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The dirty blond hair is the same, the body posture is also the same, and there are touches in the voice that have a similar genetic connection, but Devon Allman has toiled long and hard to establish his own musical identity, separate from his legendary dad, Gregg Allman.
Devon at 42 is too young to have known his uncle Duane, and didn’t meet his father, Gregg – who his mother divorced when Devon was a baby – until he was 17 years old.
He’s got the name and he’s got the lineage, but the truth is that Devon Allman is, in the end, his own man.
Devon at 42 is too young to have known his uncle Duane, and didn’t meet his father, Gregg – who his mother divorced when Devon was a baby – until he was 17 years old. And it wasn’t until Devon was a 20 something singer and rhythm guitar player that he became a musician in earnest. But, he’s also emphatically an Allman: part scorching vocals, part songwriter, and part cutting guitar licks. And, like Duane and Gregg, there’s Rock, Blues, and Soul sides to Devon Allman.
Originally from Corpus Christi Texas, and now a long time St. Louis resident, Allman soaked up all varieties of music that constantly filled his home while growing up. His early influences included Jimi Hendix and Jimmy Page while he gravitated towards ‘70’s Rock. He’s often cited Eric Clapton’s Layla as an album that’s left an indelible mark on him. A nod fitting with the spiritual Allman’s persona, in that it’s not the incredible guitar playing evident on that record, (that includes uncle Duane), that resonates with him, but the depth of hurt and pain that flows from the various songs.
Maybe it’s the simple fact of growing older and experiencing life’s ride but that spirituality shines through on Allman’s latest album Ragged & Dirty that marks a departure from his two records with Honeytribe and the two recorded with the super group Royal Sothern Brotherhood, (that he co-founded and lead with Cyrille Neville and Mike Zito). Ragged & Dirty is a statement of where Devon Allman stands today. He’s moved on from hard edged Blues based Rock to an amalgamation of styles where Chicago Blues meets Rock and R&B. Where he covers the title track long associated with Blues master Luther Allison one moment, The Spinners hit “I’ll Be Around” the next, and, (for an artist that considers himself a singer first), a long slow Blues instrumental punctuated with stabbing guitar riffs and licks, “Midnight Lake Michigan”, that would make Stevie Ray Vaughan proud
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