Jessica (4:00)

“Jessica” is a rock instrumental written by Dickey Betts, guitarist of The Allman Brothers Band.

Jessica was first released on the band’s 1973 album Brothers and Sisters, and has subsequently been used in many musical contexts. In January 2006, a Wall Street Journal article referred to the piece as “a true national heirloom.”

The piece, along with “Ramblin’ Man”, is one of the two most famous tracks from the album, an album which marked the beginning of a new era for the Allman Brothers Band following the deaths of Duane Allman and Berry Oakley. The song is named for Jessica Betts, the daughter of Dickey Betts and bride-to-be Sandy Bluesky.

Composition

The piece is very structured, starting out with an opening motif on acoustic guitar (played by guest guitarist Les Dudek) that gradually builds into the signature main theme played by Dickey Betts on two electric guitars, Gregg Allman on Hammond Organ, and Chuck Leavell on Fender Rhodes Electric Piano. The theme follows in a somewhat “verse/chorus” style, but quickly changes directions after the second “verse”, breaking back down into the opening motif. The reprise of the opening motif builds at a slower pace, introducing different percussion instruments (congas, tambourine, maracas) and the dueling Grand Piano and Bass Guitar melody-line one by one until the drumset enters to introduce the Grand piano solo section. Soon the piece changes key from A Major to D Major for Betts’s guitar solo. An establishing melody line at the end of the solo and another set of key changes brings the piece back to the original main theme, breaking down this time at the “chorus” section to end the piece.