We've Lost Dickey Betts

hey friends I hope you're doing well I just heard that Dicky Betts has passed away and I wanted to say a few words and pay tribute pay my respects I'm going to be completely honest with you I just got out of the car after an 11-hour drive I'm pretty toasty right now I'm pretty spent but uh I played a gig and Key West last night and um drove 11 hours and right as I was about to get off the interstate my partner Amy called me and she said um did you hear about Dicky Betts and I'm like no what happened she said he passed away at 80 years old and um I went ahead and pulled in and I got this room in Lake City Florida I immediately set up the camera and figured I would start talking to you guys and give you my first thoughts I uh I don't think people completely appreciate how great a guitar player Dicky Betts was it was melodic at a time when not everyone was so melodic I mean very melodic we one of those guys where you could sing the solos it stuck in your head like a singer writes a song you know it would stick in your head like that and um his tone was always just great great tone just so in charge of the instrument and when you have Dwayne almond in the band he sucks up a lot of the oxygen you know as far as the guitar playing goes you know being such a monster guitar player but Dicky Betts is a great guitar player and when Dwayne almond passed away Dicky Betts just worked his ass off to go ahead and you know fill out and become whatever needed to he needed to become in that that time and um learning the slide parts and all of that and then just uh there was a book that I read recently that I I did a revieww on there's a video I'll link down below was about the Almond Brothers and uh really really good book but the part that struck me was after Dwayne died you know most bands would just kind of fizzle away at that point and we would remember them as being a great band but it would be Dwayne died and it was over but Dicky Betts took charge and um made a lot of people uncomfortable with how he took charge but was strong and was like this thing is not going to die with Dwayne and um we got so much more great music great albums out of uh the Almond Brothers because Dicky Betts made it happen he stuck you know worked his ass off and did anything that he had to do to keep that thing going and um also I don't believe he gets the credit that he deserves for uh being a great songwriter you know really wrote some great songs and there's something I'll reference here a little bit later but like Rambling Man Bob Dylan you know told Dickies like I should have wrote that that's a song I should have wrote It's a pretty great compliment when um Bob Dylan is telling you I wish I would have wrote that song it's telling you that's a damn good song man you really did a great job with that and there's a story of Dicky playing it with Dylan and Dylan he's like do you know the words Bob and he's like yeah I know the words and he goes out there and he sings it Bob Dylan is singing it he's like it sounds better than anybody's everever sing it before there's another part of that story where Dicky's asking Bob Dylan's manager like why does Bob like me so much because they really get along really well and hit it off and um his manager says you're Bob Dylan's favorite guitar player you know he wishes he could play like you you're everything that he loves about guitar and uh you know Dicky bets Bob dillan's had a few great guitar players in his band and he's been around some really great guitar players but he love Dicky bets and um I'll say more about that later um just worth saying but um some quick tributes that um as soon as I got in the hotel room I just pulled up Facebook and I fig figured Dicky bets is probably trending I thought let's see what people are saying about Dicky and uh I pulled a couple quick quotes from people that I thought were interesting saying things the first one is the Almond Brothers official site I don't know who would be the person writing this but it says with deep sadness the Almond Brothers Band learned today that founding member Dicky Betts has passed away peacefully in his home in Sarasota Florida following a period of declining Health Dicky wrot wrot quintessential Brothers songs including Blue Sky Ramblin Man Jessica in memory of Elizabeth Reed and many others that's some pretty heavyweight songwriting there his extraordinary guitar playing alongside guitarist Dwayne alond created a unique dual guitar signature sound that became the signature sound of the genre known as southern rock I personally believe that sound goes Way Beyond any particular genre I went on to influence so so many people playing in rock bands in heavy rock bands in country bands and as we'll get to here in a second even in some fusion areas or whatever so it's a yes it did Define southern rock but it goes way beyond that that's an oversimplification to to pigeon hole this thing that Dicky and Dwayne you know and the Almond Brothers did to put it into just that that one little hole it's just not fair to them I don't think but that's my personal opinion it says he was passionate in life be it music songwriting fishing hunting boating golf karate or boxing Dicky was all in and excelled at anything that caught his attention it's interesting the boxing thing I'm sure that's something him and Bob had in common there but um also while we're paying the tributes here I saw aliola Al demola you know praising Dicky Betts which I think is pretty great he uh Al demola says Dicky Betts from the Almond Brothers passed on I was a fan as a teenager and was at the and I was at the live at the Filmore East shows the combo of Dwayne and Dicky was Unforgettable the live record still holds up to this day that's very true I'll never forget attending both shows both nights the 11:30 shows went till the sun came up I'll never forget the sun rising on the East