Dickey Betts in critical condition after accident at his Sarasota County home

[Zorro]

Source: Sarasota Herald-Tribune

Dickey Betts has been hospitalized after a freak accident at his home.

Betts, the “Ramblin’ Man” singer-songwriter and founding Allman Brothers Band guitarist, went out to his backyard on Little Sarasota Bay and while playing with the family dog, slipped and cracked his head, causing bleeding in his brain.

Betts has been sedated at an undisclosed local hospital following the accident that occurred Monday evening at the Osprey home he shares with wife, Donna.

David Spero, Betts’ longtime friend and manager, said the beloved rock legend is listed “in critical but stable condition.”

Read more: http://www.heraldtribune.com/news/20180919/dickey-betts-in-critical-condition-after-accident-at-his-sarasota-county-home

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He's reportedly scheduled to undergo brain surgery Friday.

[Va Lefty]

1. Damn. Get well soon Dickey!

[MaryMagdaline]

2. Get well Dickey

[Docreed2003]

3. Damn...

Thoughts to Dickey and his family during this!

[NBachers]

4. Walk out the door with no idea what will happen. What a shame.

[Eko]

5. Nope, nope, nope nope.

Just nope. Hard enough without the Bros together,,, get well brother.

[marble falls]

6. Dave Spero was associated with several Cleveland, Oh rock ...

stations including WMMS and WNCR in the late sixties and seventies.


Interesting guy himself: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Spero

[GulfCoast66]

7. Damn. We just lost Greg.

[appalachiablue]

8. Not Betts. Saw all perform Marietta, Ohio 2 wks. before Duane, Oct. 1971

[SCantiGOP]

13. I saw them 5 times

3 with Duane and 2 after.
I grew up near the GA/SC line so they played a lot in the area in their early days.

I never saw Hendrix or Stevie Ray Vaughan live, so I have to say the Duane was the best guitarist I ever saw, with Alvin Lee and Johnny Winter just behind him.

[jalan48]

9. Bad luck seems to follow the band.

[GentryDixon]

10. That happened to me.

I was walking my dog in the early morning & did not see the raised concrete. My toe hit it & down I went. I did not go to the Doctor until 12 days later, & by then my bleed was quite large. They took me by ambulance to the hospital where they monitored me for two days, then sent me home. Two days later my husband found me non responsive when he got up in the morning.

I had a crainiotomy after they were able to stabilize me. I had some speech difficulty & a little weakness in my left side for a few weeks. I am now back to my old self. My hair is about 1/4 inch all around. Still not enough to cover the incision scar. And I still have a tender scalp, but no feeling above my ear, if that makes sense.

[Loryn]

12. How awful!

This sounds very recent. Glad you are on the mend.

Be well.

[GentryDixon]

22. Thanks!

[TimeToGo]

11. Oh no

[getagrip_already]

14. I'll eat a peach and remember... n/t

[john657]

19. Great album.

One of my all time favorites.



Best song, IMO, One Way Out.

Get well soon Mr. Dickey Betts.

[Ligyron]

15. That sucks.

He and Duane's twin guitar attack was one of the very best in rock. The interplay between Duane and him on Dickey's song "Blue Sky" for instance is just a joy to listen to.

I hope he can recover. Not too many left in that genre.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

16. No better tribute to Dicky than a dab of his music....

Dicky and Warren Haynes (second and third from left) knock it dead with one of my favorites, Melissa:

Allman Brothers Blues Band - Melissa - Acoustic - Live Music - Gregg & Dickie Betts - Video

Get well soon, Dickey!........ ........

[Loryn]

20. Beautiful song.

Such skill. Thanks for posting this.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

21. You're very welcome, that's one of my "get me out of the blues" numbers.

It works every time I hear those two pickers playing in harmony toward the end.....

[JohnnyRingo]

17. Get well Dickey

I read an interview from him in Rolling Stone and I just saw his son Duane play with Devon Allman last month at Kent State U. It was a sad interview of a man at the end of his career.

