:clapping: for Dickey Betts.. he is what I have always loved about the ABB... for me ( who's line is that , they use it on their posts ?? peachmanic ?? is it yours,, I love it... not minimizing any ones worth who have played with the ABB or who still are playing with them.. It was just Dickey that opened my heart to what he was playing... no explaining it, it just was/is... I guess that is what happens when you "get it"... I do , I do... All great posts with lots of feeling and passion from all.. Tyler.. :waving: Kitty... sorry to hear about your carpal tunnel, on the flip side , good that it not shoulder related... do you have therapy ?? Hope you feel better. Lizzie.. hope you are recovering from your back injections today... hope you are not in pain.. Let us know... :angel: :dog: Joseph :angel: :inlove:

Re Butch Trucks-- I certainly am not posting to defend Butch. I have always loved his drumming abilities with the ABB, and in the end that's what I'll take from Butch. His comments and digs at Betts are uncalled for and amateurish. However....I think the topic regarding his comments on Haynes and Derek are interesting. I don't know that I took away that he thinks the current guitarists are "better" (and they are damn good if you ask me). They may well be more technically proficient because they are simply older and great at their craft. Duane never had a chance to evolve in the mature technical side of playing due to his death at a young age. Of course he was great, but imagine Duane with five more years of experience and playing under his belt? Wow, right??? Listen, Butch is at least entitled to his opinion as to how he sees the band, and he sees it from a different perspective than we do. Whether I agree or disagree doesn't matter, he's entitled to that. Also....I won't disagree on Derek's playing, he is just amazin', and Warren has his own niche too. The two play very well together, but I won't compare them to Dickey and Duane simply because....well, you all know 🙂

Hey everybody! Glad to see Amy is progressing. We're all with you, Luke. Nic - good luck on your tests. It turns out that I have carpal tunnel in my left hand and that's what is making my arm/hand go numb. Probably from too many posts. 😆 As for Butch - I like him as a drummer, but I really can't stand his disrespect of Dickey. You'd think he could be more of a man than that, but I guess NOT.

I'm doing fine Tyler and thanks for the well wishes. Stephen, I also so much enjoyed the 03 & 04 DB&GS and I enjoy them very much in the current lineup. To me in 02 when DDT joined the stars all lined up and the end result was incredible. 😎 The only other guitar lineups that hit the note for me like Dickey & Danny were Dickey & Warren and Dickey & Duane. I am partial to Danny as his playing moves me so much. I do so much miss the sax and flute though, but if there is one constant with Dickey in his music other than that tone, it is change. We are all truly blessed to have been able to enjoy the Music and Life of Mr. Betts. He is an American Musical Icon in my book. Peach.

I also forgot to mention to Nic that with as many shows as you've seen over the years your ears are far from "amature"... they know the truth!

Well said Nic....and TRUE! When we saw The ABB last April in Macon....I really didnt think I would hear any Dickey songs and then they pulled out Liz Reed....my cousin and I just looked at eachother with our mouths open. We were shocked but soooo thankful to hear it! It and Desdemona were the BEST songs of the night...........

Hey Now!! For my amature ears The original ABB was the Best Damn Band In The Land... EVER Dickey picked up the band with the loss of Duane and Berry and carried them on his shoulders for almost 30 years...FACT The ABB still needs to play Dickey tunes to keep their fans... THEY DO IT EVERY NIGHT The 2002 lineup of DB&GS could go toe to toe with any band during that period on any given night...LISTEN TO THE TAPES Nuff Said... I hope you all have a Safe & Goodtime Monday. 😎 Peach.

Lets face it .. we are all the ones carrying a torch for DB music and what it REALLY meant to the ABB Band. Thanks Blackey, Lizzie, Peachmanic John ( that was great reading) and I think wild rick had something up too..in regards to Butch's words... He is a klutz when it comes to speaking..he seems so anxious to get his jabs in about DB that the good parts of his interviews become nothing more than ramblings to many of us... Yes, if Joseph were here..it would have taken him all of about 10 min 's and he woulda pulled those comments apart.. and Butch would have fired back , some more blanks, and Joseph woulda dusted him off and said NO No Butch this is the way it went down.. and hope he would have the ba**s to say it right.. Butch is thickheaded.. stubborn, one sided, very critical of other people..he should turn that finger around and point it at himself ,first.. and think about it ... Luke great news about Amy... Prayers on the way.,,.,. Stephen sounds like you were in heaven last week with that last bit of skiing... I have skied in my life and had great fun..but never on your level.. you would be a great candidate for extreme skiing... WOW... Kimberly.. hope you are feeling better on this Monday morning. Mr.Jim LOL... Yesterday was Joseph's 69 th Birthday.. I had hoped he woulda made it to this date... I think , I thought , that all along that, he would. I am sitting in the Garden clutching my coffee, and you called me sugar.. you called me sugar... Glitter is in the air... :dog: Joseph: :angel: :inlove: -----------------------

