Dickey Betts memorial concert scheduled for February at Macon City Auditorium

Bibb County will honor legendary guitarist Dickey Betts with a memorial concert Feb. 28 at the Macon City Auditorium.

Betts, who formed a legendary lead guitar duo with Duane Allman in the Allman Brothers Band and was widely considered one of the greatest guitarists of all time, died last April. 

The concert will feature a star-studded lineup of former Allman Brothers Band musicians, including founding member Jaimoe, Macon’s Chuck Leavell, Warren Haynes and Derek Trucks.

Three sons of Allman Brothers Band musicians will also perform: Betts’ son Duane Betts, Gregg Allman’s son Devon Allman and Lamar Williams Jr., son of ABB’s second bassist Lamar Williams.

General admission tickets and VIP packages go on sale Monday at 10 a.m.

“It’s the right thing to do, the right venue to do it in and the right people are playing,” John Lynskey, resident historian at The Allman Brothers Band Museum at the Big House, told The Melody. “It’s clear the end of an era is approaching, and while we can still celebrate it, it’s great to have the people who can come together and do it.”

Macon photographer Kirk West, who for decades photographed the biggest rock bands in the world, including The Allman Brothers Band, said he’s glad the concert is in Macon.

“It will be nice, I’m glad they’re doing it,” he told The Melody. “You’ve got all these different layers and schedules to consider, so the fact that they could find a date when everyone could come and contribute is huge.”

A portion of the concert’s proceeds will benefit the new Dickey Betts Scholarship at Berklee College of Music. 

In 2003, Rolling Stone put Betts on its 100 Greatest Guitarists list, writing “For all his blues and slide chops, his roots are in jazz, and you can hear the influence of his clean-toned modal soloing in every Southern rock group that’s followed.” His unique licks influenced generations of guitarists who have tried to imitate his iconic sound. 

A 1995 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, Betts lived in and around the Sarasota, Florida, area for most of his life.