The Allman Brothers Band » Tracks
Jessica (4:05)
489,128 plays (126,873 listeners)
“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.
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.
Video
Added by MrThinline
Me playing along with The Allman Brothers Band, I am still learning the Dickey Betts guitar-style.
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Albums featuring this track
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RockLine
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Brothers And Sisters
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Shouts
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Packiesla wrote:
Top Gear!
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David4realz wrote:
Well allright now!!
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fravog wrote:
Feel Good Music, GREAT !
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octbaby25 wrote:
i could jam this all day long! Go see these boys in concert and wear your dancing shoes...AWESOME TIMES
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Popsyhabitat wrote:
always puts ya in a good mood
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Cragarmags wrote:
Just to let everyone know, this is a Dickey Betts piece and he plays both electric guitars on the studio track. Duane Allman had passed away by the time this had been recorded. Great song!!
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dannibal62 wrote:
This is one of my all-time favorite Allman Bros. tunes.
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KnoxAnimal wrote:
classic. saw it live not too long ago.
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gabrielcavaresi wrote:
one of the best instrumentals!!!!. [2] Trully a masterpiece!!! One of the songs that will make you cheer up :) [2]
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jr2 wrote:
The Best Guitar! Howard Duane Allman!!!! NUMBER ONE!
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zodiac_4_music wrote:
one of the best instrumentals!!!!....allman brothers band is just awesome..
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greatezalor wrote:
Trully a masterpiece!!! One of the songs that will make you cheer up :)
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okumaironpaws wrote:
the first time I heard this song was on Idiocracy, and so I tracked it down and immediately added and loved this song.
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eri_trabiccolo wrote:
why cut?
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DJ-Rinus wrote:
Great song and love the piano work!
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dannibal62 wrote:
This song is awesome! I love a good instrumental track like this.
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Thb306 wrote:
Simply an epic song. I love southern rock instrumentals!
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steveshier wrote:
named my daughter after this, brothers and sisters.
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tesqueda wrote:
A great traveling song to listen to as you motor on down the road to your next destination, window down, sipping on that cup of coffee. Oh man!
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Marjo47 wrote:
Still love this song!, thank you.
The Allman Brothers Band
Jessica
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Recent Activity
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jpskinner, dmac1013, DCSTONED and 3 other people loved The Allman Brothers Band – Jessica. 16 minutes ago
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jklpirate added Jessica to jklpirate’s library. 17 hours ago
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Lvsitanian1143, pandanayan, CHAINSAWFREAKK and 22 other people loved The Allman Brothers Band – Jessica. Saturday afternoon
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