Photo Credit: Dylan Jon Wade Cox
Duane Betts has announced the July 14 release of his debut solo LP. The collection has been titled Wild & Precious Life and presents the artist’s perspective on the fleeting nature of existence through mindful compositions and masterful guitar work. The 10-track will arrive via Royal Potato Family and features special guest appearances by Derek Trucks, Marcus King and Nicki Bluhm.
Wild & Precious Life comes after Duane’s 2018 EP, a set of original music dubbed Sketches of American Life, and a pair of albums crafted with The Allman Betts Band, which dropped in 2019 and 2020. The making of his upcoming solo album began in 2020 during a pandemic-induced state of reflection, which gave Duane time to think about love, sobriety, and other themes which are presented across the track list.
The son of a founding member of The Allman Brothers Band, Duane wrote many of his new songs in the presence of his 80-year-old-father, Dickey, at home in Florida. In a press release, Duane offered, “We’re here for such a short period of time. We see people come and people go—people we love and people we miss. We’ve all lost loved ones, yet we’re still here. You really have to take advantage of your time and make the most of it.”
The impending collection was recorded at Trucks and Susan Tedeschi’s Swamp Raga Studio. It came to be after the husband and wife duo bumped into Duane at a birthday party in the Florida Keys. “I told them I wanted to make a solo album and really capture that old-school Florida vibe,” said Duane. “And Susan said I should just use their studio.”
Wild & Precious Life presents Duane beside fellow musicians, guitarist Johnny Stachela, bassist Berry Duane Oakley, keyboardist John Ginty, and drummer Tyler Greenwell. The LP was recorded to analog tape during live-in-the-recording-studio performances throughout a couple of weeks and features a blend of blues, rock, folk, and country, brimming with twin guitar harmonies.
To accompany news of the forthcoming collection, Duane has delivered the first single off Wild & Precious Life. The tune, “Waiting on a Song,” is a timeless tribute to patience, dripping with fretwork from Duane’s Les Paul Gold Top. Listen here.
Pre-order/save Wild & Precious Life now. Scroll down to view a teaser trailer for the album.
[embedded content]
Wild & Precious Life Tracklist:
- Evergreen
- Waiting On A Song
- Forrest Lane
- Colors Fade
- Saints To Sinners
- Stare At The Sun
- Under The Bali Moon
- Sacred Ground
- Cold Dark World
- Circles In The Stars