Sound Remembrance: Dickey Betts: An Allman by Another Name

When the Allman Brothers Band released the Dreams boxset and headed back out on the forever road in 1989, two things happened.

First, their music was suddenly everywhere, sounding fresh and new even though it’d still be awhile before ABB released actual new music.

The second - more-important - thing was that young-at-the-time, nascent blogs like Sound Bites finally got to experience the glory of the Allman Brothers Band on stage.

That mostly meant Gregg Allman and Dickey Betts, who along with Butch Trucks were the only members of the band to appear in every iteration of the ABB up to that point. And Betts, with a new foil in some dude called Warren Haynes, tore that shit up, playin’ his parts, occasionally playin’ Duane Allman’s parts and reactin’ like a guy made hungry again by the still-hungry Haynes.

ABB were playing theaters at this point and seeing the group in these intimate settings was even more of a treat than we realized at the time. As the years went by, the venues got bigger and soon the group’s annual Beacon run was the only opportunity to see the Allmans in such a cozy state. Of the many shows S.B. saw during this period, the most outrageous must’ve been a double bill with the Craig Fuller-fronted edition of Little Feat in Ohio; as soon as this concert let out, he was was on the road to see a couple of Jerry Garcia Band shows in Illinois and Wisconsin in what turned out to be an incredible week of live music.

Ah, to be young.

And alive.

With Betts’ April 18 death at age 80, only Jaimoe survives from the original Allman Brothers Band. But the music - and Betts’ outsized role in it - survives.

Obituaries unfailingly eulogized Betts as a foundational figure in Southern rock. And while he was that, Betts was also a sanctified country singer (“Ramblin’ Man”), a jazz composer extraordinaire capable of drawing inspiration from something as mundane as a tombstone (“In Memory of Elizabeth Reed”) and a top-shelf bluegrass and Americana (which didn’t even exist in ’74) picker as demonstrated by Richard Betts’ stellar solo debut, Highway Call.

And yet, “Blue Sky,” and its latter-day rewrite, “Back Where it All Begins,” are stone Southern-rock classics.

Betts parted ways with his band in 2000 - whether he quit or was fired depends on whom you ask - and my interest waned. When I finally saw the band again at the 2008 Penn State event for then-candidate Barack Obama, I learned why; the group just wasn’t the same.

Even Haynes, the prodigal Brother who returned to the band after Betts’ inglorious departure, knew it.

“As I’ve also said many times, when I think of the Allman Brothers Band, I automatically think of the original band with Duane Allman and Berry Oakley, who unfortunately passed way too soon, and although I’m extremely proud of my work with the band, that will always be the case,” Haynes said in eulogizing Betts.

4/25/24

Moody Blues Co-founder Mike Pinder Dies at 82

- Keyboardist was the last surviving original member of “the Magnificent Moodies”

Mike Pinder, the Moody Blues co-founder whose work on and with the Mellotron was the stuff of legend, has died, his family said.

Pinder, 82, “passed peacefully” April 24, the family said. No cause was given.

“His authentic essence lifted up everyone who came into contact with him,” Pinder’s family said. “His lyrics, philosophy and vision of humanity and our place in the cosmos will touch generations to come.”

Pinder was the last surviving member of the lineup that recorded 1965’s the Magnificent Moodies. He stayed with the band as composer, singer and master of the Mellotron until 1978’s Octave.

“Mike was a natural-born musician who could play any style of music with warmth and love,” Pinder’s former bandmate Justin Hayward said in a statement. “His re-imagining and rebuilding (literally) of the Mellotron gave us our identifiable early sound. He was a huge part of my own musical journey.”

To Fernando Perdomo, Pinder was a “genius. And the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame said the keyboardist “leaves behind a legacy of exhilarating, groundbreaking music that has influenced countless musicians.”

“Pinder’s technological contributions, especially his pioneering use of the Mellotron - an instrument he is said to have introduced to the Beatles - was key to the Moody Blues’ forward-thinking musical brilliance and the development of progressive rock,” the hall said.

