Problems playing this file? See media help. "I'll never forget, right when we got in Dickey's truck, it started to lightly, almost mystically, snow, as if it was Duane sending us a message: 'Hey, you guys finally got that tune.'" The two hopped in Betts's pickup truck with their guitars in excitement, with intentions to show each band member their new instrumental. "Dickey lit up like a lightbulb he was so happy, because now we had the new section the song desperately needed," he remarked. Upon his return, Dudek showed him his new section. According to Dudek, he formed the bridge section while Betts was away, checking on their steaks. They played the song together, and Betts became frustrated, as it went nowhere following the opening and main verse riff. Betts had invited him over for dinner, and instructed him to bring his acoustic guitar. Īccording to session musician Les Dudek, he co-wrote "Jessica" but did not receive credit. "I started playing along, trying to capture musically the way she looked bouncing around the room," said Betts, who named the song after her. Jessica, Betts's baby daughter, crawled into the room and began bouncing to the music. Betts had crafted the main melody of the song but became frustrated with its direction afterward. "Jessica" was an attempt to write a song that could be played with just two fingers, in honor of gypsy jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt, who played with two left fingers due to severe burns. I get an emotion or an idea I want to express and see what I can come up with," said Betts in 2014. "I really need to have an image in my head before I can start writing an instrumental because otherwise it's too vague. Guitarist Dickey Betts wrote the song at "the Farm," a 432-acre "group hangout" in Juliette, Georgia. The addition of Leavell in particular changed the band's sound and direction, which has often been considered most evident on "Jessica". A year later when Berry Oakley also died, Lamar Williams was brought in as the bassist replacement, finishing the album Berry did not. Songwriting always has some gray areas, because if someone plays a particular riff does that mean it's part of the song or part of the arrangement? We all contributed to the arrangement of the piece, but it was Dickey's song.Īfter the death of group leader Duane Allman in 1971, the Allman Brothers Band continued on, adding keyboardist Chuck Leavell. It was used as the theme for the 1977 British TV series Top Gear, as well as its current iteration relaunched in 2002. Many critics at the time called it a highlight of the album, and a 2006 Wall Street Journal article deemed it "a true national heirloom". Despite this, it became a standard in rotations for classic rock radio stations in the following decades. Issued as a single following the immensely successful " Ramblin' Man", "Jessica" did not receive the same level of chart success. The arrangement was crafted prior to recording, which took place at Capricorn Sound Studios in Macon, Georgia. He invited fellow guitarist Les Dudek over to collaborate on it, and Dudek performed the bridge. She had bounced along to the song's rhythm, and Betts attempted to capture her attitude with its melody. He named it after his daughter, Jessica Betts, who was an infant when it was released. Written by guitarist Dickey Betts, the song is a tribute to gypsy jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt, in that it was designed to be played using only two fingers on the left hand.īetts wrote the majority of "Jessica" at the band's farm in Juliette, Georgia. " Jessica" is an instrumental piece by American rock band the Allman Brothers Band, released in December 1973 as the second single from the group's fourth studio album, Brothers and Sisters (1973). The Allman Brothers Band singles chronology
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