No Pastdreams it is me. I noticed I made some typos. Butch Trucks in an interview that happened just a couple of days ago said 1) That Gregg Allman doesn't jam and he didn't know that the band was a jam band when he joined but even though Gregg Allman isn't a musician who jams, he does add some nice icing to the cake with his organ when he does play on the band's extended jams. Gregg was the last to join according to Butch Trucks as they already had Butch, Jaimoe, Duane, Dickey and Berry Oakley when they asked Gregg to join to play organ and do most of the singing. 2) Gregg Allman wrote Whipping Post as a ballad and didn't like what the Allman Brothers Band did to his song and almost quit back in 1969 because of that but Duane Allman told Gregg Allman to "shut up" about it. 3) The current lineup of the Allman Brothers (Gregg, Butch, Jaimoe, Warren, Derek, Otiel, Marc) has now been together LONGER than any lineup in the ABB's history. When Warren Haynes rejoined the band in 2001, now 10 years later, the lineup is the same and no previous lineup has lasted that long. 4) This is the best line up since the original lineup which only lasted two years (1969-1971) and the reason is the guys in the band all like each other and the band keeps getting stronger and stronger as the years go by. He pointed out that when Duane died they lost their direction and by time they did "Brothers and Sisters" they had become famous, but the drugs and money and the direction toward a more country thing rather than staying with Duane Allman's vision for the band which was a blues and jazz thing hurt the band and they should have never gone down that road.5) Everybody in the band today can REMEBER all the songs in the Allman Brothers Band bag of songs, so the band can play a completely different set each night and never repeat one for dozens of nights in a row This was impossible when Dickey was around according to Butch Trucks. (In an interview just before the Beacon run, Butch Trucks told the press that Dickey Betts couldn't remember how a song goes if he hadn't played it recently so they had to play the same set every night over and over. Finally because people attending several Beacon shows in a row began to complain, they were able to get Dickey to agree to "three" different sets that he would have to learn so they could mix it up so a person going to three shows in a row would hear a different set of tunes each night. If you did four, then you were stuck with hearing the first set again). Butch Trucks said now that Dickey Betts isn't around anymore they can do a different set for every night at the beacon because the guys in the band now can remember how ALL the songs go even if they haven't played some of them in a long time. Butch also announced that the Allman Brothers Band was returning "Kind of Bird" to their shows for the Beacon and revealed that even though Dickey Betts co-wrote the song with Warren Haynes, Dickey Betts DIDN'T HAVE THE CHOPS to play the song so they had trouble getting it on the Shades of Two Worlds record. Butch said they finally pieced together enough parts from several takes to get something decent on the album. Butch Trucks then said that because Dickey didn't have the chops to play the song Kind of Bird, the band had to drop it from their sets back in the early 90's but now with Warren Haynes and Derek Trucks playing guitar, they can return this song to the band's sets. In an interview I read a couple of years ago, Butch Trucks said he would give the original lineup the thumbs up as the MOST ORIGINAL but the lineup they've had since 2001 is the best musically. Butch Trucks said Otiel Burbage is the best bass player the band has ever had and he may be the best musician he (Butch) has ever played with. Also in that same interview, Butch Trucks said he and Jaimoe have improved since the original band and that Warren Haynes and Derek Trucks are better guitar players than Duane Allman and Dickey Betts technically so today's ABB is the BEST the band has ever been. Butch Trucks also said that Derek Trucks is the best guitar player he has ever worked with. That Derek Trucks has been playing in the band now since 1999 and UNLIKE every other guitar player in the ABB or that he has played with in other bands, Butch Trucks still can not tell what Derek Trucks is going to do next. Where he is taking his solo next. It is always something new and exciting. With every other guitar player who has been in the Allman Brothers, Butch Trucks said, after playing with them for a few weeks, he can start to tell what they are going to do next and where they are taking a solo everytime and nothing new really happens anymore other than the solo is colored a little differently each night. Hopefully you understand now. Butch Trucks is convinced today the Allman Brothers Band is the BEST it has ever been and he is having more fun and is being challenged as a musician and drummer more now than he has since Duane Allman died. And the other point, which really pisses me off, is Butch Trucks is continuing to slam Dickey Betts, slam Dickey's playing and reduce and/or ignore the trememdous contribution Dickey Betts made to the Allman Brothers Band for 30 years. I would submit to you that Dickey Betts was Duane Allman's equal in creating the original band's sound with a big assist from Berry Oakely and as important as Gregg Allman, Butch Trucks and Jaimoe were to the band's sound, those three probably has LESS to do with the sound we know today as the Allman Brother Band. Plus I would imagine if Butch Trucks is a millionaire, Dickey Betts is probably more responsible for that than anybody that has EVER played in the ABB. This is almost like Michael Eisner claiming he is more responsible for Disney Co. being the giant it is in the entertainment business today when anyone who has worked there knows it was because of Walt and Roy Disney Butch Trucks just has a big sore spot on the left cheek of his ass for Dickey Betts and it just seems to keep poking at him here 11 years AFTER Butch Trucks was successful in getting Gregg Allman and Jaimoe to join him in firing..ah I mean..faxing Dickey Betts out of the ABB.