(Peter Kanyuk at fb has painstakingly restored 30 live audio cuts of Wilmer and the Dukes, none of which appear on his 1969 LP album. Their manager later brought them to Detroit, but their work never really caught on outside of the lower Great Lakes region. Still, although the original members never recorded after 1969, their live shows were a consistent draw in upper New York state, and Wilmer and the Dukes gigged steadily in and around Syracuse, Rochester and Buffalo (playing several gigs at the Warehouse, in Kirkwood, New York) until they broke up in 1974. In 1988, the group reformed for a series of sold-out benefit concerts to help pay some medical bills for the ailing Alexander. Thereafter, various members (without Alexander) continued touring as The Legendary Dukes. The Dukes original organist, Ralph Gillotte, died in 1999; Ron Alberts, the last original band member, retired in 2004. The band continued to play, albeit with no original members, for several years afterward. Eric “Mitty” Moore retired as front man and lead singer of the Legendary Dukes on January 1, 2011 after 20+ years with the band. Trombone player David DeWitt retired on September 10, 2011 after 16 years with the Legendary Dukes. He had been the primary business manager and horn section leader for the group creating complex and often intricate horn arrangements for the band. Most of the rest of the band left in September and October 2011. Finally on March 28, 2012 the band released the following statement announcing the break-up of the band on the groups Facebook page:  "To all of the fans and longtime supporters of the Legendary Dukes, during the past year we lost half of our band members in key positions due to financial, personal and professional reasons. Unfortunately, despite desperate attempts to get replacement members, we could not keep things moving forward with all the personnel changes within that short of a period." "The Legendary Dukes and the band that they grew out of...Wilmer Alexander Jr. and the Dukes, have enjoyed a fifty seven year run...no mean feat considering the life expectancy of any band whether local or a national . The people that have made that possible are a special breed. To try to continue on without replacements cut from that same “cloth" would be an impossibility. Sadly it has left us with only one course of action and that is to disband." "We know The Dukes and our music meant a lot to many people as did it to us.