Why did dickey betts leave

He last played live with his band three years ago, at a capacity club in Mill Valley, California. Everyone wishes they could be young forever. For all his excesses, Betts has outlived every founding member except drummer Jaimoe. Drummer Butch Trucks committed suicide in January, and Gregg Allman succumbed to various health issues, primarily liver cancer, in May.

Betts gives a tour of his home, full of Allmans artifacts. Gold-album certifications for landmarks like At Fillmore East and Eat a Peach are mounted near handwritten letters from then-President Jimmy Carter, thanking Betts for helping to raise money for his presidential campaign. And it was Betts who assumed the leadership role after Duane died in a motorcycle accident.

After a three-year reunion that ended in , they re-formed in , and Betts soon became the driving force again, especially after Allman relapsed. But he was never the leader-type personality. Tired of dealing with his bossiness, drinking issues and unpredictability, the three other founders — Allman, Jaimoe and Trucks — wrote him a letter after a series of rocky shows in , saying he was out of the band until he sobered up.

He quit. Holman says he has no recollection of that request. Whatever the case, Betts was awarded an undisclosed financial settlement and his walking papers. Gregg wanted horns. And the road manager would be more worried about that. That was pretty real to life. Later, Russell verifies the facts with Rolling Stone and they run it as a cover story. What actually occurred, though, at least with the Allman Brothers ahead of their real-life Rolling Stone cover story that ran Dec.

I took to Cameron Crowe, I liked him. I felt like any help I could get him, even just like making him feel comfortable, would be a good thing to do. And it was really nice to see that. Like trying to imagine how they would react to it. What it would mean to them.

We were a good team. We never really wrote anything together but we wrote well, his songs and my songs went together really well. Dickey Betts and Gregg Allman were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame together along with the rest of the surviving Allman Brothers Band members in before going their separate ways in And it was just so crazy.

Fellow singer-songwriter and guitarist Warren Haynes , who had first played in the Dickey Betts Band before Betts recruited him for the Allman Brothers in , defended his friend's legacy.

Betts may not have agreed with how things went down, but he's gracious and makes it clear in the new interview that he's not angry at his former bandmates though he once referred to a later version of the group as a "tribute band". He even takes on some of the blame for the past bad blood, saying his move to audit the band's finances when he was let go was "a big fin' mistake on my part.

Though much has been made about the reported feud between Betts and Allman, Betts said the two made their peace. Allman did, however, leave a spot open on his final album, Southern Blood , for a solo by Betts, according to producer Don Was, but Allman never got around to asking him. That was a very special band, and [keyboard player] Chuck Leavell and [bassist] Allen Woody [who joined later] were great. All of those guys were just a lot of fun. The branches of the Allman family tree continue to intertwine.

Betts' son Duane plays guitar in his band. The younger Betts — his mother Paulette was a personal assistant to Cher, who was married to Gregg Allman in the s — will play at Peach with a band led by Gregg's son Devon.

Betts was taken aback by the response when he played a show in Macon in May. At the Peach, his set will include Allman Brothers songs he wrote such as "Blue Sky" and "Jessica," but also "Whipping Post" and "Midnight Rider," which were sung by Gregg Allman, one of the greatest white blues singers ever.

While retired, Betts didn't play too much guitar. You can't really play at home in your living room and to put yourself through the paces of what it's like to be on stage. It's not the same. I had to do a lot of work to get back where I need to be. It's like Tiger Woods: He can't take off for four years and come back and win every tournament. It takes a little time. But it's good, it's really good.

I don't mean I'm really good. I mean the band. I've got a hell of a band.