Allman Betts Band Returns to Music Hall on ‘King Crawler’ Tour

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Devon Allman (left) and Duane Betts. (Photo: Kaelan Barowsky)

May 25, 2024

By W.B. King–

Among the many songs Duane Betts has written, “Rivers Run” is perhaps his favorite, but when considering names for the 2024 Allman Betts Band tour, he said it didn’t quite have the ring of “King Crawler,” a slinky, rocking tune also featured on the band’s second album, Bless Your Heart (2020).

“This is the first proper Allman Betts Band tour in a couple of years,” Betts told The Hudson Independent, adding that his musical partner, Devon Allman, came up with the tour moniker.

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Kicked off in May, the King Crawler tour is as bittersweet as founding member R. Scott Bryan, also known for his work with Sheryl Crow, sadly passed in December 2023. He was one of two drummers in the band.

“We love Scott and we miss him so much. We knew he had been sick, so it wasn’t completely out of the blue. You try to prepare yourself for something like that… it’s definitely a big loss for us,” Betts shared.

“We have to keep playing music and he would want that. We are really happy to have Alex Orbison in the band who has been a brother to me,” he said. Orbison, son of famed crooner Roy Orbison, was previously in the band Backbone69 with Betts.

The son of Allman Brothers Band founding member, Dickey Betts, Duane has also known Devon, son of Gregg Allman, for many years, although the two only officially came together as bandmates in 2018. “We actually met on the 20th anniversary Allman Brothers tour, when they got back together in 1989. I was 11-years old,” Betts recalled, adding that Devon was about 16 at the time. “We stayed in touch. We never lived in the same city. So, it was more like seeing a family member here and there over the years, but we struck up a friendship.”

Musical Building Blocks

Penning iconic songs like “Ramblin’ Man,” “Southbound,” and “Jessica,” when it came to guitar instruction, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Dickey Betts was a patient, encouraging teacher to his son. “He kind of knew that I didn’t want him to stand over me and teach me too much because I wanted to show him that I could learn stuff on my own and that I was making progress,” Betts recalled. “He was really specific and conscious about what he decided to teach me.”

During the early years of learning the instrument, Betts studied musical “building blocks” like 12 bar blues and songs by Chuck Berry. “Dad was just a great teacher. Even when he wasn’t even trying to teach me… just by being around him you learned so much.”

Named after Duane Allman, the original leader of the Allman Brothers Band whose slide guitar prowess is legendary, Betts became so proficient on the guitar that his father asked him to join an iteration of Dickey Betts & Great Southern. In 2012, the band played a memorable show at the Music Hall. “I remember playing with Dad there. I always love coming to Tarrytown. It’s a nice area and we are always well-received.”

Like most parents and children, their musical interests didn’t always line up, although their respective tastes never veered too far off a shared path. “I’ve always listened to a lot of different music. I fell in love with Pink Floyd and The Doors, Jimi Hendrix and all of the great classic rock stuff at a very young age,” Betts continued. “I got into rap and metal. Listening to Run-DMC…Metallica and Iron Maiden and kind of shifted away from that when the Seattle stuff started happening…Smashing Pumpkins and Alice in Chains and stuff like that, but I also was listening to John Coltrane, Miles Davis, B.B. King and Albert King.”

These wide-ranging influences have afforded Betts musical opportunities outside his solo pursuits and work with the Allman Betts Band, including stints with the Dawes and Phil Lesh & Friends. The latter speaks to the relationship the Grateful Dead and the Allman Brothers Band created more than 50 years ago, including the illustrious “Summer Jam at Watkins Glen” in 1973 that also featured The Band.

“There was obviously a kinship between the two camps back in the early days. They came from different places geographically, musically, somewhat, but they share common links is kind of the way I see it,” Betts said. “I’ve played with Phil a few times,” he said of the former bass player for the Grateful Dead. “I really love playing that music with him and the musicians that he assembles. So, it’s always a real honor to play with him and his band.”

Sons of Brothers

Along with Bless Your Heart, the Allman Betts Band released Down to the River in 2019. Both albums were recorded on two-inch analog tape at Muscle Shoals Sound Studio in Sheffield, Alabama. Tracks from these records, which were pressed on vinyl, will be featured during the band’s stop at the Music Hall on June 6. The last time they were in town was in February 2020 before COVID-19 gripped the world, shuttering venues and businesses. “We’ve actually been changing the set list a lot on this run, which is really cool. We’re in a good groove, so it’s been a lot of fun,” Betts said. “It really feels good to go out there and play nine or 10 of your original songs.”

JD Simo is opening the show. Betts said he is his favorite guitarist “anywhere, everywhere” who will be performing in a “phenomenal duo” of guitar, vocals (Simo) and drums (Adam Abrashoff).

While the Allman Betts Band features Devon and Duane’s last names, the seven-piece group operates like a democracy with different players taking on various roles throughout the show. The band features guitarist Johnny Stachela, bassist Justin Corgan, keyboardist John Ginty, percussionist/saxophonist David Gomez, and drummers John Lum and Orbison. Devon Allman, Betts noted, is a natural born band leader. “Devon definitely knows how to get the crowd going. I’m kind of a little more reserved and a little shy,” Betts said of his partner who sings, plays guitar and keyboards. “So, I think our personalities kind of complement each other pretty well on stage.”

The sons of Gregg and Dickey understand that fans are also interested in their interpretations of Allman Brothers’ music. “There’s something really special when Devon does one of his dad’s songs,” he said of Gregg Allman who died in 2017. “Sometimes I get choked up when he plays ‘Midnight Rider’ or ‘Melissa.’ We have a lot of pride in what our dad’s created.”

Dickey Betts, who sadly passed away at age 80 in April 2024, once told his son that Gregg Allman had a golden voice. “He was just oozing with talent and is obviously one of my favorite singers of all time,” Betts said. Gregg Allman’s tunes are not the only Allman Brothers Band music featured on recent setlists. Betts pays homage to his dad by singing and playing songs like “Blue Sky” and “In Memory of Elizabeth Reed.”

Wild and Precious Life

When the Allman Betts Band concludes their tour later this summer, Betts will be back on the road with Little Feat promoting his first solo album, Wild & Precious Life (2023), which was recorded at Derek Trucks’ studio. Trucks is a former Allman Brothers Band member who assumed Duane Allman’s role and is also the nephew of original Allman Brothers Band drummer Butch Trucks. He guested on the album as did Marcus King and Nicki Bluhm.

The pairing of Little Feat and Duane Betts and Palmetto Hotel on the upcoming tour, he said, brings back fond memories of travelling with the Allman Brothers in the early 1990s. “I got into Little Feat through Allen Woody and Warren Haynes,” Betts said of the former Allman Brothers Band bass player and guitarist, respectively. “I heard Waiting for Columbus on the tour bus one night and thought, ‘This is really cool.’ Everybody who likes great music, I think, likes Little Feat.”

Whether writing with Devon for the Allman Betts Band or for his solo projects with songwriter Stoll Vaughn, Betts is always focused on serving the song. “When you write songs just by yourself that are really meaningful, it’s a great feeling. But it’s also really fun to collaborate,” he said, noting how much he is looking forward to returning to the Music Hall with the Allman Betts Band and exploring new musical territories.

“It’s kind of like painting a picture and telling a story with melodies. It’s an abstract idea, but it’s also kind of a simple idea,” Betts said of improvisation. “I learned from people that I really respected that I’ve played with and watched growing up and that seems to be the way to do it…to kind of keep it interesting. It really feels good to just go out there and play.”

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