I just saw Dickey Betts (Allmann Bros fame)and MAN - what a show! Almost all instrumental - a cross between country/rock mixed with blues and blended with Jazz fusion. It had moments of "Santana" style and some of the best three part harmony on guitars I've ever heard - 3 old guys (Dickey is 69!) wailin' on Les Pauls through Marshall amps ... is was EPIC!
I'm so glad I went with an open mind. I really loved it. Check him out - he's the "Ramblin' man"!

Where?

Sounds interesting, UD. Glad to know he's still pickin'.

What a fantastic show Dave. I can imagine how great it would have been. Dicky has always been an awesome player.

I also see Jeff Beck whenever he is playing near me and he is about the same age and always blows me away. Gets better the older he gets.

Here's one of many video's

The last generation where you had to actually be able to PLAY to make it...

Now sadly history.

Now there you go getting all sentimental on us, Diki.

Gary

This was the Scottish Ballroom in Collingswood NJ. AWESOME venue too!

And playing music is what makes it all so much fun. Performing on an instrument is what it is all about. Hopefully audiences will begin to realize that before all the real musicians are dead.

I'll say one thing... never have a generation of 60+ year old musicians enjoyed so much fame and relevancy before. At least in popular music. The newer generation always swept the old guys out, played their asses off, and were in turn swept away.

If you think about it, the 60's and 70's are 40-50 YEARS ago. Now think of how much 'pop' music from the 1890's and 1900's was being played in the 1950's...? Or how much relevance anything from 1920 had in 1970.

The technology of easy song production has resulted in at least two generations of musicians that haven't been able to sweep their forebears away. Instead of shredding your way up the charts, you ProTools your way up, and bottom line - at some deep unconscious level, the audience knows it is fake. And they keep returning to the well of the 'real'.

Never before have the oldest generation of live musicians had so much respect and relevancy to the young.

God help us when they are gone!