Such a shame he got kicked out of the Allamns due to his drinking and resultant behavioral issues.
Just came across this You Tube recording posted by a guy in an Allmans Tribute Band called Skydog. He argues cogently that Dickey was at least equal and this solo is Dickey’s best ever.
Air guitarists, plug in your ether amps.
Junior Wells says
I really like these guitar nerd clips. I know these are great guitar players, but apart from sounding great and fingers moving fast, as a non guitarist, I don’t know why they are so good technically.
Junior Wells says
Here’s another one. Butch Trucks and Dickey Betts being interviewed about the Allmans, the Filmore shows etc. Lovely coupla blokes. What a shame.
Vulpes Vulpes says
All of a sudden, the mercurial strains of Ramblin’ Man are circulating in my brain.
Moose the Mooche says
The Mercurial strains – a terrible affliction brought on by overzealous singing of Queen songs.
Twang says
This blew my mind as a follow on from Ramblin’ Man as a 70s blues rock moron. I mean, WTF?
Mike_H says
From a non-playing POV, a terrific piece of music, played beautifully but the overall sound is unpleasant to me, somehow. Too much polish and precision in the production. After about 5 minutes I’d had quite enough, good as it was.
It reminded me of the stuff on a Merle Travis box set “The Guitar Picker” that I bought a few years back. All exquisitely played but lacking in oomph and only digestible in fairly small doses. Similar but not quite so bad is a CD of Chet Atkins and Mark Knopfler “Neck And Neck” that I bought about the same time. Both full of very nice stuff but a little dull for a long listen. After a while I get the impression they’re just churning it out.
Vulpes Vulpes says
Nah. This is joyous. Dickey bringing the bluegrass to the blues in fine style. Hear his favourite intervals peeking through the tune every now and then, a twinkle in their eye. “Churning it out”? Nah. This is the simple joy of a bunch of people standing around playing over a chugging chord sequence, a solid bass, and taking it in turns to add their own widdly-diddly bit to the overall fun of the thing.
I get to hear long workouts like this around the camp fire every year at my local bluegrass festival: http://didmarton-bluegrass.co.uk/ and when each number winds to an end there’s a whoop of delight from all the players and shit-eating grins all round. With luck, within 30 seconds or so, someone else has started up another Monroe staple and the game’s on again.
Mike_H says
I love hearing live bluegrass and I bet that piece would sound fantastic played on a stage in front of a crowd. Here, the fact that it’s being done in a studio is writ far too large for me. It’s got that sound that all too many Nashville productions used to have about 30 years ago.
Here’s the sort of thing I could listen to all night long. Someone, sometime called Bluegrass “the white man’s Jazz”. I can see here what they’re getting at.
Vulpes Vulpes says
I’ll admit I know exactly what you mean.
But if it came down to “what would you like to listen to while stuck in a lift with Nigel Farage for 24 hours”, the first answer would be “his dying gurgles as I strangled him”, and the next would quite possibly be “Dickey Betts and pals having fun in the studio” (if there’s no live Bluegrass on offer).
Mike_H says
Would be a bit crowded in a lift with Nigel Farage’s corpse and a bluegrass band, so yes I agree.
Twang says
It is hard to imagine more fun than having something strong to drink and shaking a leg to a good bluegrass band, à la a mad old trapper outside a jar of moonshine in a Mel Brooks film.
niallb says
I love Dickey’s playing. His melodic solos on Brothers & Sisters set the template for my love of players who play clear, tuneful guitar. The wonderful Tim Renwick from Quiver, and then The Sutherland Brothers & Quiver, (he also played on all those classic Al Stewart songs like Year of the Cat and On The Border,)was my favourite British example, but there have been plenty more.
Junior Wells says
In that interview with Butch and Dickey they reckon one of those Filmore shows went for 6 or 7 hours with Mountain Jam accounting for 3 of them.