The Allman Betts Band’s BMG Records debut of 2019, Down To The River, showed plenty of promise in terms of both songwriting potential and collective musicianship. On this initial collaboration, the ensemble stated quite emphatically it could write with as much potency as it could improvise (and vice-versa), and, in displaying such versatility, the septet set a high bar for itself for this followup. But, here again, this ABB successfully invokes the muse of its heritage in more ways than one.
Returning to record at Alabama’s Muscle Shoals facility (near the Fame Studios location co-leader Devon’s uncle, the late lamented Duane Allman made a name for himself prior to bonding with his Brothers), the group produced basics for close to seventy minutes. Boasting both the novel as well as the familiar over the course of a baker’s dozen tracks, the former includes bassist and singer Berry Duane Oakley’s vocal debut on a self-composed tune, while the latter’s comprised, most conspicuously, of co-founder Betts’ extension of his family’s legacy of incendiary instrumentals.
As a result, Bless Your Heart simultaneously reinforces and extends the favorable first impression left with the premier album. Allman’s gutsy singing on “Pale Horse Rider” demonstrates that he’s lost much of the affectation in his vocal delivery (perhaps through the extensive touring the band did in the wake of the prior album’s release?). Meanwhile, guitarist Johnny Stachela continues his deserved prominence in the sextet’s dynamic with the scalding slide work he injects into “Carolina Song.” It might be said, however, that Allman Betts draw a bit too much on their lineage with songs such as the latter and “Southern Rain,” while with its pronounced drawl in the vocal, “Much Obliged,” might well have been excised altogether (and also because the cut disrupts the flow of the album toward the homestretch).
But the provincial aspect of this band’s roots also constitutes a strong calling card for potential listeners, whether they are fans of the titular leaders’ fathers or not. What’s even more important too is that, with few miscues apart from the extraneous insertion of Art Edmaiston’s saxophone on “King Crawler,” this precocious unit again acquits itself with plenty of style and a decided lack of self-consciousness (affording the one-time Mofro and Gregg Allman Friend more time to solo elsewhere might well have been wise though). The latter factor figures also heavily into the instrumental “Savannah’s Dream” as John Ginty’s electric piano intro immediately calls to mind Dickey Betts’ “High Falls” from the Allman Brothers Band’s 1975 Win Lose or Draw. Yet as the performance progresses, stereotypical tandem guitar harmonies give way to some dense electric interplay between the group’s three guitarists the likes of which they utilized so effectively live on their extended concert takes of iconic Allman warhorses such as “Whipping Post.”
Allman, Betts and Stachela not only have distinct styles, but also some bonafide chemistry. It’s also crucial to note their sharp, shared instincts for jamming also extend to the keyboardist, not to mention percussionist R Scott Bryan and drummer John Lum. Based on this cut, as well as the more song-oriented numbers like a vivid character portrait titled “Airboats and Cocaine,” everyone involved knows their respective roles and abides by them. Thus, the double-figure duration of Duane’s number passes remarkably quickly, validating its placement fairly early in the song sequence, especially as it correlates to the next longest number on Bless Your Heart, the eight-minute-plus of “The Doctor’s Daughter,”
That interval’s comparably well-positioned as its arrangement extends some welcome change of pace from that which immediately precedes it. The acoustic guitar-based “Rivers Run” offsets the biting electrics surrounding it, even as acoustic piano notes ring in the background of co-author Stoll Vaughan’s own “Magnolia Road.” Similar textures then echo through Oakley Jr.’s aforementioned original, where there’s some more acoustic guitar in the form of solo picking; these sonic progressions present a series of affirmations for the versatile production skill in play here courtesy the namesakes of this band along with primary engineer Matt Ross-Spang (Jason Isbell, Margo Price, John Prine).
Even to the admirable extent the Allman Betts Band has so far imprinted its persona on their ancestry, they have not yet extended it. But precisely because they did not succumb to the sophomore jinx with Bless Your Heart, the very real possibility remains they can accomplish just that herculean task. Whatever reservations apply to this point, the ABB circa 2020 should be proud they have done considerable justice to their forebears.
