It's a sad day for fans of the Allman Brothers. Co-founder Dickey Betts has died at age 80. To commemorate the singer, we're taking a look at one of his final performances. Betts performed in Scranton, Pennsylvania, at the Peach Music Festival in 2018.
It's fitting that Betts played "Ramblin' Man" one of the Allman Brothers Band's signature hits for one of his final times on stage. The singer bowed out gracefully as you can see below.
Betts opened up about the origin of the song. He had planned for the Man in Black himself to play the song. "I was going to send 'Ramblin' Man' to Johnny Cash," Betts told me. "I thought it was a great song for him. But everybody in our band liked that song. Even my dad liked the song before we recorded it or anything."
Dickey Betts Talks Classic Song
Betts once reflected on one of his favorite performances playing "Ramblin' Man." The band took the stage in 1995 alongside Bob Dylan. They played in Tampa, Florida.
He said, "Dylan says, 'Let's do 'Ramblin' Man.'' All right, let me write the words down." However, that was unnecessary. Betts continued, "I know the words," Dylan says. "I should have wrote that song."
The band and Dylan played the song together. "I said, 'Bob, just sing whatever you want to.' I didn't think he knew the words. I figured he'd just make up some stuff," Betts recalled. "He knew the song word for word. Man, it was such an honor. He sang it and I told him later that those words have never had so much feeling. The way he sings, he makes every word punchy. It really was beautiful. It really was."
Betts once reflected on the legacy of the band. The Allman Brothers band survived personal tragedies and created a legacy that stood the test of time. Betts played a large role in that accomplishment.
"We had some real tragedies losing Duane (Allman) and losing Berry Oakley and we had to keep the band together, had to keep it effective, and viable through all that period," Betts told the Herald-Tribune in 2019. "We took off the (1980s) and Gregg and I put our little bands together and played clubs. After we got back together a lot of writers from Rolling Stone and stuff were calling us dinosaurs and making fun of bands like us and wondering if we could still play and we were determined. It gave us more drive and we showed we weren't done yet. We made some of our best records and I think that helped put us in the Hall of Fame."
