A triple-LP live set from the Allman Brothers’ Dickey Betts and his band Great Southern
Dickey Betts put together Great Southern almost immediately after the Allman Brothers Band broke up for the first time in 1976, and his new group had recorded and released a self-titled debut album by October 1977. Great Southern mirrored the ABB lineup, with Betts flanked by another co-lead guitarist, Dan Toler, and backed by two drummers, bass, and keyboards. From the start, however, the band also included a bit more of the country-tinged honky tonk sound that Betts had unveiled on his solo debut, the gorgeous western swing influenced Highway Call. You’ll hear all of that on Southern Jam.
Great Southern’s lineup had changed a bit by the time they released their second album, Atlanta’s Burning Down, in March 1978, now featuring young bassist David “Rook” Goldflies, keyboardist Michael Workman and Toler’s brother Frankie on drums, along with Donnie Sharbono. This is the band, augmented by singer Mimi Hart, which played the Calderone Concert Hall in Hempstead, New York on August 11, 1978, a 108-minute show that was simulcast on New York’s WLIR-FM and is now appearing on vinyl for the first time as Southern Jam: New York 1978. And what a show it was – a high energy, tight, focused band led by Betts, who was displaying peak creative powers as a singer and, especially, as a guitarist.
Southern Jam: New York 1978 will be available as a triple-LP set, with one disc pressed on opaque red vinyl, another on white, and the third on blue. New liner notes have been contributed by Allman Brothers historian Alan Paul. The LP will be released by RockBeat Records, a subsidiary of Liberation Hall, and the label from which the CD and download of this show are already available. The title is distributed by MVD Entertainment in North America and Wienerworld in the UK.
TRACKLIST: 1. Gypsy Run | 2. You Can Have Her (I Don’t Want Her) | 3. Goodtime Feeling| 4. In Memory of Elizabeth Reed | 5. Bougainvillea | 6. California Blues | 7. Jessica / Southbound / Jessica| 8. Crazy Love | 9. Long Time Gone | 10. High Falls Part 1 | 11. High Falls Part 2| 12. Blue Sky | 13. Ramblin’ Man
