Long Time Gone
“I’VE DEFINITELY LIVED a dangerous life,” admits 75-year-old guitar legend Dickey Betts, “but not really that much different than a lot of other rock and rollers.”
Case in point: Of the six original members of the legendary Allman Brothers Band, only Betts and former drummer Jaimoe Johanson are still around to tell the tale. Guitarist Duane Allman was killed in a motorcycle accident in 1971, at just 24 years of age. Bass player Berry Oakley suffered the same fate a year later, close to the same location. Drummer Butch Trucks shot himself in 2017, and Gregg Allman, the band’s charismatic singer and keyboardist, succumbed to liver cancer after decades of hard living, just four months after Trucks’ passing.
Last year, Betts suffered a stroke, only to find himself hospitalized again a month later following a serious home accident. Just prior to those two incidents, on July 21, 2018, he’d recorded a live show (BMG), with abbreviated audio versions available on CD and vinyl.