4/25/24

Todd Rundgren at Andrew J. Brady Music Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, April 24, 2024

Todd Rundgren had nothing to say besides Thank you and We love you, Cincinnati at the end of the gig on Wednesday night in the Queen City. The typically talkative musician instead let a career-spanning collection of deep tracks handle communications with his audience, which on April 24 filled about half of the Andrew J. Brady Music Center’s 2,800 seats.

The Me/We tour is one for the faithful, with long-dormant tracks such as 1995’s subdued “Beloved Infidel” and novelties like 2004’s “Stood Up” returning to the setlist for the first time in ages. “Down with the Ship,” Rundgren’s 2022 joint with Rivers Cuomo, meanwhile, is just getting its sea legs and the goofy sea shanty works well alongside the eclectic sonic smorgasbord that found Rundgren conducting synth strings and soprano sax with a baton on the balladic “Kindness” from 1991, playing a searing guitar solo on 2000’s “Buffalo Grass” and proving his compositional prescience on the now entirely relevant rap-rocker “Fascist Christ” from 1993.

In a nod to any casual fans who may have attended, Rundgren began the encore with the first half of “I Saw the Light” segued into the bridge of “Can We Still be Friends?,” which led into the coda of “Hello it’s Me” before the dramatic fan favorite “The Last Ride” and “A Dream Goes on Forever” ended the gig.

Backed by five long-time compatriots - bassist Kasim Sulton and drummer Prairie Prince; Bobby Strickland on keyboards, woodwinds and programming; keyboardist Gil Assayas; and guitarist Bruce McDaniel - Rundgren played 24 songs over 125 minutes, as the black-clad band was bathed in white, red, blue, green and yellow hues from a generous light show that augmented the selections flawlessly.

Strong visuals notwithstanding, sublime audio, from the band and the venue’s sound system, was the focus. Drawing from more than one-dozen solo and Utopia albums connecting 1972’s Something/Anything? to 2022’s Space Force, Rundgren, per his wont, also covered a diverse stylistic template, as he switched from lead guitarist to band leader who paced the lip of the stage sans instrument and tossed in some EDM in the form of “Flesh & Blood” from 2015’s Global for good measure.

Opening with 1974’s ethereal “I Think You Know,” Rundgren celebrated the nature of his fanatical followers on Utopia’s 1985 dance track “Secret Society” before showing off his grimy guitar and gritty growl on 2008’s “Weakness.”

The initial triptych set the evening’s tone as Rundgren, 75, used his deepened voice to bring the songs into the present while the band provided the backgrounds that tied them to their era. To that end, Sulton and McDaniel joined Rundgren around a single mic for the a cappella “Honest Work,” which hushed any grabbers in the house, and “Hawking” came off as a hybrid metaphysical worship service thanks to the veritable choir and a soaring saxophone solo from Strickland. The passage of time seemed to be a loose theme of the Me/We tour as Rundgren plumbed his discography for that explore the unknowable to come up with such tracks as “Lost Horizon” (1985), “Afterlife” and “God Said” from 2004 and “Worldwide Epiphany,” the 1993 celebration of figuring it all out.

The latter got the audience on their collective feet where they remained until the show ended.

Grade card: Todd Rundgren in Cincinnati - 4/24/24 - A

See more photos on Sound Bites’ Facebook page.

4/25/24

Song Review: Bow Thayer and Krishna Guthrie - “Paradise in the Rough” (Live, July 7, 2022)

Whether by coincidence or purposeful “inspiration,” the melody of Bow Thayer’s “Paradise in the Rough” is more than a little bit similar to Widespread Panic’s “Ain’t Life Grand.”

It was true on the studio version and it remained the case when Thayer played a duo-acoustic version with fellow guitarist Krishna Guthrie on July 7, 2022, in Vermont, a performance now out on video.

Thayer’s song mirrors Panic’s in the lyric department as well, as the narrator looks to simple pleasures to escape life’s losses and mundane stressors.

Down here we fit in with the conifers/down where the river runs through our blood/god knows the we’re connoisseurs of canned food/down here it’s paradise in the rough, goes the chorus.

Filling in for the mandolin on the studio version, Guthrie and his guitar buoy Thayer’s rhythm. The collaborator, however, strains on the high harmonies, inadvertently roughening an otherwise-calming mantra.

