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Betts joined brothers Duane and Gregg Allman and others in the band, which fused rock with country, blues and jazz to create Southern rock.

While Beyoncé has snagged the title of the first Black woman to be at the top of the country music charts, other Black musicians like Natalie Cole, Gladys Knight, Patti LaBelle, The Pointer Sisters and The Staple Singers on the album "Rhythm Country Blues" topped the country album charts in 1994, Billboard reported.

“It took me to a special place when I was a boy. Plus, I loved the Cajun flavor of the music. I saw that it brought joy and happiness to other people when I played, so I wanted to take it to a higher place by bringing in some Cajun, country, blues, rock and jazz.”

After emancipation, the country blues being played on plantations across the South blended with the music played by New Orleans society orchestras and other African diasporic styles blowing in from the Caribbean, creating the polyphonic improvised sound we now know as early jazz.

Additional 2023 National Heritage Fellows are Mississippi hill country blues musician R.L.