Duane Betts, the son of The Allman Brothers Band co-founding guitarist Dickey Betts, builds a legacy of his own while honouring that of his father's with The Allman Betts Band.
“The first thing I want to do is just go out and be honest,” Duane says. “For any artist, I think you want to be honest and you want to have something to say.
“We make music and make songs; hopefully people attach to it, think we have something to say and it makes their day brighter. At the end of the day you're trying to make people feel good and you're trying to give your all on that stage every night, and trying to make a difference and make people feel something, basically.”
Joining Duane in The Allman Betts band is Devon Allman, the son of Gregg Allman, and last year they released their debut album 'Down To The River', which was recorded at the iconic Muscle Shoals Sound Studio in the footsteps of greats such as Cher, Rod Stewart, Bob Seger, Lynyrd Skynyrd and more.
“I think it was a really great starting point for the band and it showed folks what we're about, but it leaves room for us to branch out and go in different directions, and that's what we plan on doing,” Duane says of the album.
“It's been really great to see how the band is growing on stage and off, and now we're looking forward to the next record so we're about to go in and do that and we'll see what happens.”
This year, The Allman Betts Band make their Australian debut when they play Bluesfest as part of the 50th anniversary celebrations of The Allman Brothers Band.
“I am ecstatic, we all are ecstatic about coming to Australia,” Duane says. “I love Australia, I know Devon loves Australia and the other guys haven't been there but they're going to love Australia,” he adds with a laugh.
“This is our first time as this band down there, but I played with the band Dawes out of Los Angeles. I did some shows down there I think in 2015 or '16 and I came to Australia when I was a very young lad – when I was seven years old I spent about a week in Sydney. I've loved Australia for a long time.”
Along with their own original repertoire, The Allman Betts Band also indulge themselves, not to mention old-school Allman Brothers fans, with a few covers of their fathers' famous beloved catalogue.
“I don't want to say exactly what we’re going to play, but we'll do a lot of our stuff and then I think it's safe to say we'll throw a couple of other surprises in there,” Duane teases.
“It just depends on what night it is what we play, we don't play the same selection; if we do some cover stuff we tend to shake it up night to night. . . I think it's safe to say we'll probably play a couple of Brothers tunes.”
