Gregg Allman once said that The Allman Brothers Band was not a jamband. It was a band that jams. In that same familial spirit, The Allman Betts Band has risen. And as the two-year-old ensemble has expanded its original repertoire, with a forthcoming album following up its 2019 debut, so too has the septet expanded its taste for improvisation, and its guest list.
The boys got rightinto the new tracks, lifting the lid on a two-hour headlining set at downtownL.A.’s Palace with a pair of fresh cuts sandwiched around their single fromlast year’s inaugural LP. First was thegnarly tale of Southern excess and its Stones-like riff, “Airboats ‘n Cocaine,”rolling into the stomping rock of “Shinin’” from 2019’s Down to the River. Then,another from the upcoming record- the dusky bio ballad “Magnolia Road”- withgroup namesakes Devon Allman and Duane Betts sharing guitar lines, lead vocals,and a harmonized chorus leading the way back home.
For the unaware,Devon and Duane, as well as bassist Berry Duane Oakley, are sons of foundingAllman Brothers; the late Gregg Allman, Dickey Betts, and the late BerryOakley, respectively. The progenioustrio trace their way back home to a landmark band that revolutionized musicwith a hybrid of electric blues, jazz, and country laced with psychedelicimprovisation. It’s only fitting, then,that among their nods to their musical, and literal, ancestry were two gemsfrom their fathers’ Eat A Peach:Devon tipping the hat to Gregg’s soaring, mid-tempo blues, “Ain’t Wastin’ Time NoMore”; Duane honoring Dickey’s countrified classic, ”Blue Sky.”
It was on anotherBrothers nugget- the imperial instrumental “In Memory of Elizabeth Reed”- thatThe Allman Betts Band welcomed the first of several guests for theevening. Gov’t Mule drummer Matt Abtstemporarily took over John Lum’s chair, opposite percussionist R. Scott Bryan,formidably buttressing the launch pad as Duane, guitarist Johnny Stachela, andkeyboardist John Ginty blasted off for a 17-minute trip to the cosmos. Devon, too, would seize his own means ofsix-string expression, stretching out with Stachela (and his quotes ofSantana's "Soul Sacrifice"), on “Mahalo,” a burner from Devon's dayswith Honeytribe.
Even with all ofthe fretboard fireworks, the songs remained the focus; whether on a patient andtasteful “Left My Heart in Memphis,” a greasy “All Night,” or a wink to TomPetty on “You Got Lucky.” On a late-set“Down to the River,” they spotlighted the blues-soaked guitar of one of theshow’s two openers, Jackson Stokes, and engaged the near-capacity theatre crowdto sing along on the delicate outro. Stokes departed, tagging in another of the bill’s supporting artists,guitarist Marc Ford, as well as a special guest, The Doors’ guitarist RobbyKrieger, to assemble an armed forces of stringed instruments. As Oakley beltedout the Brothers’ “Trouble No More,” down the line the five guitarists tradedlines and smiles, with Krieger and Stachela both wielding whining and grindingbottleneck slides.
For The Doors’“Roadhouse Blues,” Krieger kicked off the familiar shuffle, as Devon and Oakleyteamed up for the vocal. Again each ofthe five axmen took their solo turns, but it was best when things got quiet;all five weaving patterns of notes around and through each other at once. Oakley returned to begin the ascent to thesong’s climax, peaking when Devon countered the bassist’s cries to “Save ourcity!” with a shearing “Right now!” and imploring their faithful to let itroll, baby, roll all night long.
As an encore, theABB unleashed The Black Crowes’ “Wiser Time,” and invited Ford back to decoratehis former band’s shifting rumbler. Itwas a nicely connecting selection bridging the rock-and-roll timeline and theirmutual southern affiliations; from the Brothers’ 70s heyday through the Crowes’90s stardom to the present bearers of the jams: The Allman Betts Band.
