| Highway Call | |
| Type: | Album |
| Artist: | Dickey Betts |
| Cover: | Betts_Hwy_Call.jpg |
| Released: | September 1974 |
| Recorded: | 1974 |
| Studio: | Capricorn Sound Studios, Macon, Georgia |
| Genre: | Country rock, Western swing |
| Length: | 35:28 |
| Label: | Capricorn |
| Producer: | Johnny Sandlin, Dickey Betts |
| Next Title: | Dickey Betts & Great Southern |
| Next Year: | 1977 |
Highway Call is the debut album by Dickey Betts (under the name Richard Betts), of the Allman Brothers Band.[1] [2] It was recorded in 1974 in Macon, Georgia, at Capricorn Studios. Betts further develops the country sound that emerged on the Allmans' 1973 album Brothers and Sisters. Tracks include "Long Time Gone", "Highway Call", and the extended country jam "Hand Picked". Guest musicians include Vassar Clements on fiddle and Jeff Hanna on acoustic guitar. The album peaked at No. 19 on Billboard's "Pop Albums" chart in 1974.[3]
No Depression called the album "exuberant," writing that "Betts conjured a rollicking brew of bluegrass, western swing, and jazz."[4] The Rolling Stone Album Guide wrote that Betts's "hesitant vocals can't match the pace of his lightning fingers." AllMusic said "Highway Call stands as the artist's finest solo moment, one that holds his true voice easily expressing itself far from the madding blues wail of the Allmans..."
All tracks composed by Dickey Betts, except "Kissimmee Kid" by Vassar Clements