The guitarist who was born a ‘Ramblin’ Man’

Dickey Betts 1943–2024

Dickey Betts was such a quintessential rock star—his hair long, his talent electric, and his attitude rebellious— that they modeled the guitarist in the 2000 film Almost Famous explicitly after him. As co-lead guitarist for the Allman Brothers Band, he helped shape its blend of rock, jazz, blues, and country into a new genre, Southern rock. He wrote and sang several of the band’s most popular songs, including 1973’s “Ramblin’ Man,” the ode to an unencumbered life on the road that was the Allman Brothers’ biggest hit. The band played hard and often butted heads, breaking up and getting back together multiple times. “When five or six guys are together working intensely, they can really get into some duels,” Betts said in 1989. “We had our spats and fights and knock’em-down-drag-outs.”

Born in West Palm Beach, Fla., Forrest Richard Betts was the son of a fiddler, said Rolling Stone. He picked up the ukulele at age 5, and then added mandolin and banjo before landing on guitar as a teen in hopes of impressing girls. As he began kicking around in bands, he met guitarist Duane Allman, who invited him to join a new venture alongside brother Gregg in 1969. Duane Allman and Betts “took rock-guitar improvisation and two-guitar dueling to new heights,” and the band continued after Duane’s death in 1971, with Gregg as leader. But as Betts’ “musical reputation increased, so did his wild streak,” said The Washington Post. He started speeding around on motorcycles and trashing hotel rooms. At one point, he took a swing at a cop; another time he shot a cow.

Eventually the band’s “outsize drug and alcohol use was becoming an increasing problem,” and they split up in 1976 for three years and again in 1982 for five, said The New York Times. Betts focused on solo projects until the group reunited. Yet his reckless behavior never ceased. He was arrested in 1996 for aiming a gun at his wife, and finally the band fired him in 2000 for his drinking. Betts retired soon after, and later said that what he’d most loved about his career was performing live. “The crowd got more out of the music than I did,” he said. “I just really get a kick out of the audience and how they could just kind of drift away to another world.”