Photo by Kaelan Barowsky
The Allman Betts Band
Allman Betts: Devon Allman (left) and Duane Betts
Devon Allman can look back on his music career and see he has always tended to have a band that goes for a few years before he’s been ready to shake things up and start something different.
During the early 2000s, he fronted Devon Allman’s Honeytribe, then in 2011, he joined the Royal Southern Brotherhood, releasing a pair of albums in 2012 and 2014, before forming the Devon Allman Project. But Allman believes he won’t feel the need to move on from his latest group, the Allman Betts Band, any time in the foreseeable future.
“I’ve always kind of changed up the kind of approach and the vehicles that I’ve made music inside of,” Allman said. “It kind of felt like I’ve been couch surfing my whole career and now I’ve bought a house. And I like this house.”
Part of what has Allman seeing a long future for the Allman Betts Band is how easily the band formed and how quickly the band has made progress both musically and in popularity.
Time Finally Came
The Betts in the band is guitarist/singer Duane Betts, the son of Allman Brothers founding member and guitarist/singer Dickey Betts. Allman, as one might have guessed, is the son of another founding member of that legendary group, keyboardist/singer Gregg Allman. The two had kicked around the notion of trying to write together for years, but collaborating wasn’t possible until more recently because both were busy with other projects.
But by 2018 both Allman and Betts were free and clear, so a tour was put together where Betts opened for the Devon Allman Project and then sat in with that group each evening to play a few Allman Brothers Band songs and other cover tunes. Along the way, the pair tested the waters of writing together.
Betts, in a separate interview, remembered the first indication that he and Allman might have a good chemistry as songwriters.
“Devon and I, the first song we worked on was ‘Long Gone.’ That was in the back of the bus,” Betts said. “I know we were headed down to Texas. We were on a long drive and we just kind of started kicking around this idea, and an idea for a verse started and then he kind of switched it up a little bit and it really worked out and we took it from there.”
Considerable Progress
The group released its self-titled debut in 2019 and showed considerable promise with a strong set of original songs that drew from a variety of influences that included the Allman Brothers Band (of course), and just as prominently, the Rolling Stones, the Band and Santana.
After touring the debut album for about a year, the Allman Betts Band (which includes bassist Berry Oakley Jr., the son of original Allman Brothers Band bassist Berry Oakley and a long-time friend of both Devon Allman and Duane Betts, slide guitar player Johnny Stachelaz—who played in Duane Betts’ solo band —keyboardist John Ginty and drummers John Lum and R. Scott Bryan) went to work on the 2020 follow-up album, Bless Your Heart.
The growth of the group is very apparent on this excellent second effort, with stronger, more diverse and more ambitious songs. Naturally enough, there are moments that recall the Allman Brothers Band (especially the extended instrumental, “Savannah’s Dream”). But songs like “King Crawler,” a crackling Stones-ish rocker with sassy saxophone and stinging slide guitar; “The Doctor’s Daughter,” a My Morning Jacket-ish epic ballad; and “Pale Horse Rider,” an expansive mid-tempo track with the unique twist of a wordless chorus, don’t sound like the Allman Brothers Band and instead point to an emerging more original sound from the band.
The show the Allman Betts Band will bring to Turner Hall Ballroom figures to be a generous affair.
“So now that we’re two records in we have a little bit more to pull from. A typical set is about two and a half hours, like if we’re doing a normal show,” Allman said. “And in the two and a half hours, we’re certainly playing six or seven off of the new record, three or four off of the first record, and then we’ll do, we usually try to do one of Duane’s dad’s songs and one of my dad’s songs. And then we always have thrown in a couple of covers just to kind of shake things up, too.”
Allman Betts Band perform March 1 at Turner Hall Ballroom.
