Gregg Allman Would Like to Play With Dickey Betts Again
Now that the Allman Brothers Band have called it a day, the group's frontman has one more piece of unfinished old business to take care of. In a new interview, Gregg Allman said he wants to bury the hatchet with former guitarist Dickey Betts, who parted ways with the band in 2000.
"Time heals, Allman told the Wall Street Journal. "I haven’t seen him in a very long time and would be very open to it. In fact, I would love to play with him again. ... We had our ups and down and all our demons. We had our problems, our ins and outs and our public embarrassments on both sides. But that’s all way behind us now. There’s nothing at all wrong with forgive and forget."
Betts -- a founding member of the Allman Brothers, who, with Gregg's brother Duane, created their signature twin-guitar harmony attack -- was fired from the group due to recurring substance abuse problems. After the Allmans' farewell concert last October, Betts said that the group had become an "Allman Brothers tribute band" in recent years.
Allman is set to release a new album and DVD, Live: Back to Macon, GA, which was recorded in January 2014 with his solo band. He said that the only real difference between the two groups is that with the Allmans there was never "a leader or focal point after my brother died. One who says, 'Guys, get on your instruments, we’re rehearsing now.' ... With the Brothers, we’d sit around, shoot the s---, eat a little food, smoke a doobie, talk about our families ... I want to play when we get together!" The live set comes out on Aug. 7.
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