When former Allman Brothers Band guitarist Dickey Betts died in April 2024, he left a legacy of technical virtuosity and generation-defining songwriting that impressed loads of his friends — together with Bob Dylan.
Betts mirrored on his relationship with Dylan in an interview with Ray Padgett for his ebook Pledging My Time: Conversations With Bob Dylan Band Members, which he reshared in his Flagging Down the Double E’s publication. The 2 first crossed paths within the ’70s, when Betts spent a few days on the highway with Dylan and Robbie Robertson. Each musicians frolicked and jammed a number of different instances over time, together with a memorable efficiency of “Ramblin’ Man” throughout Dylan’s 1995 live performance in Tampa, Florida, close to the place Betts grew up.
When Betts requested how acquainted Dylan was with the track, he was pleasantly stunned on the singer’s response.
“One other time, Bob wished do ‘Ramblin’ Man,'” Betts recalled. “I mentioned, ‘You do not know the phrases to that, do you?’ He mentioned, ‘I do know all of the phrases to “Ramblin’ Man.” I shoulda wrote that track myself.’ I mentioned, ‘OK, let’s test. If you do not know, simply make shit up, and you will do effectively.’ So we sang ‘Ramblin’ Man.’ He sang each phrase precisely the way in which I wrote it.”
He continued: “I imply, he knew it! And he sang it higher than it is ever been sung earlier than. [Betts busts into a Dylan impression:] ‘I am on my means right down to New Or-leans this morning.’ He was speaking and singing on the identical time. It was nice.”
READ MORE: Dickey Betts Dies: Rockers React
Bob Dylan Shouted Out Dickey Betts In One among His Personal Songs
Dylan later expressed his fondness for Betts in his 2020 track “Homicide Most Foul.” The 17-minute epic contains the lyrics “Play Oscar Peterson, play Stan Getz / Play ‘Blue Sky,’ play Dickey Betts.“
“Oh, that was such an honor,” Betts informed Padgett. “All my buddies had been coming to me saying, ‘Man, did you hear Bob Dylan’s talked about you in a track?’ I mentioned, ‘No shit.’
“I heard the track. I used to be so embarrassed, I might say, ‘Effectively, he simply used me as a result of it rhymes with Getz.’ [laughs] Folks would inform me, ‘Oh, bullshit,’ however anyway, I used to be very embarrassed as a result of it was such a flattering factor for Bob Dylan to say you in a track.”
Hear Bob Dylan and Dickey Betts Play ‘Ramblin’ Man’ in Tampa in 1995
Allman Brothers Albums Ranked
Their lengthy, difficult historical past is not all the time a simple one to navigate.
Gallery Credit score: Michael Gallucci
