Dickey Betts
Photo: Robert Parente

Former Allman Brothers Band guitarist Dickey Betts was arrested Saturday and charged with domestic battery after allegedly punching his wife while she was driving, according to a sheriff's report.

Betts was released from Sarasota County Jail Sunday after posting $2,000 bail following the Saturday incident, according to a spokesperson for the sheriff's department. The 57-year-old Betts told authorities he "did not know how the victim [Donna Betts] received her injury," according to the report.

Donna Betts claims that her husband struck her while the two argued after she picked him up from the airport, and that she locked herself in the couple's master bedroom and called 911 upon arriving at their home, the report says.

Betts is set to be arraigned August 31 in Sarasota County Court, according to a court spokesperson. His attorney, Mike Mosca, said he plans to enter a not-guilty plea for Betts at that time. "Mr. Betts steadfastly denies that he struck his wife, and as our investigation continues, it appears Mr. Betts' version of events is correct," Mosca said.

The media spokesperson for the Sarasota sheriff was unavailable for comment on Mosca's claims.

As Florida law does not require a defendant to be present at the initial arraignment, Mosca said that none of Betts' public appearances — including a show scheduled for August 31 in Anaheim, California — will be affected.

The guitarist and songwriter, who wrote and sang the group's biggest hit, "Ramblin' Man" (1973), as well as other Allman Brothers favorites such as "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed" and "Blue Sky," was fired from the band last year for what other group members called "creative differences." Keyboardist and singer Gregg Allman said in interviews, however, that Betts' drinking and drug use were interfering with rehearsals and shows.

Betts, who contested Allman's claims, was convicted of domestic battery in January, according to the newspaper. He released his first solo album since leaving the group, Let's Get Together, in July (see "Dickey Betts To Release First Post-Allmans Album").

• The Allman Brothers Band

John Popper
Photo: Jason Campbell for MTV.com

NEW YORK — When many people think about jam bands, they picture tie dye, hacky sacks and earthy, organic music filled with instrumental noodling. But lately, musicians have been expanding the boundaries of jam music by infusing elements of techno, hip-hop, avant-jazz and prog rock into their songs.

The goal of the second annual Jammy Awards, held Thursday at the Roseland Ballroom, was to celebrate the growing diversity among jam bands and to encourage artists from different backgrounds to join each other onstage and let fly with the spirit of spontaneous invention. Bluesmen collided with alt-rockers, rappers joined pop stars, turntablists merged with bluegrass twangers, and three-chord punkers dueled with drum'n'bass artists. Regardless of the styles they explored, nearly all the acts held true to the jam edict of pinpointing an emotional moment and stretching it out for minutes at a time.

The house act for the proceedings was the Derek Trucks Band, fronted by the nephew of Allman Brothers Band drummer Butch Trucks. Derek, who replaced guitarist Dickey Betts in the Allmans last year, set the tone for the evening with music that ranged from soulful blues with slippery slide guitar leads to freaky Zappa-esque workouts and covered various strains of funk, free jazz and Latin music in between. During its various sets, the band was joined onstage by Col. Bruce Hampton, pedal steel player Robert Randolph and former "Saturday Night Live" comic Jim Breuer, who led the group through an impromptu blues rendition of his routine "Party in Your Stomach." First to take the main stage was the Del McCoury Band. Accompanied by Randolph and DJ Logic, they played a Southern-fried bluegrass version of "Swing Low Sweet Chariot." While the dense blend of mandolin, violin, keyboards, banjo and acoustic guitars left little room for Logic to scratch, Randolph's frenzied pedal steel playing gave the music a fiery charge even though the country-hick harmonies eventually wore thin.

With a career batting average of .304 and four Golden Gloves to his name, New York Yankees center fielder Bernie Williams won't be in need of a new job for years to come, but during his brief (by jam band standards) set he showed that when he leaves the majors he can probably find work in the music biz. Joined by the Jazz Mandolin Project, Williams batted out some impressive John Scofield-style guitar licks on a version of Ornette Coleman's "Ramblin'." Adhering more closely to traditional notions of jamming, the Steve Kimock Band and Trucks played extended and sometimes overly indulgent funk-jazz excursions.

One of the highlights of the Jammy Awards was the Tom Tom Club, who performed a percussive reggae-fueled version of Phish's "Sand" before being joined by Michael Franti of Spearhead for the Club's "Genius of Love" and "Wordy Rappinghood." The most incongruent performance came from spontaneous combo Lake Trout, who played moody music that incorporated elements of ambient electronica, drum'n'bass, prog rock and avant-jazz. The band's first jam ended with torrents of distorted vocals and epileptic beats that sounded like a slightly less amped-up Atari Teenage Riot. Then the combo was joined by Ramones drummer Marky Ramone and Misfits bassist Jerry Only on vocals for two storming Ramones tunes, "I Wanna Be Sedated" and "Blitzkrieg Bop." An ambitious but ultimately unsuccessful collaboration between Meters bassist George Porter Jr., Roots vocalist Black Thought and Soulive on Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean" and James Brown's "Soul Power" ranked as the only major disappointment of the show.

