After stealing the show at many an Allman Family Revival show over the past couple of years, Duane Betts’ surely ranks as one of rock’s most underrated guitarists. Betts’ debut solo album, Wild & Precious Life brings a fresh perspective to southern rock with sharply-crafted songs and exquisite guitar work that capture the emotional release of overcoming struggle, appreciating the fleeting nature of life and the joys of being present. Recorded at Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks’ Swamp Raga Studio, it features guests including Trucks, Marcus King, and Nicki Bluhm. The album will be released July 14 on Royal Potato Family.
Check out the victorious lead single “Waiting on a Song” below…
Betts started writing Wild & Precious Life when the world slowed down in 2020, in a state of reflection. He wrote some of the songs while at home in Florida, in the presence of his larger-than-life father, who is now 80. Others capture the joy of finding his soulmate, and getting married in 2019. His journey to sobriety influenced the songs, too. “We’re here for such a short period of time,” Duane explains. “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.”
While it took nearly a lifetime to get to this moment of making his solo album debut, the songs, and the recording, happened quickly and organically. Attending a birthday party in the Florida Keys, Duane found himself talking to Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi. “I told them I wanted to make a solo album and really capture that old school Florida vibe,” says the Sarasota native, “and Susan said I should just use their studio.” Duane assembled his dream team of musicians — including guitarist Johnny Stachela, bassist Berry Duane Oakley, keyboardist John Ginty, and drummer Tyler Greenwell — and headed to Tedeschi and Trucks’ Swamp Raga Studio in Jacksonville, where Wild & Precious Life was recorded to analog tape during live-in-the-recording-studio performances over the span of just a couple weeks.
