Duane Betts carries Allman Brothers legacy into new generation of guitar greatness

After discussing current recording and touring activity, the strengthening bond with his Palmetto Motel band and his still-mounting visibility as a new generational guitar voice, conversation with Duane Betts turns to legacy. And in this instance, talk involving legacy unavoidably shifts to family.

In Betts’ case, that means discussing his father, acclaimed Southern guitarist, vocalist and songwriter Dickey Betts — founding member of the Allman Brothers Band and one of the most influential musical stylists of the 1970s and beyond. The younger Betts has no problems discussing his dad, but his interviewer wants to be respectful, or at least cognizant of the fact that his own music and artistic identity can so easily become engulfed by such a commanding parental presence.

The younger Betts — young, as in 47 — quickly defuses such a scenario.

“Hey, at least you waited 10 questions in before asking about my dad.”

Influence of Dickey Betts, Allman Brothers Band

With that, comes reflections from an artist where the inspiration of his father, though understandingly massive, serve as but one aspect to a musical profile explored and expressed very much on its own terms.

“You create your own footsteps,” Betts said. “You can follow in the footsteps of others, but that doesn’t mean you don’t have your own. I like the challenge. And, yeah, if you have a bad day and your glass is half empty, you dwell on stuff you don’t need to dwell on. But all in all, I love to play music, and I think I’ve created my own identity to an extent.

“But, I mean, is it that bad of a thing to be part of the extended Allman Brothers musical family/legacy? I mean, it could be worse. I don’t have any complaints. But you just make your records, create your art and take your next step. That’s all you can do.”

New album with Dave Cobb in 2026

For Betts, one his most profound footprints will likely appear next year. After releasing a six-song debut EP in 2018 titled “Sketches of American Music” and the full 2023 album “Wild and Precious Life,” Betts teamed with the high priest of modern Southern record producers Dave Cobb for a new recording due out in 2026. Cobb’s previous clients include, among many others, Chris Stapleton, John Prine, Jason Isbell and Brandi Carlile.

“Dave is really comfortable at kind of taking the reins and doing what he does best, and his instincts are right on,” Betts said. “A good producer makes you comfortable and makes you trust them. I mean, I completely trusted him. It was a real honor to work with him.”

The road to the Cobb collaboration, though, was an extensive one. Work in numerous bands and projects, which included a year as a touring member of Dawes, culminated with the formation of the Allman Betts Band in 2018. That teamed the guitarist with another offspring of the mighty Allman Brothers Band, vocalist/guitarist Devon Allman (son of Gregg Allman.)

“Wild and Precious Life” took him to the Florida studio of Tedeschi Trucks Band chieftains Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks (another Allman family member, being the nephew of mainstay ABB drummer Butch Trucks.) Both also guested on the sessions. And to stretch the family ties even further, the bass guitar role on the record was handled by Berry Duane Oakley, son of founding ABB bassist Berry Oakley.

“That record has a distinct voice and feel,” Betts said of “Wild and Precious Life.” “It feels like that time. I’m definitely proud of the record, but you’re proud of it and then you move on and you’re on to the next thing. Then that’s the focus.”

Partnership with Stoll Vaughan

“Wild and Precious Life,” along with the forthcoming record, further a musical voice that includes an ongoing songwriting partnership with Lexington native and veteran songsmith Stoll Vaughan, who will open Betts’ concert this week at the Lyric Theatre and Cultural Arts Center.

“Stoll is one of my best friends,” Betts said. “Everything I’ve done, basically, I’ve written with him. I was introduced to Stoll out in Los Angeles. We just hit it off. We just started working together and got results. I think I added to something that he didn’t have and he obviously helped me quite a bit with what I didn’t have. We just complimented each other really well.”

“What’s incredible about Duane is that he grew up inside of the Holy Grail of ’70s songwriting and music,” Vaughan said. “He can’t hide from his dad’s legacy, nor does he want to. The Allman Brothers, Dickey Betts — that’s family. It’s something he embraces — not embraces as in, ‘Oh, I’m going to be famous.’ He just embraces it because it’s in his blood.”

So, here we are back at legacy and family with the son of the great Dickey Betts, the budding guitarist who cut his artistic teeth playing alongside his dad as a teen with the Allman Brothers Band in 1994 before spending over a decade in his father’s post-ABB band Great Southern.

“We share some of the same tastes and instincts,” Betts said of father Dickey, who died in April 2024 at age 80. “My sense of melody and my instincts, I think that stuff is kind of genetic. I don’t think it’s something I only learned from listening to him. Still, I grew up listening to him play so much. And also, I grew up around listening to Warren Haynes (longtime ABB co-guitarist and founder/frontman of Gov’t Mule.) I need to mention that, too. I listened to both of those guys every night and so they’re both influences.

“But my dad’s thing, that’s a lot closer, obviously. I learned so much from him just from how he would work a song up in rehearsal and how he would kind of lead the band onstage to make something happen. His spirit definitely lives through me.

“Not everything I do has that sound. For instance, we were covering ‘Impossible Germany’ by Wilco quite a bit on the last couple of runs with Palmetto Motel. My sound is there. I mean, I definitely have a certain sound, whether I’m playing something that sounds like the Allman Brothers or not. There’s a certain sound that I have that is a Betts style, if you will.

“Obviously, dad was a giant and playing music together with him was really important. But that’s a sacred thing, playing music with your family, whether it’s with a parent or with your kids or your siblings. Music and family, they just go together.”

Duane Betts and Palmetto Motel/Stoll Vaughan

The concert is a presentation by Concerts for Charity with proceeds benefiting The Shepherd’s House.

When: Oct. 9 at 7 p.m.

Where: Lyric Theatre and Cultural Arts Center, 300 E. Third St.

Tickets: $40 through tix.com.