With “Isle of Hope,” Duane Betts Comes Into His Own – Garden & Gun

Isle of Hope isn’t the first solo album from Duane Betts, son of the late Allman Brothers Band great Dickey Betts, who passed away in 2024 at eighty. But it’s the first full exposure listeners have gotten to the depth and range of the forty-eight-year-old singer, guitarist, and songwriter.

Betts’s excellent 2023 solo debut, Wild & Precious Life, echoed the strengths of Brothers and Sisters-era Allmans in both guitar playing and vibe. Isle of Hope, though, is a deeper draw from the well of musical inspirations that make Betts an artist on his own terms. “It’s the same style of music, but I think the diversity of influences is really cool,” he tells G&G. “This is like an elevated version of me.”

Betts wastes no time addressing the loss of his father in song if not style. Album opener “Heartache,” a slow-building tune informed by his love of dreamy seventies British psychedelia, references the ascendant guitar harmonies his father pioneered with Duane Allman (his namesake) before Betts lets himself off the leash. Songs like the Stonesy “Keep My Hands Clean” have more Allmans-style Easter eggs. But even when the callbacks surface, they’re no longer the main attraction. Betts is now at center stage.

Recorded with Dave Cobb, the famed producer behind hit albums by Chris Stapleton, Sturgill Simpson, and Jason Isbell, on the real Isle of Hope near Savannah, Georgia, Betts says the name stuck after seeing the sign every day on his way to the studio. “I thought, ‘That’s a beautiful name.’ It’s about the positive power of music and the ability for music to transport you and be a force of healing.”

We spoke with Betts about that and other forces that shaped his new album, including his father.

What does “Isle of Hope” mean to you?

It means a place of freedom, a place of no worrying, a place of escape from all the stress and noise in the world. Obviously music is kind of a sanctuary. I think I’m always striving to get to that place where you can let your shoulders down, where I can turn off the noise in my head. I thought [the title] was appropriate, especially for these times, because it’s really crazy in the world right now.

This is only your second solo album, but it sounds like a new phase for you.

It feels like a new kind of palette that I’ve pulled from with Dave [Cobb] and with these musicians. Every record has a life and a distinct personality of its own, but I think on this one I’m really coming into my own. I just want people to hear it, and if it moves somebody, then that’s fantastic, you know? You have to have reasonable expectations, but you put out records and they live forever, and you really have to be grateful at the end of the day to be able to do this.

“Heartache” is a tribute to your father. Are there certain phrases in your songwriting or how you play that nod to him?

That song was written shortly after he passed, and yes, it is a tribute to him but not really to his musical style. Ironically that song is very English-influenced. It sounds maybe like a Southern George Harrison; it has a John Lennon influence, maybe a little David Gilmour. But the funny thing is that the little guitar melody lick in between the verses rings true to something my dad would play. I didn’t do that intentionally as a tribute to him, but even when a song doesn’t really sound like him, there’s a part of it that does. It’s in my DNA that I play that way.

Wherever they jumped on the Betts train, I’m sure fans can appreciate it.

Yeah. I play like my dad, but I’m a different person. I have different influences. We’re from different generations. He’s one of my favorite guitar players, but I’m a big fan of Marc Ford’s playing from those great Black Crowes records; I really love Mick Taylor [of the Rolling Stones]. You mix it all up, and it hopefully comes out sounding a little bit like you.