River and as the doors open to leave the dark theater we were blinded by son but went home inspired rest in peace Mr bit imagine being there were any of you guys at the at those shows that's a that's probably one of those shows where the Filmore probably hold x amount of people and there's 20 times more people than it could actually hold to claim they were there that's it's all right though I don't blame you Kenny Wayne Shepard says we truly have lost an icon Dicky bets was one of the baddest guitar players on the planet damn straight Kenny Wayne a member of the once in a generation Club his imprint will last forever as well as his music and his memory rest in peace and then um Johnny Neil I have a little story I'm going to tell here in just a second it includes Johnny Neil Johnny Neil said uh Dicky bets death hits deep if it weren't for Dicky taking a chance on me I would still be in the minor leagues he had a unique style of playing guitar like no other when you played with Dicky you better be ready and keep up he sure was a good friend to me rest in peace Dicky love you brother Johnny Neil played keys with h Dicky bets and then did a stretch I believe with the almonds sometime you guys can correct me on that stuff but um my story that loops around with Johnny Neil I um and I've shared this at some point on here but I have a feeling you guys didn't see this cuz it was a long time ago and it didn't get a ton of views I went to a blues jam in the north side of Indianapolis in my old neighborhood of Broad Ripple place called The Patio it held 400 for concerts but you know a 100 people in there looked packed looked real you know it's that kind of place and then Monday or Tuesday night they had a blues jam once a week and I would go there I'm not much of a Jammer you know but I would go and I'd try to meet folks and have fun I didn't know very many people at that time it was a long time ago it I'm thinking 1988 89 91 somewhere in there it all blurs together but I got up on stage me and my buddy Dave and we were playing um some rudimentary Blues doing our thing and having fun with it and then at the front door there was like this commotion as these people came in kind of looked like bikers and uh like what the hell is this and we're kind of playing and uh as they start coming towards the stage the crowd starts part parting like the Red Sea and there's people kind of hear him going oh oh I'm thinking what the hell is this and there's this group of people get closer to the stage I look down and it's Dicky bets and I'm like what the hell Dicky bets and he'd played at the patio's sister Club earlier I didn't know that it's like one or two blocks away and um he played and when he was done well I want to go play some more like there's a blues jam around the corner he's like come on let's go play so he shows up he gets up on the stage and Johnny Neil is with him and I for years didn't didn't know his name or who it was he was a blind man who played keys played his ass off really really great really great and um but that's how I remembered him a great player and uh and we just I remember Dicky got up the guitar you know and started playing and I just backed up slowly what the hell am I going to do Dicky bets you know playing with him or whatever I'm just like I'm going to blend in I'm going to play a little bit and support whatever it is turn the volume down on my guitar a little bit just stay back and watch the show from the best seat in the house just right here watching Dicky and I just kind of went back and blended into the wall and played I remember we played Stormy Monday I don't remember what else we played a few songs and then it was kind of time for me to get the hell off the stage and move along and I did and um I just kind of watched and Dicky played for a little more but just imagine you guys have a blues jam in Town there's uh the people who show up to the blues jam these are people that would absolutely freaking love Dicky bets and imagine if Dicky Betts walked into your local blues jam the people there were losing their freaking Minds you know this is the coolest damn thing you know it was really really great it was a beautiful thing and it's one of those things it's weird how it gets forgotten to history years later that became my home Club I played there 100 7 times I worked the door there for a little while and um I would tell this story I was the last person to ever play that club and um honored to be and um I remember I was telling stories about what things that had happened and I'd witnessed there and I told that one and a little story ran in the I think in Indianapolis Star about that but um it was forgotten you know even I wasn't telling people that story that much but these things happen and you just don't think about it but uh did you guys ever get to play with Dicky Bets did you ever have that kind of fun it's a beautiful experience that I'll treasure for a long time even though the analogy I always use is to say that I was playing music with Dicky bets is like if I installed one you know R if I just installed one bolt on the Eiffel Tower and I claimed I helped build it Technic it's true but we all know I'm just kind of back there enjoying the ride while they drive the train or whatever I'm going to link a video up here about uh Dicky Betts and Bob Dylan's friendship and how Dicky Betts punched a senator and Bob liked it at least he thought that he did and uh there's a little teaser for you it's really really good stuff and I think you'll enjoy it I'll put it up here but um tell me your Dicky bet Story down below if you ever got to play with him or whatever and uh I'll see you somewhere down the road much love to you and rest easy Dicky

Channel: Otis Gibbs

Views: 56,737

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Id: MxOEVF8mGI4

Length: 13min 40sec (820 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 18 2024