The Allman Betts Band, faithful to its title, upholds the legacy of the Allman Brothers Band. Devon Allman, son of Gregg Allman, and Duane Betts, son of Dickey Betts, assembled the ensemble in 2018 expressly to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the groundbreaking ensemble their fathers had launched. While the group sustained the Southern rock flame into the twenty-first century through performances of classic Allmans material, Devon and Duane simultaneously generated original songs, issuing their first album, Down to the River, in June 2019.
To complete the lineup, Devon Allman and Duane Betts enlisted bassist Berry Oakley, Jr.—son of the original Allman bassist Berry Oakley—organist John Ginty, slide guitarist Johnny Stachela, and percussionists John Lum and R. Scott Bryan. In collaboration with producer Matt Ross-Spang, the band tracked the album that became Down to the River at Muscle Shoals Sound Studio in Alabama. The record reached stores on June 28, immediately preceding the Allman Betts Band’s summer tour. Adhering to the same all-analog methods employed on the debut, the musicians reconvened with both Ross-Spang and Muscle Shoals to capture their second release, the modestly broader 2020 album Bless Your Heart.
