Dickey Betts Band - Pattern Disruptive

Up against Gregg Allman Band’s output around this time, this band is a tremendous breath of fresh air. Armed with the introduction here of Warren Haynes, and the return of a true dual guitar attack, this one in many ways is the best non-Allman Brothers Band album thus far. With a return to southern rock, blues, and more than a slight hint of glam rock, this is an unrelenting storm of notes, with Rock Bottom, Time to Roll, The Blues Ain’t Nothin’, the instrumental Duane’s Tune, and the jam in Under the Gun of Love as the highlights. This is good fun.

Not to mention 2/3 of Gov’t Mule is in the band. Plus future ABB pianist Johnny Neel.

Easily the best solo ABB album since Laid Back.

Make sure you check out Tales Of Ordinary Madness by Warren.

I am pretty sure at some point I will do a separate Warren Haynes/Gov’t Mule journey since otherwise we’ll be here for the next year. But it will make that list for sure.

Dreams - Part I: the Pre-Allman Brothers Years

Almost like a nice summary of the journey so far, I am going to relive a bunch through the 5 hour anthology. Starting with the years I didn’t cover, before their debut, are a bunch of projects and bands they were initially associated with in the South. The Allman Joys had a sort of blues meets 60s pop vibe going on with Spoonful and Crossroads here being pretty killer. The Hour Glass seems to have started very poppy, but the B.B. King Medley is pretty phenomenal. The 31st of February a pretty damn good folk rock group, and their cover of Morning Dew is great. The Second Coming is Dickey Betts and Berry Oakley doing some solid psychedelic blues, akin almost to an Iron Butterfly. Duane Allman comes in with the slow burning Goin’ Down Slow, and this all finishes up with the Allman Brothers Band’s demo of Dreams. This seems pretty essential in understanding where their sound came from and all the influences that were the magic potion for the Allman Brothers Band in the years that followed. Great start!

Thanks for the write-ups. I didn't know that Warren's entry to the Allman Brothers was via a Dickey Betts band. Was that where he also met Woody, leading eventually to Gov't Mule? Or had those 2 played together before that?

I didn’t know that either until yesterday. Sometimes you learn stuff on these artist journeys.

Warren and Matt Abts were both on Dickey’s band along with Johnny Neel. When the Allmans reformed he brought Warren and Neel along and they found Woody thru auditions. IIRC Warren knew of him thru Lynyrd Skynyrd drummer Artimus Pyle but didn’t actually know him yet. Warren was pretty big in the Nashville scene in the mid-to-late 80’s and had connections with a lot of people. He even co-wrote a huge number one hit for Garth Brooks during this time. It was during the time he met and befriended fellow guitarist Jack Pearson who eventually replaced him in the ABB when he and Woody left to concentrate on Gov’t Mule.

Thanks. I mis-read and thought it was Woody, not Abts, in that Dickey band.

By coincidence, I saw Mule play on this date in 2006 in a pool (dry) in Brooklyn.

this is a really nice thread. i'm inspired to go back and listen at least to the early records

Dreams - Part II: The Duane Allman Years

As you sit back and admire the effort of the pre-Allman Brothers, it doesn’t get lost on you once you hit the first Allman Brothers songs how damned great they were. Barreling out the gate, the full assault of the Duane Allman years - near perfection - gets full display as they power through both studio and live cuts that exemplify those few years and mostly from the stuff we’ve already covered. A special few years here that once you hear it again serves as a reminder that it just could never be repeated.

Dreams - Part III: the Post-Duane Years

For this part of the retrospective, they really did bring out the best of what they had at the time, and gave space for all of the splintered side bands, well except Sea Level. It sounds really good but there’s no doubt that the band was never the same. A slow but noticeable decline - though certainly good enough to be worth it to listen through this piece again. And a great reminder how unmistakably great Brothers & Sisters was.

Now you’re ready for the rebirth.

Conceptually, this is what I am going for and was the motivation for taking on Dreams, which is largely a rehash of what I have already listened to. From 1975 until about 1988, we have these releases that are okay but lack the spark of the band at its peak. Instead of just enjoying the ride, you find yourself looking for moments of redemption - they are there and I tried to highlight them, but it’s not the naturally electric atmosphere they had always at least through Brothers & Sisters. Ready for the next phase of this band for sure.

IIRC, that set is the only place a studio version of Statesboro Blues exists. Just about everything else from the Duane era has been re-released in some form of fashion but not that. And it’s an odd version of it as well. They played it in C when all live versions of it are in D. Strange.

Yeah it does sound weird. I wasn’t as skilled at placing what it was about it though.

Seven Turns

First Allman Brothers Band album in 9 years, off the heels of the Dreams retrospective boxed set, finds the band looking forward with a massive assist from Warren Haynes. I never thought how similar his voice plays to Gregg Allman’s but when they do switch it up it seems totally seamless. And the band just sounds great with the guitar duo of Haynes and Betts. A little fresher and edgier than they have been in a long time, and with a return to good southern blues rock that feels natural to them. Low Down Dirty Mean is really phenomenal, as is True Gravity. Good Clean Fun, Shine It On, Loaded Dice, Seven Turns, and Gambler’s Roll we’re also immediate highlights. Rebirth indeed, though it seems almost like everything that came before almost never even happened - like they could do this in their sleep as if they had never stopped.

Kind of bummed no NYC date, but Otiel and Friends are one the road now and toting a killer line up.




https://archive.org/details/OAF2022-09- ... 08_08.flac

Very nice Hot'Lanta here.

Oteil should never have left TTB. I did meet him before a TTB show in Chattanooga a number of years back.

Very strong album. Easily the best since Brothers and Sisters and quite possibly on par with it.

Shades of Two Worlds

Let the good times roll! Fresh off a fantastic album, the Allman Brothers Band comes right back with another excellent effort. The behemoths of Nobody Knows and Kind of Bird are essential listening. Get on With Your Life, Bad Rain, and Desert Blues all fantastic. Come on in My Kitchen is quite different and stripped down and still excellent. The rebirth continues uninterrupted.