Logjam Presents

The Allman Betts Band

Marc Ford

River Kittens

The ELM

Bozeman, MT
Add to Calendar 09/16/2021 20:00 09/17/2021 01:00 America/Boise The Allman Betts Band

Logjam Presents is pleased to welcome The Allman Betts Band for a live in concert performance at The ELM on September 16, 2021. Tickets go on sale Friday, July 16, 2021 at 10:00AM online or by phone at 1 (800) 514-3849. Reserved premium balcony seating and general admission standing room tickets are available. All ages are… Continue Reading

Logjam Presents - Missoula, Montana false MM/DD/YYYY
7:00PM (door) 8:00PM (show)
$27-$35 (Adv.) + applicable fees
All Ages
Tickets Event Info

Logjam Presents is pleased to welcome The Allman Betts Band for a live in concert performance at The ELM on September 16, 2021.

Tickets go on sale Friday, July 16, 2021 at 10:00AM online or by phone at 1 (800) 514-3849. Reserved premium balcony seating and general admission standing room tickets are available. All ages are welcome.

Additional ticketing and venue information can be found here.

About The Allman Betts Band

When The Allman Betts Band released Down to the River in June of 2019, the debut album represented not only the first time the group had recorded together, but, in fact, the first time the seven-piece ensemble had ever played together. If Down to the River was the sound of the band’s combustible sparks igniting, then Bless Your Heart is their bonfire, built for the summer of 2020 and beyond; a double-album follow-up fueled by road-forged camaraderie and telepathic musical intensity, vibrantly reflecting the individual and collective experiences of these seven, all drawing inspiration from the band’s symbolic hometown- a place Devon Allman calls “the United States of Americana.”

In 2019, as Down to the River topped charts and dotted playlists, The Allman Betts Band toured. Relentlessly. Sold-out U.S. theatres in spring turned to festival dates in summer, even crossing over the Atlantic for a string of European appearances. It was in Germany in late July when Allman, the group’s co-founder, guitarist, and singer, required a tour-ending hospital stay for minor, but necessary surgery. His recovery postponed several ensuing shows, but the writing for a second album enthusiastically continued. Along with co-founder, guitarist, and singer Duane Betts, the pair already had a growing notebook of new songs, largely composed on the tour bus or in hotel rooms in cities and towns across the country: Baton Rouge, Louisiana and Tybee Island, Georgia; Chicago, Illinois and Charlotte, North Carolina, to name a few. They re-enlisted Stoll Vaughan, a singer-songwriter from Los Angeles (via Kentucky), who’d collaborated on five of River’s nine tracks, to advise on the developing material. And they booked a return to Alabama’s Muscle Shoals Sound Studio, the historic recording facility where they’d cut the debut, as well as re-signing Grammy-winning producer Matt Ross-Spang to reprise his role helming the recording.

After Allman’s healthy return and a run of fall tour dates, including the third annual Allman Family Revival (expanded from San Francisco to Denver and New York City), the group decamped to Nashville for rehearsals ahead of the recording session, fleshing out the new songs until satisfied they had reached peak performance. “We thought that if we can maximize the potential of each song, then we have a shot at making a cohesive, great record,” says Allman. Under a siren’s warning of approaching tornados, but secure in the familiar, single-story brickhouse comfort of Muscle Shoals, the band began tracking its own brand of whirling, raucous rock-and-roll. Following a year’s worth of touring as a unit- as Allman says, the “200 races the horse had run”- the dividends were immediate and plentiful. “Now we know how the band plays. We know to trust each other’s instincts. The dynamics have a flow to them: when to step back; when to push forward,” says Allman. Adds Betts, “Once we got rolling, the floodgates opened.”

A conflagration of influences and invention, confidence and ambition, Bless Your Heart captures a vast, panoramic scope throughout a baker’s dozen of modern rock. Ragged and stomping. Heady and frayed. Soaring and scorching. Generational and genteel. West Coast scenes and Gulf Coast shores. Gateways of the Midwest and swamplands of Florida. Wyoming’s Big Sky. New York’s Big Apple. Chicago’s Broad Shoulders. Among the fiery set is “Magnolia Road,” a semi-autobiographical overview of Allman and Betts written, ironocally, by Vaughan alone, and a tie-dyed contender for summer festival favorite. There is the album’s starter, “Pale Horse

Rider,” ominously evolving into a dark and dense rumbler accentuated by an unbridled storm of guitars, evoking the spirit of Neil Young’s Crazy Horse and modern counterpart, My Morning Jacket. And “Ashes of My Lovers,” a mourning motif of romance and wreckage, inflected with trail-dusted harmonica complementing the cinematic Badlands spook. Or “Airboats & Cocaine,” with its tongue firmly in its cheek, telling the Southern Gothic tale of a girl born into the wrong family and her guy regretting his incidental associations with the underbelly of swampland contraband, wrapped up in a loose, mid-tempo stinger.

