Tour Diary: The Allman Family Revival
The Sixth Annual Allman Family Revival Tour has been such a meaningful celebration of my dad’s life and music and also such a sweet reunion for our extended musical tribe. Making new memories and friends along the way, we kicked things off in Macon, Ga.—a city that’s very special to our collective family. We made it an epic one, turning in a three-hour mega show. It’s been so nice to have hang time with everyone. This year, I made a point to be absolutely sure I was present in all phases—these are, after all, the good ol’ days.
Blues legend Larry McCray is playing his ass off, Jimmy Hall is absolutely murdering it nightly with that incredible, soulful and powerhouse voice, while the River Kittens are making new fans at every turn and looking to take over the planet, which we will all gladly hand over to them when it’s all said and done—they are that great. It’s been such soul food to reunite with my brother Duane Betts and to play some music, share some meals and sip some coffee with him. Our chemistry and friendship hasn’t budged an inch—that history runs as deep at it comes.
Maggie Rose and I enjoyed a beautiful, poignant moment each night with our tender rendition of “These Days.” She’s right at home in our family. Donavon Frankenreiter and I wrote an entire album’s worth of material with producer/guitarist Luther Dickinson watching over us. Alex Orbison became one of our full-time drummers, joining the incredible John Lum to recreate the double drum synergy of The Allman Brothers Band. Cody Dickinson jumped on some dates and had everyone groovin’. John Ginty returned to the fold to serve as everyone’s musical, magnetic north; his playing and presence bring it all together. Simply put, we’re all better musicians because of him.
Justin Corgan took the deep dive and really committed himself to nailing the bass lines; his smile and positivity were contagious. The tag team of David Gomez and R. Scott Bryan on percussion has been magical. Gomez’s saxophone work has also brought the house down. Jackson Stokes wowed audiences with his lead guitar mastery. We welcomed Butch Trucks’ son Vaylor and daughter Melody out for the first time but certainly not the last. Greg Koch murdered everything he played and so did Tal Wilkenfeld—they are both virtuosic, lovely warriors in the battle for the good.
A number of celebrations happened on this tour, too: Frankenreiter turned 50, Gomez became an American citizen and we rocked out in my dad’s honor on what would have been his 75th birthday. We played the Beacon Theatre in New York and the hallowed halls of the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. We celebrated Dickey Betts’ 79th birthday in Denver with our first take on “Jessica.” At 2:30 p.m. every day, I instituted “Steely Dan Smoothie Hour” to make badass smoothies for our cohorts and play deep cuts by The Dan. It kept us healthy, laughing and jamming. We also got tattoos on a day off in Virginia.
We played some new places on this coast-to-coast tour like Durham, N.C., Charlotte, N.C., and Montgomery, Ala. The fans in each city were all fired up and ready to go, singing along and giving us all of their lovely energy. Los Angeles was exceptionally lovey[1]dovey this year and San Francisco—my second home during the ‘90s when my dad lived there—was full of straight-up maniacs.
We had a fantastic hometown gig in St. Louis at one of the coolest new venues in America, The Factory. We had the next day off so we spent it at my house; I made breakfast, lunch and dinner for a few of my Revival brothers and sisters. We watched football, played jazz vinyls and hit the reset button before hitting the road once again.
We debuted the ‘90s Allman Brothers track “Sailin’ ‘Cross the Devil’s Sea” this year and brought back “Melissa” and “Seven Turns.” The opening acts absolutely crushed it. George Porter Jr. and The Runnin Pardners, Samantha Fish and Jesse Dayton, Ivan Neville and Dumpstaphunk, Mike & The Moonpies, JD Simo and Jackson Stokes all brought the heat. We were also thankful for our crew members, new and old, who helped take everything to the next level: Mikey, our lighting director; Craig, our guitar tech; Nate, our trusty front of house sound engineer; Martin, my longtime tour manager; Chris, our photographer and merchandiser; Cian, who ran our video wall; and Austin, our stage manager. It was the biggest crew we’ve ever had, and they all brought their A-game.
Family goes beyond just the folks you come into this world connected to by a bloodline—it’s who you choose to surround yourself with. This tour is twofold, celebrating the revered families we come from while also celebrating the family we have created in my dad’s absence. This touring circus has become a family, year in and year out.
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