Dickey Betts

& Great Southern

In the beginning...

In September of 1977, I went on a road trip with James Boros as the Charlie James Duo. The trip was to Sarasota, FL for two fun-filled weeks at the Holiday Inn lounge. I honestly wanted to turn the gig down, but I needed the money.

A six-night-a-week gig, we opened on Monday night to an empty bar room. We played anyway, if only for the beautiful blond bar maid, Tanya. There were a couple of customers come, and with nothing much happening except a couple of guys on stage, they would leave. About half way through the night a tall scruffy looking character came in and started talking to Tanya. When we got off stage, the buzz through the room was that he was hooked up somehow to Dickey Betts. I wandered over to the bar and noticed he was flashing a roll of $100 bills, with which (seemed obvious to me) he was trying to win Tanya's affection. I introduced myself, but the fellow wasn't too interested in talking to me. Nothing else significant happened.
Tuesday night, sometime during the 2nd set, a couple of guys with long hair and beards and sat down right in front of us. By the swagger, I figured they had to be musicians. I dropped in at their table during the break and found that they were both drummers with Dickey Betts and Great Southern. Too cool. But 'cooler' happened when the dark haired dude mentioned that Dickey might be looking for a keyboard player. A spark of hope hit me, but I quickly beat it down. I mean, I'm in a Holiday Inn, get serious. And the night ended without further incident.
Wednesday night, the music was cooking away when an unruly looking group of at least 7 or 8 guys walked into the lounge. It occurred to me that this might be the Dickey Betts band. I knew most of the early Allman Brothers music but couldn't have picked Dickey Betts out of a lineup. I recognized that the two drummers were in the crowd. Of course, I played my butt off. We came off on break and I went to meet them. I was introduced to Dickey Betts who seemed kind of quiet and to himself. The rest of the band introduced themselves and were the ones that held the conversation with me. James & I played the next set, which as I remember, I felt I was playing for my life. I was in the zone. I vaguely remember some Chick Corea type solo I took. On break again, there was more small talk. Finally, Dickey approached me and asked if I'd like to come to a jam session the next day. I told him I felt honored.
I did everything I could to keep my expectations from getting too high. Meanwhile, James was just about flipping out. I think Dickey was one of his big heroes, and true to form, he just couldn't stop talking about him. I think he was also a bit put off that he wasn't asked to jam as well.
Thursday came and somehow (I just don't remember how) I got to a warehouse someplace in Bradenton. The huge room had a couple of huge semi-truck size garage doors and was probably at least 10,000 sq ft on the ground. It was a two story facility with tons of amps, speakers, and other PA equipment. Some of it was decent, lots of gear was in obvious need of repair.
They had a Hammond B3 set up and ready for me. Cool, I didn't even have to bring mine! I was told it was one of the Allman Brothers Band organs Gregg had used. The two Leslie speakers were souped up. I tested it out a bit - quite loud! A whole lot more bass end than I was used to.
And the jam began. It is all hazy to me now, but we started some song that they were just learning. I don't think I added much to it since it was still taking form. Then Dickey decided to go into Elizabeth Reed. What a great song and I was thanking both Lane Cameron and Tony Cimorosi for valuable experience I had playing this piece. The whole band, with me a part of it, sailed through the song. Dickey was pleased. Danny and the Rook were both smiling as well. I remember Doni with this grin, looking like the cat that ate the canary. We jammed for another 30 minutes doing a several other songs from the Allman Brothers Band era, and then stopped and had a beer.
The party eventually ended and I was back at the Holiday Inn telling James all about it. I remember his attitude changed a bit. James warned me that the Allman Brothers day was over and that Dickey was past his prime. I was kind of shocked, but decided it sounded more like jealousy. However, there had been no offer. It all just ended. I was hopeful, but didn't seem to see the signs that anything would happen.
During Thursday night's gig, Don Buh showed up again (the dude was still trying to get somewhere with Tanya). Towards the end of the night, he told me Dickey asked me to come jam again the next day. I had already readied myself for a letdown and although this wasn't a letdown, it still wasn't an offer. I remember wondering if I had only passed some of the audition and maybe I needed to prove something else.
Well, that wasn't the case. I went to jam at the warehouse again on Friday. We started by playing Elizabeth Reed again. We worked out a transition in the middle of the piece that was different than the original recording, and then stopped for a beer. And Dickey, with the rest of the band flanked around him, asked me if I'd join the band and go into the recording studio with them to cut their next album.
I thought about telling him I would consider it... NAH!. I accepted, and we had another beer.

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