Dickey Betts passed away in early 2024 after dealing with a variety of health issues. The surviving members of the Allman Brothers Band are preparing to celebrate the legacy of the co-founding guitarist in February with a special concert in Macon, Georgia.
Warren Haynes is one of many within the circle especially grateful for everything he had a chance to be a part of with Betts. “Dickey gave me the biggest opportunity of my career. He hired me in his band and I had no idea at that time that would lead to me joining the Allman Brothers. But it did — and in 1989, they asked me to join the [group] when they reformed,” he shared during a conversation on the UCR Podcast. “That opened every door imaginable for me.”
“I was such a huge Allman Brothers fan and as it turns out, every band and every musician in the rock realm has that same sort of reverence for that music that I do,” he continued. “Because everyone I met through that experience, they looked at the Allman Brothers’ music the same way that we did. What an honor to be part of something like that. Once I joined the Allman Brothers, there was no closed door that wasn’t able to be opened.”
When pressed to identify what it was that made Betts special as a player, Haynes didn’t have to think more than a second to find his answer. “He had that flowing melody thing, one note after another that all feels like you’re singing along with the music,” the guitarist explained. “His solos have that singing quality and that melodic ease that pulled the listener along. In turn, it turned into something that people looked at it as being part of the song. You know, the parts he played were so singable and hummable that even people who didn’t play an instrument were singing along with his guitar solos.”
The Spirit of the Allman Brothers Lives on With Haynes
Million Voices Whisper, Haynes’ newest solo record, was released this past November and it’s one that finds him exploring a number of different musical avenues, including taking some time to reflect on his musical past. He enlisted his former Allman Brothers bandmate Derek Trucks to write with him for the album. The pair endeavored to finish off a song which Gregg Allman had begun but never completed, “Real, Real Love.” The album itself is dedicated to Betts, whose presence is also felt within the material. “A lot of the reason that I dedicated this album to him, aside from the obvious, is that I felt like this music needed for me to play with a little more of his influence than I normally would,” Haynes said. “So there are several songs where I’m definitely channeling Dickey intentionally.”
READ MORE: Derek Trucks Remembers Heartbreaking Final Visits With Gregg Allman
He admits that completing “Real, Real Love” was a moving experience. “It was very emotional. It came together really quickly when I first started writing it and that’s usually a good sign,” he notes. “That’s something Gregg and I talked about a lot — when a song comes quickly, you’re very thankful for it. Because they don’t always and it doesn’t mean better or worse. Some of the best songs take a long time, but some of them come instantly and that one kind of did. There was a lot of inspiration. But his presence was very much felt throughout that whole process. The fact that we’re all in the room together recording and Derek and I are looking at each other in the same room while we’re recording, made all of the difference in the world.
Tickets for In Memory of Dickey Betts, set for Feb. 28 in Macon, quickly sold out, but fans will have other opportunities to see Haynes this year. He’ll head out on the road next month for another leg of concerts in support of Million Voices Whisper and also has a handful of shows scheduled presently with Gov’t Mule.
Watch Warren Haynes and Derek Trucks Perform ‘Real, Real Love’
Listen to Warren Haynes on the ‘UCR Podcast’
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Gallery Credit: Michael Gallucci
