ALBUMS: Highway Call (1974), Dickey Betts and Great Southern (1977)
MVC Rating: Highway Call, 4.0/$$$; DB and Great Southern 3.5/$$
I have here a Richard Betts record, and a Dickey Betts record.
Two records. Same guy.
But the bands are different and the music is a bit different, well maybe a teeny bit different.
I believe I like the Richard Betts better.
Whatever he called himself, Betts is one of the founding members of the Allman Brothers Band and these albums were side projects, which sound like Allman Brothers musicians doing side projects.
Betts along with Duane Allman became known for their twin guitar approach often running into extended, melodic jams with a jazzy blues home base.
Betts has a very clean and lucid picking style on electric guitar that is an Allman Brothers’ trademark.
This is a guy who won the Grammy for his beautiful instrumental, ‘Jessica.’
Highway Call gets my nod between these two because it, and this may sound strange, seems a little more tossed off. Kind of like a live set on the front porch in Macon, Ga. But you know it’s not tossed off when you have band members such as fiddler Vassar Clements and keyboardist Chuck Leavell. They just have a way of making music that goes into the wind and comes back in all the right places.
‘Highway Call’ is one of several standout tracks with a little country swing and nice piano from Leavell.
Dickey Betts and Great Southern strives for that feel but is a little more produced. It definitely has a more rock sound, e.g. ‘Run Gypsy Run.’ Both albums have some extended instrumental jams, conducive for relaxing.
And that, as you get older, is a good thing. And gives these records shelf life.
But if you are starting off on Southern rock, first go see Allman Brothers’ ‘Brothers and Sisters’ or ‘Eat a Peach.’
These are records I certainly bought used at Wuxtry in Athens, Ga. during my high school years.
Counting down my 678 vinyl records before I die of brain disease.
Here’s how you’d imagine Betts, just picking and singing on his front porch in 1974:
Here’s Allman’s w/Betts doing his Grammy winner, Jessica.