Grade card: Bow Thayer and Krishna Guthrie - “Paradise in the Rough” (Live - 7/7/22) - B-

4/25/24

Song Review: Widespread Panic - “Chilly Water” (Live, 2019)

There’s nothing subtle about the “Chilly Water” Widespread Panic dived into during the 2019 edition of Panic en la Playa.

No lingering leads. No crooning. No light-touch percussion.

None of that. Jimmy Herring shreds. John Bell screams. And Duane Trucks and Sunny Ortiz beat the shit out of their respective kits as the rest of the band drives the song hard, the only break coming during a drums-bass-keys breakdown that helps extend the number past the 10-minute mark.

On the one hand, this “Chilly Water” smokes. On the other, it’s a tad too heated to dive into outside of the moment in which it happened.

Grade card: Widespread Panic - “Chilly Water” (Live, 2019) - B-

4/24/24

Song Review: Jerry Garcia Band - “The Harder They Come” (Live, Feb. 13, 1976)

“The Harder They Come;” Feb. 13, 1976; on which the Jerry Garcia Band stretches Jimmy Cliff’s tune to one-third of an hour without resorting to aimless musical wanderings.

Out to announce the full-show - save for the lost “How Sweet it Is (To be Loved by You)” opener - release as GarciaLive Volume 21, this version is loose-fitting and slow-to-unfold, leaving plenty of room for John Kahn’s riffing on bass and Garcia’s similarly low-end solos to bubble to the surface. Keith Godchaux, meanwhile, opts for high piano sparkling on the sonic water.

After choruses from Garcia with Donna Jean Godchaux on harmony, the song moves into a long instrumental section before drummer Ron Tutt wills a climax around the 12-minute mark. More vocals follow before Tutt and the band spend the final 90 seconds doing it again.

The sound quality is pristine and with the music so subtle, it’s fun to hear an out-of-his-head fan yelling, whoooo! over and over.

Out June 14, GarciaLive Volume 21 will include “How Sweet it Is” and the first-known performance of “My Sisters and Brothers” as recorded Feb. 15, 1976, to round out the LP.

Grade card: Jerry Garcia Band - “The Harder They Come” (Live, Feb. 13, 1976) - A

4/24/24

“Los Lobos Native Sons” to be Released in 2025

- Trailer spotlights 50 years of “truly one of the best musical groups ever formed”

Edward James Olmos spares no superlative in praising Los Lobos.

“Truly one of the best musical groups ever formed,” he says. “You could put the Stones. You could put the Beatles. They’re right there - right in the same vein.”

Olmos is speaking in the trailer for “Los Lobos Native Sons,” a feature-length documentary coming in 2025 and documenting 50 years since the band’s 1973 founding.

“Our goal is to expose music as far as we possibly can to take it,” a young Louie Pérez says in one of the clip’s many archival sequences, “to different parts of the United States, Mexico, the world if possible.”

Soundtracked with “Will the Wolf Survive?,” “La Bamba” and “Native Son,” the trailer shows Pérez, David Hidalgo, Cesar Rosas, Conrad Lozano and Steve Berlin doing just that as they transform from young upstarts to grey veterans. George Lopez, Linda Ronstadt, Bonnie Raitt, Cheech Marin and others appear in the film.

“David, Ceaser, Conrad, Louie and Steve, it’s amazing what they are able to create together,” Tom Waits says.

Read Sound Bites’ previous coverage here.

4/24/24

Larry Campbell & Teresa Williams at Natalie’s Grandview, Columbus, Ohio, April 23, 2024

Larry Campbell & Teresa Williams dispensed with the adage about veteran musicians losing the crowd by playing new material as they ran though 2024’s All This Time - plus a number of other tracks - during their April 23 gig in Columbus, Ohio.

Playing in an exuberant, sold-out Natalie’s Grandview, the First Couple of Americana were backed by bassist/background vocalist Brandon Morrison and drummer Justin Guip (Hot Tuna) for a 16-song, 100-minute gig that drew material from their three duo LPs, their work with Levon Helm on “The Poor Old Dirt Farmer” and Campbell’s time as one of Phil Lesh’s Friends with “Big River.”

The former featured Campbell on fiddle and Williams on mandolin as the married music-makers played straight bluegrass atop a rock ‘n’ roll rhythm section. They’d switched to electric guitar and tambourine, respectively, for the hard-charging rockabilly of the latter, which served as the final encore and earned a standing ovation.

