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Rolling Stone – Allman Betts Band Tap Into the Desolation of the Old West in ‘Pale Horse Rider’
The Allman Betts Band — the jam-rock group of Devon Allman and Duane Betts — tap into the desolation of the Old West with their new song “Pale Horse Rider.” It’s a guitar duel of a track, with the two players weaving complementary licks throughout. The song is the latest release off the group’s upcoming second album, Bless Your Heart.
“‘Pale Horse Rider’ was a really fun one to write,” says Allman, the son of Gregg Allman. “Duane had this almost vertigo-inducing descending melodic pattern that was so unique. Once I started the lyric about a man feeling so lost and isolated with the world out to get him, the story just kind of wrote itself. The Wild West seemed the perfect to setting to tell the tale.”
“Pale Horse Rider,” which opens Bless Your Heart, builds and builds until it reaches its crescendo, crashing with a whoa-whoa refrain and a combustible guitar solo. Betts calls it a “beautiful entanglement of guitars.” “It’s a new texture of our band that we get to showcase on this record,” he says.
Bless Your Heart arrives August 28th and is the follow-up to 2019’s Down to the River. Along with Allman and Betts, the band includes another progeny of an Allman Brothers founder: Berry Duane Oakley is the son of Allmans bassist Berry Oakley. The Allman Betts Band released the single “Magnolia Road” last month.