Southern rock legend Dickey Betts and Great Southern made a rare Bay Area performance Sunday night at a sold out Sweetwater show in Mill Valley. His performance with his band Great Southern included his son Duane, named after the late Allman Brothers guitarist, on lead guitar. Duane’s band Brethren of the Coast warmed up the night. During Dickey’s set the relatively small stage was filled to the brim including two drummers on risers. With a packed house and stage the band ripped through classics such as In Memory of Elizabeth Reed, Ramblin Man, and Jessica, which Betts won a Grammy for in 1996. Dickey and the band played a phenomenal set heating up the room to a boiling point. Dickey’s signature style was on display throughout the night with the harmonizing octaves of the lead guitars bringing it back to where it all began.
Betts, despite being a founding member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee The Allman Brothers Band, hasn’t performed a concert with them since 2000 after a turbulent departure from the band. This year The Allman Brothers announced they would be breaking up following a run at the Beacon Theater in NYC
Photos and Text by Jamie Soja – Soja Photography
