A humid, cloudy and steamy day was unfolding in Columbus, Ohio. Just a few days ago, we were here, performing down on the river, hanging out with the some nice folks at a weekend festival and resting up from a pretty grueling schedule and tour that began in January. The Private Radio Tour I had been on with Billy Bob Thornton was a very cool thing for Billy and me. Since January, we had traveled to ten different countries, met some really great people, and got to play music every night. It was exactly the way we pictured it 20 + years ago when we were more willing to gamble, but less able. The U.S. dates of the tour, the last 5 spent opening for Elvis Costello, were just over. We had performed in Cleveland the night before. Spending a couple of days there, we were taken on a very special tour of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by (Rock and Roll Hall of Fame founder) Mr. Dave Speros. It was truly a treat to be taken down to the basement and view some special things that were not on display for the public just yet. Also, in one cool evening, we attended a few innings of the Cleveland Indians game at their super fine Jacobs Field. Then we eased over to the amphitheatre to visit our friends, The Indigo Girls, who were performing to a sold out rowdy bunch. Our mighty drummer friend, Brady Blade, was keeping the backbone beat going for the Girls, Louisiana style. In an impromptu jam moment, Billy Bob and me eased onto the stage, slipped on a guitar or two, and laid a nifty little version of Hank William’s Lost Highway on the crowd. It was pretty cool waltzing onto the stage with The Indigo Girls, and they all certainly made the jam moment a special thing for Billy and me.

As we are prone to do quite often, a change in our travel plans was about to take place. Billy had connected with our writer friend, Mr. John Dauphin, who invited us to Columbus for a sit down interview and a special treat. Billy asked me if I wanted to get off the bus in Columbus and spend an extra day or two instead of flying home out of Cleveland. Once I found out the special treat in store was an opportunity to meet Dickey Betts and his great new band, see their show, and hang out with a legend of rock, it was an easy decision. Plus, anytime I can put off flying as long as possible, I am all over the idea. Therefore, we returned to Columbus this June evening, said goodbye to the rest of the band as the bus took them home to Nashville. The next day, John Dauphin picked us up and took us to lunch where we sat most of the afternoon, ate some great food, and chatted about music, baseball, music, and some more baseball. Then we headed to the Brickyard in Columbus. Dickey Betts’ bus arrived about the same time as us.

We were invited on, which is always nice for anybody to do before their show. Now you have to remember, the Allman Brothers Band is like an icon to me and Billy. Those guys are heroes to us as much as Bob Gibson, Mantle, McCovey, or Johnny Cash. Many people compare my guitar playing to the Bearded One, the Texas Reverend Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top. Now Billy G is certainly a huge friend and inspiration to me and my playing, but Dickey Betts is right up there with my guitar idols. He is a career course in taste and tone, as is Gibbons, and hopefully, somewhere in between these two lifers, is a hole for me to fill up with my guitar. As for Billy Bob, he is pretty much an encyclopedia of rock, very hip on drummers, and amazes me that he even knows things like the roadies' names from the seventies, or who played bass on certain Frank Zappa songs. Of course, this guy also still remembers every phone number he ever dialed, including the backhoe rental customers we had back in the early eighties. Saying all this, you can imagine what a thrill it was for Dickey to invite us onto the stage for a jam with him and the band on one of the Brothers famous tunes, “Southbound”.

They cleared one of the drum kits for Billy and Dickey had one of his famous Les Pauls and Marshal rigs prepared for me. Dickey’s super guitar tech, Carlos, outfitted me in no time. Carlos himself is a tone machine. Giving me a ’59 Les Paul and standing me in front of a Marshal rig is not unlike surprising Elvis with one of those peanut butter and banana sandwiches served on your finest Ann Margaret china. Dickey took the stage and played a little while to a super nice crowd in Columbus. Billy Bob and I sat beside the stage chatting with Dickey’s top assistant and driver dude, Mr. Billy Hardaway. It was so easy to just sit with your eyes closed and jam to the music as they played. Mr. Betts is such a part of rock history, and whenever you think of the early days it brings chills to you. They have been through so much. I mean, this is the guy whose guitar is all over the greatest live record ever made, Live at the Fillmore East. These guys were having a blast with us Arkansans, especially, focusing on Billy’s Oscar winning Karl Childers character from Sling Blade. Dickey brought us up on the stage. In a brief moment, I would find myself onstage with a guitar hero. In addition to Dickey, his fellow guitarist was also on tour with him, Dangerous Dan Toler, a former Allman Brother himself. With Billy Bob at the drum kit, me, Dickey, and Dangerous Dan welding guitars and with the awesome band Great Southern behind us, we kicked off about a 20 minute version of Southbound. It was such a cool thing. You would have had to have been there to appreciate how nice Dickey was to us, especially me, giving me as much “solo” time as I wanted during our all too brief performance. To be a part of a three way harmony lead finale with Dickey and Dan was such an awesome moment for me. Afterwards, I think the crowd was amazed that Billy Bob and I were pretty damn well versed in the blues, and the rowdy jam rock that these guys were famous for. I hope I did OK in Mr. Betts eyes, and according to the crowd afterwards, I apparently did.

We eased back over to our hotel after hanging out with Dickey and the band after the show. As Billy Bob and myself are known to do, we sat in a hotel room until about 4 am drinking Buds and stating to each other about 50 times……damn man, do you realize that for about 20 minutes we were in the Allman Brothers. Now, you have to know, that Dickey has left the Allman Brothers and is striking a mean trail with his new band, Great Southern, but he is still a “Brother” to us and a legion of fans. So folks, when people ask me what my favorite moment of the Private Radio Tour was, I have to veer off slightly with this little story. We traveled to 10 countries, coast to coast in the U.S., played the Cavern Club in Liverpool, and met some huge British Rock icons from the past. However, for me, Big Daddy, Rooster Boy, or plain ole Michael R. Shipp, the highlight would be that brief encounter and impromptu jam session with Dickey Betts and Great Southern that I will remember for a long while. Oh that Marshal had some tone, but hopefully, some of it was “in the hands”.

Keep it in the Red Zone and Saturate that thing………see you somewhere down the road.