But the show was centered around All This Time. And Campbell in black and Williams in red supercharged the 10 songs - homing in on their 1950s, early-rock subtext while presenting them in 21st-century, Americana context. The show-opening run of “Desert Island Dreams,” the title track and “Ride with Me” found Campbell using fingerpicks on his electric axe while Williams strummed her acoustic guitar.

Their voices - his powerful baritone, her soaring mezzo-soprano - meanwhile wrapped around each other much as the subjects in Campbell’s amorous compositions.

“Teresa thinks all these songs are about her,” Campbell said. And of course, they are, except for broken-hearted compositions such as “Down on My Knees,” which Williams said was about “the one that came before” her.

But Williams happily claimed “When I Stop Loving You,” the staggering, soul-rooted Campbell-William Bell co-write from 2017’s Contraband Love.

Baby, the sun won’t rise/the moon won’t appear/and he stars will fall/when I stop loving you/when I stop loving you/somebody will close my eyes/and I’m gonna hear/the angels call/when I stop loving you/and my heart will beat no more, they sung with their voices intertwined at top of their ranges.

This - and “A Little Bit Better,” Campbell’s balladic ode to Laurel and Hardy - left audience members literally gasping at their beauty. So while Campbell and Williams obliterated one adage, they simultaneously reinforced another about intimates making beautiful music together.

That they did so in a tiny venue so cozy Williams likened it to being in the living room with friends made it all the better. But, as anyone who’s seem the pair knows, Campbell and Williams should be playing arenas.

Grade card: Larry Campbell & Teresa Williams at Natalie’s Grandview - 4/23/24 - A

See more photos on Sound Bites’ Facebook page.

4/24/24

Song Review: Little Feat - “Spanish Moon” (Alternate Version)

Little Feat’s alternate version of “Spanish Moon” finds the band playing live in the studio, sans the horns and backgrounds that accentuate the album version.

In that regard, it sounds more like an attempt at a backing track or a rehearsal take - a notion reinforced up by Lowell George’s decision to abort the work in progress.

“Let’s stop it and start it again, please,” he says as the song comes to an abrupt halt.

The track previews the forthcoming - no release date yet - deluxe edition of Feats Don’t Fail Me Now, which comes with a remaster, studio outtakes and the band’s previously unreleased Feb. 1, 1975, show in Paris.

The funky groove is there and the lyrics about whisky, bad cocaine and deathly women are as slyly engrossing as ever. But mostly, this “Spanish Moon” serves to illustrate the power of brass and brassy vocals to vault a strong number into classic status.

And Sound Bites still doesn’t buy the alternate-version tag.

Grade card: Little Feat - “Spanish Moon” (Alternate Version) - B

4/24/24

Album Review: Todd Snider - Aimless Records Presents: Step Right Up (Purple Version)

A quarter-century after releasing Step Right Up, Todd Snider seemed ambivalent about his sophomore album. His mixed feelings were strong enough, Snider felt the need to apologize to fans in the event he was hating on songs they loved as he performed the record front-to-back during his pandemic-era “First Agnostic Church of Hope and Wonder” livestream series.

Released as Aimless Records Presents: Step Right Up (Purple Version), the second of 12 audio releases from Snider’s in-quarantine video performances finds the singer/songwriter with a case of the sniffles and in a relatively subdued mood as he runs through the songs, evaluates their merit and talks briefly about the people and events that inspired them.

Comical stories, often a staple of Snider performances, are mostly absent as he seems to be wistfully reminiscing and wondering where the years disappeared to.

“This record’s taking me back,” Snider says before “Moondawg’s Tavern.”

“We were having fun at this time.”

Solo and acoustic with Snider accompanying himself on guitar, harmonica and piano for his trip back to 1996, the Purple Version of Step Right Up is in 2024 a trip back to the days of coronavirus and a reminder of what musicians like Snider provided for the rest of us. It follows Songs for the Daily Planet (Purple Version) and will be followed by Viva Satellite (Purple Version).

Grade card: Todd Snider - Aimless Records Presents: Step Right Up (Purple Version) - B

4/24/24