Tribute bands are huge these days with a regular influx of them coming to the Augusta area playing the songs of popular artists and sometimes even dressing as the original performers did, but A Brother’s Revival is different. First off, it’s not a tribute.
“The Brother’s Revival — to put it pretty bluntly — is just the music of the Allman Brothers Band played very authentically,” said David “Rook” Goldflies, the band’s leader, who will be at the Miller Theater at 7:30 p.m. June 14. For tickets, go here.
Unlike other groups that may have only studied the music of a band from afar, Goldflies lived it; he played bass with both Dickey Betts’ Great Southern and the Allman Brothers for about seven years between the two. Joining him on stage is Mike Kach, who spent 15 years as vocalist and keyboardist with Dickey Betts and Great Southern.
Goldflies played with the Allman Brothers when they were drawing massive crowds at venues such as Madison Square Garden and Chicago’s Soldier Field and appearing on “Saturday Night Live.”
Goldflies watched firsthand as Betts transformed the musical scene. Betts died on April 18, 2024.
“He was original. Before Dickey, nobody really played like him. After Dickey, thousands of players have played like him,” he said. “I viscerally get the chance to experience it. I play with different players in different places and different groups; they hire me from time to time, and they’re all playing like Dickey. It’s rare for a musician to work with somebody who truly, actually is in reality an original. He was original; he was the real deal. He came up with something, and I stood right there and listened to it and watched it.”
But working with Betts wasn’t the easiest job at times. He was demanding, Goldflies said. If Goldflies played something Betts didn’t like, Betts looked like he would “put a guitar around your head.”
His demanding nature drew out the energy and excellence in both Goldflies and Kach, and it still influences them and A Brother’s Revival today.
“We survived the Dickey Betts School of rock ‘n roll, and believe me, that’s not an easy task. Not everyone would do that, and many people have not survived it,” said Goldflies.
They give all of their energy to a performance as do the other band members, who Goldflies said, are excellent musicians. And the two of them can tell if something doesn’t feel authentic to the music they are trying to bring.
Performing the Allman Brothers’ music is an extension of the band’s legacy.
While the concert will be mainly music of the Allman Brothers, Goldflies will throw in one song that a lot of people might recognize.
Goldflies played on a recording of “Black Betty” with a group called Starstruck. He’d worked with Bill Bartlett, who sang the lead on the song, prior to playing with Betts. Bartlett was part of several bands including The Lemon Pipers and Ram Jam and released “Black Betty” again in 1977 with Ram Jam.
That song is often better known by audience members than some of the Allman Brothers’ songs, he said.
A Brother’s Revival isn’t Goldflies’ only musical gig these days. He’s the principal bassist with the Panama City Beach Symphony, in Panama City, Florida, has a jazz album and a folk album. He’s been a college-level clinician, and he plays the violin.
“It’s pretty diverse,” he said of his schedule. “My phone still rings.”
Charmain Z. Brackett, the publisher of Augusta Good News and Inspiring: Women of Augusta, has covered Augusta’s news for more than 35 years. She’s a Georgia Press Association winner and the recipient of the 2018 Greater Augusta Arts Council’s media award. Reach her at charmain@augustagoodnews.com. Sign up for the newsletter here.