Over a week’s time, they recorded 13 songs, with additional tracking in Memphis and St. Louis. Within the eclectic repertoire are the familiar: stacks of guitars; electric, acoustic, and slide; a throttling, percussive rhythm section. And the fresh: Bassist and singer Berry Duane Oakley’s ABB vocal debut on his original song (“The Doctor’s Daughter”); Allman’s baritone vocal channeling Johnny Cash (“Much Obliged”); Betts extending the legendary family legacy of incendiary instrumentals (“Savannah’s Dream”). They tapped friends, as well, such as Jimmy Hall, Shannon McNally, Art Edmaiston, Susan Marshall, and Reba Russell for guest contributions. Then, emerged with an undeniable achievement of an album (what sophomore jinx?) worthy of its winking, unabashedly Southern title. “I think we definitely challenged ourselves, pushed ourselves artistically, and widened the spectrum on all levels. We wanted something that was a little more sweeping. A deeper experience,” says Betts. Says Allman, “I hope what people hear on Bless Your Heart is a band that’s having a love affair with being a band.”

Marc Ford

marc ford

About Marc Ford

Note for note, Marc Ford ranks as one of the world’s preeminent guitarists. Even so, his songcraft commands the utmost respect. Ford is no one trick pony. Keyboardist Johnny Neel once said: “Marc Ford’s an actual genius. He has the best guitar sound I’ve ever heard.”

Ford’s career began in Los Angeles during the 1980s. His group, Burning Tree, captured the essence of his guitar virtuosity and songwriting.

He joined the Black Crowes in late 1991. Ford toured and recorded on three of the Crowes’ finest albums–The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion, Amorica, and Three Snakes and One Charm. Ford’s tenure in the Crowes found the group operating at a zenith. He rejoined the Crowes in 2005-2006 when they toured and released The Lost Crowes–two albums the band never released when he was a member.

In 2002, Ford released his first solo album, It’s About Time. During this era, Ford experienced the highs and lows of surviving in a cutthroat music business through the years as well as being a dedicated family man. Ford’s following solo albums included Weary And Wired (2007), The Fuzz Machine (2010) and Holy Ghost (2014).

Ford won a NAACP award (John F. Kennedy counts as one of the few other Caucasians bestowed the honor) for his work on the Ben Harper and Blind Boys of Alabama album There Will Be A Light.

Also, Ford’s role as a record producer allowed him to use his gift of tone and a powerful ability to listen. Artists he produced include Ryan Bingham, Pawnshop Kings, Steepwater Band, Chris Lizotte, Phantom Limb and Republique du Salem. Marc Ford exists as a musical architect of the highest order.

Through his career Marc Ford has performed and recorded with Izzy Stradlin, Gov’t Mule, The Jayhawks, The Original Harmony Ridge Creekdippers, Federale, Widespread Panic, Blue Floyd, Booker T. Jones, Ivan Neville and Heartbreaker Mike Campbell.

The group on The Vulture, The Neptune Blues Club, recorded their debut album in 2009, which charted at #15 for two weeks on the blues charts. This versatile ensemble includes Mike Malone (vocals, harp, keys), John Bazz (bass), Anthony Arvizu (drums) and Ford. Mr. Ford unleashes his hypnotic guitar skills on these soulful tunes.

The Vulture was recorded on analog tape at mastermind John Vanderslide’s Tiny Telephone Studios located in the mission district of San Francisco. The Vulture emits Ford’s greatest strengths: soulful musicianship, memorable songs and an emotive groove.

Ford explained the ethos of these new compositions: “If Holy Ghost was Sunday morning, then The Vulture is Saturday night…”

The opening track–”Devil’s In the Details”–emerges as one of Ford’s finest. The tune operates in his electric wheelhouse. He’s like Clint Eastwood with a guitar. The well-crafted “The Same Coming Up” clocks in at one minute and fifty seconds emitting joyous rock n roll. “All We Need To Do Is Love” eases the listener into pastoral reflection. “This Ride” inspires reckless abandon. The title track contains Ford’s signature snakebite guitar work as he delivers a savage truth in the lyrics: “Got a head full of diamonds/And a nose full of snow/You leave a trail of destruction/Everywhere that you go/Got a shrug of the shoulder/For all that you stole.”

“Arkansas Gas Card” stands as one of the group’s stellar numbers that transfers with brilliance to a live audience. “Old Lady Sunrise” travels into sonic backwaters of a low-country swamp like some vintage STAX Records jewel. The gospel-laced “Deep Water” explores redemptive sanctuaries where matters of the soul are at stake.

“Shalimar Dreams” augments a gritty R&B, rock-n-roll magic in a mesmerizing sound that surrounds the listener. The last cut, “Girl of Mine”, is a love song Ford sings and provides steel on as the group provides a sparse, yet concise musical backdrop.

It’s harvest time for Marc Ford. Over the years he’s created his own stellar sound that meets all the rigid standards of excellence. The Vulture represents another timeless volume in Marc Ford’s inimitable musical journey…

James Calemine

River Kittens