Allman Brothers Band Guitarist Dead at 80

Rock ‘n Roll fans were crushed Thursday night.

Hall of Fame musician Dickey Betts reportedly died.

The legendary guitarist was 80 years old.

The Ramblin’ Man

Betts’ manager, David Spero, announced the death, stating that Betts had been suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Spero stated, “He was surrounded by his whole family and he passed peacefully. They didn’t think he was in any pain.”

Betts was a founding member of the Allman Brothers Band in 1969.

Up until the Allman Brothers Band formed, Betts had primarily made his living as a session musician. Then, Phil Walden matched him up with the Allman brothers.

Initially, Betts shared lead guitar duties with Duane Allman but became the sole guitarist when Duane died in 1971.

Betts spent virtually all of his free time practicing to master the guitar parts that Duane had covered to that point.

Betts also contributed as a songwriter for the Allman Brothers Band, writing one of the band’s biggest hits, “Ramblin’ Man.”

In 1976, the Allman Brothers Band split up, but Betts had already started a solo career in 1974, launching albums in 1977 and 1978.

In 1979, the Allman Brothers Band reformed with two new members replacing Chuck Leavell and Lamar Williams.

Over the next few years, the band seemingly had a revolving door of members, and this showed in declining ticket and album sales, which led to the band breaking up again in 1982.

Betts took a crack at forming another band, but eventually went on to his solo career, putting out another album in 1989.

The Allman Brothers Band did a reunion tour in 1989, with Betts replacing some of the missing pieces from his band. The reunion was so well received that the band continued to crank out three more albums through 1994.

The band continued to tour, but Betts missed numerous dates due to “personal reasons,” with Betts playing his final show as part of the band in 2000.

Betts was reportedly ousted from the band after having received a fax telling him to “get clean.”

This eventually led to Betts filing a suit against the three remaining original band members, but Greg Allman and Betts did reconcile in 2017, just before Allman died.

Betts reformed his old band in 2000, renaming it Dickey Betts & Great Southern, adding Betts’ son Duane to the mix (yes, he was named after Duane Allman), with that band’s final album, “Dickey Betts & Great Southern Official Bootleg Vol. 1,” being released in 2021.

Jai Johanny Johanson (drums) remains the only original surviving member of the Allman Brothers Band now.