southern'
Release Date 1/1/1977
Tracks 7
Label Arista
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
Three years after the issue of his landmark solo recording, Highway Call (and countless inbred brawls and unholy wars among the Allman Brothers), guitarist, singer, and songwriter Dickey Betts released the debut by his "other" band, Great Southern. Attempting to capture the loose, easy feel of Highway Call and combine it with the more blues-driven sound of the Allmans, Betts was largely successful though the record does suffer a tad from overly slick production. Evident from "Out to Get Me," the very first track, is Betts' trademark slide guitar burning a hole through the center of the mix. The undertone of the album is the shuffle, both country and blues, aided in large part by Topper Price's harmonica and the able second guitar of Dan Toler. But the feel is all Betts. He stretches out the stinging boogie of "Run Gypsy Run," with dual leads, a killer pre-verse riff, and a solid "Ramblin Man"-style melodic line in the heart of his blues. Perhaps the hinge piece on the album in on its third track, "Sweet Virginia" (not a cover of the Rolling Stones' track). Here, Betts' slide work is easily and lilting as it undergirds a sleepy country tune with a killer backbeat. Nostalgia, or at least the previous, is the backbone of Betts' sentiment as his vice rings through the guitars and rhythm section with conviction and a sureness that only comes out of the finest country-rock music (think Creedence Clearwater meets the Allmans). Ultimately, this album, with its funky New Orleans basslines and second-line percussions, is another restless country-soul set from Betts. And though more guitar driven than Highway Call (fiddle god Vassar Clements is not Betts' foil here), its songs hold as much soul and aplomb if not the same deeply held convictions that made the previous album the classic it is. Nonetheless, Great Southern is a very fine album that despite its polish holds a wealth of fine songs and truly astonishing playing within its grooves. ~ Thom Jurek, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
After the runaway success of the Allman Brothers' classic Brothers and Sisters LP -- an album on which Dickey Betts virtually architected the open loping country sound with his newly found singing voice and easy, slimmed down guitar style -- the guitarist decided to try his hand at a solo album. Highway Call is, in essence, the second chapter in Betts finding his own voice as not only a singer, but also as a songwriter as well. At a brief half-hour in length, Highway Call is nonetheless an emotionally powerful slice of small country life offered with a vast emotional landscape. The tone is nostalgic in that each of the songs here reflects memory and the yearning for a simpler, less cluttered life lived in the open spaces, away from the chaotic roil of rock stardom and all of its trappings. The title track reflects an acceptance of Betts' life as an itinerant musician, destined to play out his hand on the road. There isn't a hint of regret in the ringing, slippery guitars and harmony vocals, but there is a sense that life could have been different. On "Let Nature Sing," Betts calls forth the spirits of America, from its rock and crags, its lakes and panoramic vistas, and from the ghosts of the people who've traipsed through Betts' life, leaving an emotional and indelible impression upon him. Each song here, such as "Rain," with its sideways pedal steel, or "Long Time Gone," with its runaway slide, or even the aforementioned "Let Nature Sing," with its glorious dobro and fiddle (courtesy of Vassar Clements) underscoring Betts' lead and the ringing pedal steel of Jon Hughey is a testament to the pastoral in American life. And for Betts, the rambler, gambler, and hard living guitar man, there is no contradiction. All of his cards are on the table in "Hand Picked," a nearly 15-minute country swing romp through Bob Wills, Merle Haggard, the Allmans, and bluegrass, Betts creates the ultimate road instrumental. The listener can hear Clements and Betts roaring down the two-lane blacktop on the back of a flatbed truck, ripping this one out with easy abandon. Highway Call stands as the artist's finest solo moment, one that holds his true voice easily expressing itself far from the madding blues wail of the Allmans, deep in the center of a Georgia holler with the sun beating down on the peach trees or on the incessant babble of a backwoods creek calling his listeners to the mystery inherent in simple living and in playing honest, heartfelt music. ~ Thom Jurek, All Music Guide
