Press Release
Source: Noble PR
The Allman Betts Band release their second full- length studio album titled Bless Your Heart on Friday 28th August 2020 via BMG. The first single, “Magnolia Road” was released on all DSPs Friday, June 19. The official music video for the track was exclusively premiered via The ABB official YouTube channel the same day. Devon Allman and Duane Betts joined the premiere and chatted live with fans.
The new album is available to pre-order from HERE.
“Magnolia Road” is the tie-dyed contender for summer favourite. A semi-autobiographical lyric shared by Betts and Allman, ironically this is the only song on the album with band collaborator Stoll Vaughan as its sole author. Vaughan wrote the song alone, though namechecking detailed parts of Betts’ and Allman’s life, respectively. Musically it evokes the group’s affection for The Band and the Grateful Dead.
When The Allman Betts Band released Down to the River in June of 2019, the debut album represented not only the first time the group had recorded together but, in fact, the first time the seven-piece ensemble had ever played together. If Down to the River was the sound of the band’s combustible sparks igniting, then Bless Your Heart is their bonfire, built for the summer of 2020 and beyond; a double-album follow-up fuelled by road-forged camaraderie and telepathic musical intensity, vibrantly reflecting the individual and collective experiences of these seven, all drawing inspiration from the band’s symbolic hometown – a place Devon Allman calls “the United States of Americana.”
A conflagration of influences and invention, confidence and ambition, Bless Your Heart captures a vast, panoramic scope throughout a baker’s dozen of modern rock. Ragged and stomping. Heady and frayed. Soaring and scorching. Generational and genteel. West Coast scenes and Gulf Coast shores. Gateways of the Midwest and swamplands of Florida. Wyoming’s Big Sky. New York’s Big Apple. Chicago’s Broad Shoulders.
Over a week’s time, they recorded 13 songs at the legendary Muscle Shoals Sound Studio on 2-inch tape, just as they did with Down to The River. In addition to the time in Muscle Shoals, Bless Your Heart saw additional tracking in Memphis and St. Louis. Within the eclectic repertoire are the familiar: stacks of guitars; electric, acoustic, and slide; a throttling, percussive rhythm section. And the fresh: Bassist and singer Berry Duane Oakley’s ABB vocal debut on his original song (“The Doctor’s Daughter”); Allman’s baritone vocal channelling Johnny Cash (“Much Obliged”); Betts extending the legendary family legacy of incendiary instrumentals (“Savannah’s Dream”). They tapped friends, as well, such as Jimmy Hall, Shannon McNally, Art Edmaiston, Susan Marshall, and Reba Russell for guest contributions. Then, emerged with an undeniable achievement of an album (what sophomore jinx?) worthy of its winking, unabashedly Southern title. 
“I think we definitely challenged ourselves, pushed ourselves artistically, and widened the spectrum on all levels. We wanted something that was a little more sweeping. A deeper experience,” says Betts.
Says Allman, “I hope what people hear on Bless Your Heart is a band that’s having a love affair with being a band.”
The Allman Betts Band Line-Up Devon Allman – guitar, vocals | Duane Betts – guitar, vocals | Berry Duane Oakley – bass, vocals Johnny Stachela – guitar, vocals | John Ginty – keyboards | R Scott Bryan – percussion, vocals John Lum – drums
BLESS YOUR HEART – TRACKLISTING
THE ALLMAN BETTS BAND – BIOGRAPHY When The Allman Betts Band released Down to the River in June of 2019, the debut album represented not only the first time the group had recorded together, but, in fact, the first time the seven-piece ensemble had ever played together. If Down to the River was the sound of the band’s combustible sparks igniting, then Bless Your Heart is their bonfire, built for the summer of 2020 and beyond; a double-album follow-up fuelled by road-forged camaraderie and telepathic musical intensity, vibrantly reflecting the individual and collective experiences of these seven, all drawing inspiration from the band’s symbolic hometown- a place Devon Allman calls “the United States of Americana.”
In 2019, as Down to the River topped charts and dotted playlists, The Allman Betts Band toured. Relentlessly. Sold-out U.S. theatres in spring turned to festival dates in summer, even crossing over the Atlantic for a string of European appearances. It was in Germany in late July when Allman, the group’s co-founder, guitarist, and singer, required a tour- ending hospital stay for minor, but necessary surgery. His recovery postponed several ensuing shows, but the writing for a second album enthusiastically continued. Along with co-founder, guitarist, and singer Duane Betts, the pair already had a growing notebook of new songs, largely composed on the tour bus or in hotel rooms in cities and towns across the country: Baton Rouge, Louisiana and Tybee Island, Georgia; Chicago, Illinois and Charlotte, North Carolina, to name a few.
They re-enlisted Stoll Vaughan, a singer- songwriter from Los Angeles (via Kentucky), who’d collaborated on five of River’s nine tracks, to advise on the developing material. And they booked a return to Alabama’s Muscle Shoals Sound Studio, the historic recording facility where they’d cut the debut, as well as re-signing Grammy-winning producer Matt Ross-Spang to reprise his role helming the recording. After Allman’s healthy return and a run of fall tour dates, including the third annual Allman Family Revival (expanded from San Francisco to Denver and New York City), the group decamped to Nashville for rehearsals ahead of the recording session, fleshing out the new songs until satisfied they had reached peak performance.
“We thought that if we can maximize the potential of each song, then we have a shot at making a cohesive, great record,” says Allman. Under a siren’s warning of approaching tornados, but secure in the familiar, single-story brickhouse comfort of Muscle Shoals, the band began tracking its own brand of whirling, raucous rock-and-roll. Following a year’s worth of touring as a unit- as Allman says, the “200 races the horse had run”- the dividends were immediate and plentiful.
“Now we know how the band plays. We know to trust each other’s instincts. The dynamics have a flow to them: when to step back; when to push forward,” says Allman. Adds Betts, “Once we got rolling, the floodgates opened.” A conflagration of influences and invention, confidence and ambition, Bless Your Heart captures a vast, panoramic scope throughout a baker’s dozen of modern rock. Ragged and stomping. Heady and frayed. Soaring and scorching. Generational and genteel. West Coast scenes and Gulf Coast shores. Gateways of the Midwest and swamplands of Florida. Wyoming’s Big Sky. New York’s Big Apple. Chicago’s Broad Shoulders. Among the fiery set is “Magnolia Road,” a semi-autobiographical overview of Allman and Betts written, ironically, by Vaughan alone, and a tie-dyed contender for summer festival favourite.
Within the eclectic repertoire are the familiar: stacks of guitars; electric, acoustic, and slide; a throttling, percussive rhythm section. And the fresh: Bassist and singer Berry Duane Oakley’s ABB vocal debut on his original song (“The Doctor’s Daughter”); Allman’s baritone vocal channelling Johnny Cash (“Much Obliged”); Betts extending the legendary family legacy of incendiary instrumentals (“Savannah’s Dream”). They tapped friends, as well, such as Jimmy Hall, Shannon McNally, Art Edmaiston, Susan Marshall, and Reba Russell for guest contributions.
Then, emerged with an undeniable achievement of an album (what sophomore jinx?) worthy of its winking, unabashedly Southern title. “I think we definitely challenged ourselves, pushed ourselves artistically, and widened the spectrum on all levels. We wanted something that was a little more sweeping. A deeper experience,” says Betts. Says Allman, “I hope what people hear on Bless Your Heart is a band that’s having a love affair with being a band.”
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