Far more kinetic was Les Claypool's Frog Brigade performance with "Late Show" keyboardist Paul Shaffer and string-slinging maverick Junior Brown. The combo burned through a bizarre, uplifting version of the Beatles' "Taxman," slipping in snippets of Primus' "Wynona's Big Brown Beaver." During maniacal solo breaks, Brown strangled a whirlwind of sound from his double-necked guit-steel guitar, Shaffer played intricate organ runs and Claypool thrummed out a variety of rhythmic, funky bass passages. Claypool ended his band's set with a galactic version of King Crimson's "Thela Hun Ginjeet." The last band of the evening was Disco Biscuits, who along with Blues Traveler singer John Popper and jazz virtuoso guitarist Stanley Jordan played Jane's Addiction's "Three Days" and Led Zeppelin's "Bring It on Home." On the former, Jordan provided angular texture to the band's dusky, moody playing and Popper filled in the sonic gaps with wailing harmonica solos.

The Jammys concluded with various artists including Popper, Jordan and the Derek Trucks Band jamming to the Meters' "Cissy Strut" after Porter won the Lifetime Achievement Award.

Other award winnners included:

• Release of the Year - Ladies and Gentlemen, the Grateful Dead
• Jam of the Year - Phil & Friends with Mike Gordon (12/31/00)
• Live Performance - Phish at Deer Creek in Noblesville, Indiana (7/11/00)
• Live Album - Live Frogs, Set 1, Les Claypool's Frog Brigade
• Studio Album - Farmhouse, Phish
• Mimi Fishman Memorial Award - Mockingbird Foundation
• Festival of the Year - Gathering of the Vibes
• Fan Website - www.etree.org
• Radio Show - "Jam Nation"
• New Groove of the Year - Yonder Mountain String Band

• Phish
• The Allman Brothers Band
• Col. Bruce Hampton
• Del McCoury
• Jazz Mandolin Project

Dickey Betts
Photo: Robert Parente

Founding Allman Brothers Band guitarist Dickey Betts is set to release Let's Get Together, his first solo album since being handed his walking papers by the Southern-rock stalwarts, on July 31, according to a spokesperson for his label, FreeFalls Entertainment.

The 11-track Let's Get Together, which follows 1988's Pattern Disruptive, is the guitarist's fifth album without the Allmans and second with the Dickey Betts Band, whose new lineup consists of guitarist Mark May, bassist David Stoltz, saxophonist Kris Jensen, drummer Mark Greenberg, keyboardist Matt Zeiner and percussionist Frankie Lombardi.

Betts' 1974 solo debut, Highway Call, credited to Richard Betts, was reissued in May by Universal Music Enterprises.

Betts was relieved of his duties in the Allman Brothers Band last year, on the eve of the band's summer tour, when a temporary layoff turned permanent. The group cited "creative differences" as the reason for the breakup in a statement, though singer-keyboardist Gregg Allman said in interviews that Betts' drug and alcohol abuse interfering with his band performance caused the dismissal. Betts sang and penned the group's biggest hit, "Ramblin' Man" (1973), as well as other Allmans favorites such as "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed" and "Blue Sky." The Dickey Betts Band is on the road with confirmed dates through July 14, according to the group's publicist.

The track list for Let's Get Together:

• "Rave On"
• "Let's All Get Together"
• "Immortal"
• "Tombstone Eyes"
• "Here Come the Blues Again"
• "One Stop Be-Bop"
• "I Gotta Know"
• "Call Me Anytime"
• "Dona Maria"
• "All For You"
• "Sing While I'm Walkin'"

• Dickey Betts
• The Allman Brothers Band

Blues Traveler frontman John Popper, the Allman Brothers Band and other improvisational-rock luminaries will celebrate Christmas together this year by doing what they do best: jamming all night long.

Those acts will be among the headliners at the 12th annual Christmas Jam, to be held December 21 at the Thomas Wolfe Auditorium in Asheville, North Carolina, according to organizers.

Former Allman Brothers guitarist Warren Haynes, who left the band to found the power trio Gov't Mule, puts the concert together each year. Gov't Mule bassist and former Allman Brothers member Allen Woody died in September, leaving the band's future uncertain.

"It started out as a chance for all of the local musicians to play together, the one time of year when everyone was around,'' Haynes said in a written statement. "Each year, more national acts get involved. Everyone is there for the right reasons — to play good music and to spread good vibes.'' This year's show will also include singer/songwriter Edwin McCain, blues veteran Little Milton and roots-rockers Bottle Rockets, as well as a reunion of the original members of cult jam-band Col. Bruce Hampton & the Aquarium Rescue Unit.

Wintertime Blues — The Benefit Concert, a double-CD set documenting last year's show, which featured many of the same artists, was released Tuesday (December 5). Proceeds from the concert and the CD will benefit the housing charity Habitat for Humanity.

• John Popper
• The Allman Brothers Band