Dickey Betts and Great Southern

Dickey Betts and Great Southern - Southern Rock Jam

by Carl Bookstein

published: 16 / 9 / 2017

Dickey Betts and Great Southern - Southern Rock Jam

Carl Bookstein examines 'Southern Rock Jam', a recently reissued collection of the work of Dickey Betts and Great Southern on the Arista Label in the late 1970's.

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'Southern Rock Jam' celebrates the work of guitarist, singer and songwriter Dickey Betts and his band Great Southern. This music was created after his split with and the demise of the Allman Brothers Band at that time in 1976. 'Out To Get Me' starts with a stinging guitar serenade. Betts is singing about a woman out to get him, coming back for more. The lyric is “Always been a woman’s game/Ain’t no one to blame” into more rich, reverberating guitar and a fine harmonica solo. On 'Run Gypsy Run', Betts sings about rolling on down the highway. It is solid Southern Rock and more resonant guitar with Betts in fine voice. 'Sweet Virginia'( not the Rolling Stones song) is a fine moment. “Sweet Virginia, I believe in you, little things you say and do. With just a smile, you chase them blues.” This is a soul healing, straight-to-the heart love song and an album highlight here. 'California Blues' includes more killer Southern Rock guitar. The narrator is feeling down, sitting alone in a house in L.A. “Tomorrow I’ll be leaving you L.A. … Could be I loved her more than she could see.” The following track finds Betts singing about “When that good time feeling comes around.” 'Atlanta’s Burning Down' (penned by Billy Ray Reynolds) is this album’s apex peak highlight--Southern, stately and capturing an epochal Civil War era tale. “Left my home in Georgia… Southward bound… From Gettysburg to Richmond, I fought long and hard… so I’m leaving here this morning… Atlanta’s burning down.” The song is lyrically evocative and rich, bringing to mind another Dixie inspired composition, The Band’s 'The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down.' It is the finest moment on 'Southern Rock Jam'- the album is a window into the work and world of Dickey Betts in and around 1977 and 1978. It is a time capsule from a moment on the music scene when Punk and New Wave were breaking big, and Dickey Betts was, as always, simply doing his own thing.