Harvesting some Southern rock, blues

LAKELAND — Although New Year’s Eve and daytime activities are over, the party will rock on at Lakeland’s Music Ranch.

The sounds of blues and Southern rock will fill the room Jan. 5 as singer-guitarists Duane Betts, Berry Oakley Jr., R.J. Howson and "Friends" — along with Clearwater's The Rockin’ Vagrants — perform at Music Ranch’s first show of 2019. Special guests will include Jimmy Sexton, a Jacksonville-based guitarist who has played with popular Southern rock bands out of Jacksonville, such as Ghost Riders and The Rossington Collins Band.

Betts is the son of Dickey Betts, a founding member of The Allman Brothers Band. Oakley is the Allman Brothers Band founding bassist, Berry Oakley Jr.

Music Ranch owner Phil Stevens said the concert will be a “solid night of incredible music." He said the evening will be an opportunity for guests to hear Southern rock via a “throwback feel with a youthful presence” and get an “earful of the future'' of classic rock music.

“You’re getting the direct heritage and bloodlines for some of the biggest Southern rock groups that ever performed,” said Stevens, who opened the 10-acre Music Ranch in 1998.

Betts formed the The Allman Betts Band with Devon Allman, Gregg Allman's son, that features bassist Oakley, slide guitarist Johnny Stachela and percussionists R. Scott Bryan and John Lum. Drummer Mike Fender, who has played with many of Oakley's music projects, will join the musicians on stage as well as Oakley's son, Shaun Oakley, who will sit in on bass as another special guest.

Howson, a Chicago native who has opened for nationally known acts such as Butch Trucks & the Freight Train Band, Dickey Betts & Great Southern, the Atlanta Rhythm Section and Molly Hatchet, is another headliner. He said the Music Ranch show lineup will be a solid night of Allman Brothers' music and will be a connection to some of Southern and blues rock's most established acts of all time. He said he is looking forward to playing a show full of originals, covers and jam songs.

“It's a rare occurrence of all these people are coming together and lining up to play, especially with with Duane touring around the world," he added. "These are internationally touring musicians. We all know each other and play together but this is a one-night lineup of all these acts."

Stevens said the concert will be “like reaching into the Deep South of the heart of The Allman Brothers Band" and the music that continues to reach into the souls of the fans who grew to love Southern rock music.

Stevens said roots-rocker Howson will bring his trademark “hollow-body blues guitar” sound to The Music Ranch’s stage and Michael Koch of Dickey Betts’ band "The Great Southern" will accompany on the Hammond B-3 organ.

The show’s opening act, The Rockin’ Vagrants, comes from the Clearwater-Tampa Bay area and has been playing music festivals for the past 30 years. They combine the music of the 1970s with the emphasis on the sounds and music of Pink Floyd with Clearwater's Norris Smith on bass, guitarist Tom Lipp and Tony Giovingo on drums.

Paul Catala can be reached at paul.catala@theledger.com or 863-802-7533. He can be reached at Twitter @pcat0226.

If you go

WHAT: Duane Betts, Berry Oakley Jr., R.J. Howson and Friends

WHEN: 8 p.m., Jan. 5

WHERE: The Music Ranch, 1920 Banana Road, Lakeland

COST: $25

INFO: 863-815-2293; www.musicranch.org