Interview: Duane Betts (The Allman Betts Band)
It can’t be easy being the children of music icons, but Devon Allman and Duane Betts pull it off with style.
Talented artists in their own right, the sons of The Allman Brothers founding members Gregg Allman and Dickey Betts have continued their fathers’ legacies in their own group, The Allman Betts Band. And for nearly a decade, they’ve toured the U.S. each December with some all-star collaborators as the Allman Betts Family Revival, celebrating that rich songbook in a Last Waltz-style show.
Prior to their Wednesday, Dec. 10, stop at the Tennessee Theatre in downtown Knoxville — where they’ll be joined by gifted guests Robert Randolph, Amanda Shires, Judith Hill, Jimmy Hall, Cody Dickinson, Luther Dickinson, and Alex Orbison — Duane Betts spoke with Asheville Stages about what’s involved organizing this special tour each year and the privilege of getting to play his father’s songs for him while he was still alive.
Edwin Arnaudin: I’m looking forward to seeing y'all at the Tennessee Theatre. Have you played that venue before?
Duane Betts: I don't think so. Sometimes I get to a place and I don't think I've been there, and then I walk in and I'm like, “Oh, wait! Yeah, I have been here.” I've been to the Bijou [Theatre] and I've played a couple other places [in Knoxville], but not this particular venue.
EA: I just went there for the first time myself earlier this year for the Big Ears Festival. My partner and I saw Taj Mahal — it's a beautiful old theater that they've kept in pristine shape, so it was a treat.
DB: Oh, wow!
EA: I would imagine it would be even better from the performer side — it was just visually stunning.
DB: Yeah, those are our favorite venues — a nice theater. They just sound great and usually the stage is the right size and it's not too big, it's not too small, so that’s excellent.
EA: Going back nine years, what inspired you and Devon to first start this tour?
DB: The impetus of this was when Gregg [Allman] — Devon’s father — passed away. He wanted to assemble a group of friends and musicians to celebrate his father. And the first Revival, coincidentally — it was the date they had available at the Fillmore in San Francisco — it fell on Gregg's birthday: on December 8. And so Devon asked some of his friends to be a part of the event, and it turned into a big shindig; a big party. And I was one of the friends that he asked to be a part of it.
And then that led to the formation of The Allman Betts Band and we continued the Revival. And then a few years ago, we added my family name, the Betts name, to the bill. We just thought it was appropriate. And now we're in our ninth year running.
The Allman Betts Family Revival is a great time at the end of the year to get together and see some of our friends that we haven't gotten the chance to play with throughout the year, like Luther and Cody Dickinson and Jimmy Hall. Those are a few people who are a part of it every year and will continue to be a part of it unless they have something that makes them not be available for it.
Most of the guests rotate — we have some people and then we don't have them for a few years and we might have them back. You gotta keep it fresh, so we just can't have the same people every year. But it's a good way to meet new people and branch out.
This year, we have Amanda Shires, who is fantastic. I've never met her, and I look forward to playing with her and Judith Hill. Then we have Robert Randolph, who we've had on a few of them — not every year but he's a fixture in the Revival family. We have a lot of guests, a lot of different people. It's good to branch out and meet new people, new folks, and just see good friends that we haven't seen all year.
EA: How do you go about choosing the collaborators? Like you said, you have the kind of rock steady folks that come back like Robert Randolph, but then you are branching out. Is there any criteria you're looking for, or do other people make suggestions?
DB: Well, there's no shortage of talented artists out there. A lot of people aren't touring that time of year — and a lot of people probably don't want to tour that time of year. They want to keep that time off. But on the flip side, there's a lot of people that want to make a little extra money and have some fun. It’s not the height of touring season.
Devon will throw some names at me; I'll throw some names at him. We'll go over some names and then we'll just throw the net out and see who wants to do it. And if certain people don't want to do it that we’ve approached, we huddle up and we go after some other names. But yeah, it's a really fun tour and it's not — I mean, it's work, but it's really a fun way to earn a living. And we're blessed to be able to do it every year.
EA: Are y'all able to rehearse much with that kind of core band before hitting the road? Or is everybody a little too spread out for that?
DB: Since half of the band and some of our crew is located in St. Louis, the rest of us that don't live there fly in. And we'll do a rehearsal about a week before the tour. That way, we can enjoy the holidays and not feel like we have to rush out the next morning and cram a rehearsal in and then cram a seven hour rehearsal in the day of the first show. It's just much more relaxed.
It seems like it's unnecessary to fly in and then fly home and then fly back out. But that's the way we did it last year and we're going to do it that way this year. I think that makes for a much more relaxed first show to just have some of the work done prior to going out.
EA: And then how do you come up with the set list for each night? Is that mostly you and Devon or do you ask the special guests what they want to do?
DB: Some of the guests are on the whole tour, and then some of them are on certain shows only. So, the folks that are on the whole tour, they'll have their songs, so that won't really rotate. We can't completely change the setup every night because certain things have to stay in place. But that’s not to say the sets won't change at all. They always change some.
So, those folks, we just feel them out and see what they're into and see what they want to play or sing, and as long as we like what they want to do, then it works itself out pretty easily. There aren't really any hangups on that. And there's certain songs that I'm gonna sing — I'll probably always sing “Blue Sky.” And Devon will probably always wanna sing “Dreams.”
And then there's songs that can be shared verses — “Midnight Rider” is a good example or “Southbound.” Those are all things that we keep in mind. So, if somebody says, “Hey, I want to sing ‘Blue Sky’ — exceptions can always be made. But I just feel comfortable singing that and I think it's a mainstay.
EA: It seems so cool that y'all are able to get so many talented friends to say “yes” to this tour year after year. What's the significance of that to you, that they want to be a part of this and sing your parents' music?
DB: I think that the music is a strong force. And I think, for the folks that have done the tour, they know how it works and they know it's professionally run and they enjoy playing. We all enjoy playing together so much. So, I feel like that song book is so powerful and it means so much to so many people. And this is our little chance where we all get together for three weeks out of the year and really make that the focus. Because the rest of the year, we all have records — I have a new record that I'll be focused on next year.
And, I'll be honest, it gives everybody a chance to play nice venues that they may not play on their own. Because we're all getting together, we'll play the Beacon Theater [in New York City], and we’ve played The Ryman [Auditorium in Nashville], though not this year. On my own, I probably wouldn't play the Beacon Theater yet. And the same goes for a lot of the other artists, so that's a really great thing, too.
But I think that the song book, ultimately, is so great and so powerful and it meant so much to a lot of the folks that wanna come on the tour. It obviously inspired them and influenced them and their lives and in their art. So, I think that's why.
EA: That's very well put. I also wanted to ask about last year's tour, because I know that was the first one since your father passed away. Looking back, how were those shows different from previous ones?
DB: It was really emotional. It's strange, though, because the tour before that, when he was still with us, was equally as emotional because he actually came on his birthday to see us play.
When someone's nearing the end of their life — we didn't know how long it was gonna be, but we knew that he wasn't gonna live forever. And I knew that might be the last one. So that was equally as emotional for me.
And having him pass on, I feel like— I don't know. I don't know how to put it. I just feel grateful that he was able to see so much, and he was able to see me get sober. I feel like there's so many people [for whom] that music means so much to [and] that do a good job carrying it on, and I feel like we're part of that.
IF YOU GO
Who: Allman Betts Family Revival
When: Wednesday, Dec. 10, 7:30 p.m.
Where: Tennessee Theatre, 604 South Gay St., Knoxville, tennesseetheatre.com
Tickets: $52-$111
(Photo by John Bowman Nichols)
