Dickey Betts adds Damon Fowler to his band
Allman Brothers co-founder, Sarasota resident, reveals lineup for summer tour
Dickey Betts has chosen a fellow Florida native, and former Sarasota-Bradenton resident, to share lead guitar duties with him and son Duane Betts on their upcoming tour.
Damon Fowler, a former Anna Maria Island resident who became a full-time member of Butch Trucks and the Freight Train Band in 2015, impressed Dickey and Duane enough with his guitar skills, which include slide and lap steel playing, to land the prestigious gig.
Dickey, the co-founding Allman Brothers Band guitarist and singer-songwriter who grew up in Manatee County and has lived for years in Sarasota County, revealed the new Dickey Betts Band lineup today: Dickey Betts (guitar and vocals), Duane Betts (guitar), Frankie Lombardi (drums), Mike Kach (keyboards and vocals), Pedro Arevalo (bass), Fowler (guitar and vocals) and Steve Camilleri (drums).
Duane Betts, Lombardi, Kach, and Arevalo were all longtime members of Betts’ Great Southern group before Dickey retired in 2014. Camilleri has played with these musicians, as well as Dickey’s daughter Kim Betts’ Gamble Creek Band, at various Sarasota area concerts in recent years.
Fowler recorded several critically and commercially successful albums for venerable blues label Blind Pig Records as a solo artist and with his group Southern Hospitality before joining Trucks and now Betts.
As was previously reported, Dickey Betts, who retired from touring following a 2014 hometown show at Robarts Arena, returns to the road May 17 with a concert at the Macon City Auditorium in Georgia. The Dickey Betts Band has also confirmed a Florida date at Sunset Cove in Boca Raton, with Elvin Bishop’s Big Fun Trio performing, too, on May 19.
“Dickey has said he wants to cover a lot of the Allman Brothers songbook on these dates as well as paying tribute to Gregg,” said David Spero, Betts’ longtime manager, in a statement. “There will be some great surprises in the show!”
On July 22, the Dickey Betts Band plays Peachfest in Scranton, Pennsylvania, on a lineup featuring Betts’ former Allman Brothers band-mate Warren Haynes with his Gov’t Mule group.
Tickets are on sale now for each of these shows with the Macon date already nearly sold out.
The Devon Allman Project, featuring Duane Betts, will also be on these shows. Devon is the acclaimed singer-guitarist son of the golden-voiced Gregg Allman and nephew of guitar god Duane Allman.
Gregg, who died in May, and Duane were original Allman Brothers Band members along with Betts, bassist Berry Oakley, and drummers Butch Trucks and Jaimoe. Of that original lineup only Betts and Jaimoe are alive.
As a member of the Allman Brothers, Betts wrote and sang the Top 10 hit “Ramblin’ Man” as well as such classics as the Grammy-winning “Jessica,” “Blue Sky” and “In Memory of Elizabeth Reed.” Gregg Allman wrote and sang such hits as “Whipping Post,” “Midnight Rider” and “Melissa.” The Allman Brothers Band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995.
Spero explained today that more Dickey Betts Band dates will be announced but none west of the Mississippi River. No word yet on any shows in Sarasota-Manatee, where Betts grew up.
“Everywhere I go fans keep saying they want me to get out and play again,” Betts told the Herald-Tribune in December. “I think the time is right.”