This guitar was a gift to Chips Moman from Dickey Betts of the Allman Brothers Band in the early 1980s. It was the Allman Brothers' 'house' guitar, which was played regularly by Betts and by legendary guitarist Duane Allman until his death in 1971. The guitar was immortalised by the Allman Brothers' contemporary on the Southern Rock Scene, Charlie Daniels, who referred in his song The South's Gonna Do It Again to "Dickey Betts playing on his red guitar".
The Allman Brothers Band were the prime exponents of Southern Rock, a popular style from the late 60s into the 80s which mixed the British rock sound of the Rolling Stones with U.S. electric blues. Both Duane Allman and Dickey Betts were heavily admired by their fellow musicians, and until his death, Duane Allman was regarded by many critics as the finest rock/blues guitarist in the world - both for his work with the Allman Brothers, and his sessions with musicians like Aretha Franklin and Eric Clapton. This 'red' guitar was featured on stage by the Allman Brothers Band for almost 15 years, and became a potent symbol of their image and sound.