Dickey Betts, Gov’t Mule Set for 2018 Peach Music Festival
The Peach Music Festival, the annual Pennsylvania fest founded by the Allman Brothers Band in 2012, has announced its 2018 lineup. Phil Lesh, Gov’t Mule and Joe Russo’s Almost Dead are among the headliners, but it’s a set by Allmans founding member Dickey Betts, who retired from touring in 2015, that is particularly intriguing.
Betts was one half of the Allman Brothers’ storied dual-lead guitar arrangement with the late Duane Allman and was ousted from the group in 2000. His appearance at the Peach will mark the beginning of a comeback slated to take place this year.
This year also notes the Peach Festival’s second installment to be held since the death of the Allman Brothers’ lead singer and founding member Gregg Allman, who died in May 2017 from complications of liver cancer. His son, Devon, will play a set of his own that weekend with Betts’ son Duane. Last year’s Peach featured an all-star tribute to Allman and to late Allmans drummer Butch Trucks.
Other performers include Southern rockers Blackberry Smoke, Chris Robinson Brotherhood, Moe., Twiddle, Tom Hamilton, and J.P. Biondo of Cabinet, the Pennsylvania jamgrass band who recently announced an indefinite hiatus.
Despite being held in Pennsylvania, the Peach maintains a strong connection to Georgia. Gov’t Mule – who will perform two sets, one of which will include the group’s 2014 LP Dark Side of the Mule in its entirety – is one of several acts on the lineup, along with Blackberry Smoke and Chris Robinson Brotherhood, to come from Georgia or have ties to the Allmans’ network of musicians.
The Peach Music Festival takes place July 19th to 22nd at Montage Mountain in Scranton, Pennsylvania.