Dickey Betts, a founding member of The Allman Brothers Band, passed away on April 18, 2024. His loss will be felt throughout the entirety of the music-loving world, but will hit particularly hard with southern rock fans.
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Many artists operating under the “southern rock” banner have credited The Allman Brothers Band for having inspired their own musical journey. Find three such artists, below.
1. Marcus King
Marcus King wears his inspirations on his sleeve. Among those inspirations is The Allman Brothers Band. His guitar prowess seems innate. He plays with the same ease as breathing. King, however, attributes his affinity for a fret board to Duane Allman.
“Duane Allman, among my father and many others, lit a fire underneath me that couldn’t be put out,” he once said.
2. Duane Betts
Betts’ son, Duane, decided to follow in his father’s footsteps. Not only has he taken the reins of the Allman brothers’ beloved catalog as part of the The Allman Betts Band, but he has also forged a solo career. In everything that Duane Betts does, there are elements reminiscent of his father–particularly his stellar guitar skills. In his music, Betts attempts to rekindle the extended jam magic of southern rock groups–mainly The Allman Brothers Band.
“That’s part of the idea of having a song that has an extended jam in it,” Duane Betts once told American Songwriter. “You don’t want it to be all jam but, you don’t want to get rid of one of your strong suits either. Bands like The Allman Brothers Band or Grateful Dead, have really great songs but they jam a lot too.”
3. Lynyrd Skynyrd
Lynyrd Skynyrd are often thought of as southern rock pioneers, but, no one creates in a vacuum. Even they had to glean inspiration from somewhere. That somewhere was The Allman Brothers Band. Upon Gregg Allman’s death in 2017, Skynyrd member Rickey Medlocke spoke about the band’s longtime affinity for their fellow Floridians.
“My God, ‘Free Bird’ was more or less written with Duane in mind,” Medlocke said. “We looked at the Allman Brothers as the fathers of what was to be called Southern rock. In our book, if you didn’t like the Allman Brothers, you were sacrilegious.”
(Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)
