Today, Duane Betts releases his long-awaited debut solo album Wild & Precious Life. A collection of songs that fuse swampy southern soul with SoCal cosmic country and dazzling guitar work, Wild & Precious Life has been met with early praise, performances and profiles with Garden & Gun, SiriusXM Outlaw Country, Q104.3, Guitar Player, Guitar World, No Depression, the Tennessean, American Songwriter, Relix and much more. Betts also just made his Grand Ole Opry debut while on a co-headlining tour with Maggie Rose, and a headlining run with his band Palmetto Motel kicks off tonight in Ft. Lauderdale. The first leg heads up the East Coast to the Carolinas and New England, wrapping in New York City on July 29.
He’s also shared a new music video for “Saints To Sinners,” which was recently filmed while on tour in Charleston, SC and at Ventura Music Hall in Ventura, CA. It’s a song that Betts wrote about “how we all have a saint and sinner in us, the challenge is to push through to the good things.”
Watch here: https://youtu.be/P0EwgBtdCpw
More than two decades in the making, Wild & Precious Life is an intimate and deeply personal debut. After years spent performing alongside Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees The Allman Brothers Band, leading Malibu rock outfits Backbone69 and Whitestarr, playing alongside his legendary father in Dickey Betts & Great Southern, and touring as the guitarist for folk-rockers Dawes, Betts explains: “It felt like the right time to make something that was entirely my own vision… It’s an album about who I am, where I come from, and what I believe in.”
Listen to Wild & Precious Life: https://orcd.co/wildandpreciouslife
Recorded live to tape in just two weeks at Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi’s Swamp Raga studio in Jacksonville, Florida last year, Wild & Precious Life features contributions from Derek Trucks, as well as Marcus King and Nicki Bluhm. Each track is honest, exploring Betts’ struggles with sobriety, the bliss of falling in love, and appreciation of life for all of its highs and its lows, just as the name suggests.
Today’s focus track, “Evergreen,” was inspired by a trip to Mexico and contributed to by dear friend and collaborator Devon Allman. In line with the themes of the album, the track is an ode to family and prioritizing what matters most in life. Other previously released songs from the record include the triumphant “Saints to Sinners,” the “breezy summer jam” “Waiting on a Song”, and “Stare At The Sun,” an ode to his larger-than-life father featuring Trucks on slide guitar.
To celebrate the release of Wild & Precious Life, Betts will tour through the summer with his band Palmetto Motel. He’ll also serve as host for the 3-night Horseshoe Music Festival in Jackson Hole, WY, where much of the record was written. The festival will include late night DJ sets, curated food, a wellness retreat and artist/fashion vendors. See below for the full itinerary of headlining shows and festival appearances.
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
TOUR DATES:
7/14 - Fort Lauderdale, FL - Revolution
7/15 - Saint Petersburg, FL - Jannus Live
7/16 - Jacksonville, FL - The Bier Hall at Intuition Ale Works
7/18 - Charleston, SC - Pour House Charleston
7/19 - Charlotte, NC - Neighborhood Theatre
7/20 - Raleigh, NC - Lincoln Theatre
7/21 - Roanoke, VA - 5 Points Music Sanctuary
7/22 - Lewes, DE - The Room at Cedar Grove (Sold Out)
7/23 - Patchogue, NY - Great South Bay Music Festival
7/25 - Pembroke, MA - Soundcheck Studios
7/26 - Burlington, VT - Nectar’s
7/28 - Asbury Park, NJ - Wonder Bar
7/29 - New York, NY - The Cutting Room
8/12 - Denver, CO - Ophelia’s Electric Soapbox **
8/13 - Fort Collins, CO - The Aggie **
8/16 - Indianapolis, IN - HI-FI**
8/17 - Hamilton, OH - Riversedge Amphitheater **
8/18 - Harrisburg, PA - Harrisburg Midtown Arts Center**
8/20 - Morristown, NJ - The Homestead**
8/22 - Port Chester, NY - Garcia’s**
8/25 - Evanston, IL - SPACE**
9/1-3 - Jackson Hole, WY - Horseshoe Music Festival
9/19 - Boston, MA - The Wilbur
9/20-9/21 - Ardmore, PA - Ardmore Music Hall
9/27 - Charlotte, NC - Neighborhood Theatre
10/13 - Roswell, GA - From the Earth**
10/14 - Macon, GA - Capitol Theatre**
** - w/ Cordovas
