The Allman Betts Band is made up of Devon Allman and Duane Betts, the sons, respectively, of Allman Brothers Band legends Gregg Allman and Dickey Betts. The live Allman Betts Band includes Berry Oakley Jr. (son of original Allman Brother Band bassist Berry Oakley), slide guitarist Johnny Stachela and percussionists R. Scott Bryan and John Lum.
Allman and Betts have known each other since the late 1980’s but started seriously playing together only in the past few years. A successful co-bill tour featuring each musician’s solo band stretched throughout 2018 and into 2019, with a focus on their respective original songs and then a combined collaborative encore heavy with inevitable Allman’s material and other covers.
To hear Devon Allman sing “Midnight Rider” or Duane Betts rip a guitar solo on “Blue Sky” sounds pretty natural and it can be said it’s their birthright as heirs to The Allman Brothers Band legacy. Collaborating for the fun might have been enough but for these two scions of the peach but playing together and forming a new group stays on the right side of indulging the ancestry. These two are forming a new path on top of familiar sounds. This is no tribute act.
The Allman Betts Band recorded their debut album Down To The River at the legendary Muscle Shoals Sound Studio in Alabama featuring guest appearances from the likes of Chuck Leavell and Peter Levin. As a template for their music the band looked to such albums as the Rolling Stones’ Sticky Fingers, Derek and the Dominoes Layla and everything recorded by The Band. Part Americana, some outlaw country influence, some stone-cold rhythm and blues influence and some elements of the great classic rock records that they grew up with make up the album.
Down To The River released June 2019 followed by a world tour that featured songs from the album, songs from their solo projects and classic Allman Brothers and Gregg Allman tracks in honor of the 50th anniversary of The Allman Brothers Band debut. Bless Your Heart (2020) releases Aug.28,2020.
Reference – https://www.jambase.com/article/devon-allman-duane-betts-allman-betts-band-interview
Allman Betts discography
Down To The River (2019)
Bless Your Heart (2020)
Sacramento’s K-ZAP 93.3 FM plays the The Allman Betts Band. All part of 50 years of Rock, Blues and More, 24-7 on our station’s stream at K-ZAP.ORG/LISTEN/
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