Dickey Betts is not a particularly wealthy man, so I hope he gets good care, and now he'll be unable to return on tour in November, so he'll have no income unless we all go to Amazon and buy 35 year old CDs.

I've seen him with the original band and on solo tour. He was astounding.

[djg21]

25. I went drinking with him.

And Bonnie Bramlett almost 40 years ago when I was a 16 year old kid. I had an uncle who worked for the Allmans and he took me to a show when they came through my town. I watched from back stage, and drank a lot of free beer. We ended up going to a local bar/concert venue after the show and tipping a couple more. Dickey was interesting, but I couldn’t take my eyes off of Bonnie Bramlett, who I crushed on for years. I miss the Allmans and always hoped that Dickey and Greg would reunite one last time. I saw Greg perform a short time before he passed, and he sounded great and looked like he really had gotten his shit together. It’s sad to see your heros grow old, but it happens to all of us.

[JohnnyRingo]

32. Watching as my record collection becomes a vinyl obituary

What a cool rock & roll memory you had! The closest brush I've had was getting high in the back seat with Stiv Bator on our way to a bar. Steve was from here and we had mutual friends.

Too bad there weren't selfies back then... or maybe that's best.

[world wide wally]

18. I have seen a lot of bands having owned a record store in Chicago in the 70's and ever since.

No one ever just blew me away like the original Allman Brothers Band.
The road goes on forever.
Get well, Dickie!

[Leghorn21]

29. A record store in Chicago in the 70's?!? Yeah, you HANDS DOWN win "best way to make a living

on this planet e v e r” award, wally! WOW

One of my all-time favorite rock stories is from Bill Graham’s book...of course, I’m paraphrasing, as I’m too lazy to look it up, BUT ANYWAY:

One fine day in I think 1969, some people who worked at Fillmore East were gathered out back taking a break (the toking kind, most likely).

While they’re standing there, this beat-up piece of shit van slowly rolls up and stops. Out tumble these unbathed, scrappy-looking guys, and as they exit the van, empty beer cans and candy bar wrappers fall out along with them - I mean, these guys are one scurvy, sad-assed mess!!

The Fillmore workers look on in disgust as they mutter, “Oh, who in holy hell booked these fuckin yahoos??” and “Aw shit, this is gonna be one dead weekend, man” - etc. They wander back into the venue, leaving these trailer-trash brothers to fend for themselves.

So then it’s about 5pm - soundcheck.

And then HOLY SHIT WHAT IS THIS?!?!? - the employees, and Graham himself, all come running out of their little offices towards the theater, unable to believe the music they’re hearing.

Of course, when they got closer to the stage, they saw it was those trailer-trash Southern yahoos making this unfuckinbelievable sound and

none of them were ever the same again

—AMEN!!—

[world wide wally]

31. Great story, Leghorn.

I was never the same after seeing them either. It was like a symphony. Movements, crescendos, all the back and fourth interplay. Simply fucking amazing! I was pretty lucky.

[ProfessorGAC]

23. Bummer!

Get well Dickie.

He was a master of the flowing 8th note leads. Just a flowing stream of 8 notes per measure with a great tone and a mix of ideas.

Great player.

[sellitman]

24. Get well Sir

Signed a Fan.

[Eliot Rosewater]

26. The list of nazi slime I could mention who dont fall down.

karma my ass

[Soxfan58]

27. Get well Mr.Betts

You have giving me a lot of enjoyment. While Ive tried to make a living and doing the best I can.

[brewens]

28. That's a shame. Hope he gets better. That 1994 album, Where it All Begins was excellent.

Of all the old classic rock bands I can think of, that was the finest work of them all for later in their career. It's loaded with great stuff, including a couple real good Betts tunes.

[Guppy]

30. In memory of Elizabeth Reed

I saw him multiple times including the closing weekend at the Fillmore east and the Stonybrook show where they played "blue sky" the first time and the next to last show before Duane died. get well Dicky