Duane Betts, son of Allman Brothers founding member Dickey Betts, has officially joined Dawes‘ touring band. Betts first performed with the indie band at Aerofest in Mobile, Alabama on March 21st, and appeared with them on Letterman last month (watch below).
Dawes frontman Taylor Goldsmith confirmed the news to Jambands.com. “The places he gets into with his guitar, it’s truly compelling, because it really feels like a guy singing and speaking in a way that a great soul singer might or something,” Goldsmith explained. “And I think that he understands that musical language so deeply, from the world that he grew up in.”
“It’s been really incredible to have him up there,” he continued. “And because he has that unique voice on his instrument, it’s allowed us to play a lot more, actually. You know, before, when there’s just this one guy singing and this one guy playing all the guitar solos, then after two hours or so, it’s like, okay, I think I get it, I think I’m done. Where as with Duane and this new voice – we’ve only played a couple full – length shows with him so far, because things are about to get rolling – but when we did, we would get to about two-and-a-half hours or something and be like, ‘this could just keep rolling.’ And people don’t seem tired, and we’re not tired. So I think his presence has really given us a lot of new life and a lot of exciting possibilities for what we can do this summer.”