Press Pass: Devon Allman Band

Devon Allman. (Courtesy Photo)
Devon Allman. (Courtesy Photo)

Devon Allman, founder of the Devon Allman Band, said that his live show, which he’s bringing to Gypsy Sally’s in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday, Sept. 30, follows the arc of his career.

“There’s songs from my Honeytribe records, there’s some Royal Southern Brotherhood songs, definitely songs off the last two solo records, Ragged & Dirty and Turquoise, and then a few cool cover songs, there’s a couple instrumentals,” Allman said.

“There’s a spot in the show where we sit down and play acoustic. There’s a wide range [of music] in the show. It’s a lot of energy, it’s a lot of fun.”

He said that this tour has allowed him to go to a lot of cities he hasn’t been in a while and that it’s been a good last month or so of the tour.

“It’s been really good. The turnout has been great and the response has been great,” Allman said. “I’m grateful that people still love organic music served up live.”

One of the dates on Allman’s touring scheduled over the past few months was an opening spot for his legendary father Gregg Allman at Portland’s Safeway Waterfront Blues Festival in early July.

“It’s always good. That happens a few times a year, you know,” Allman said. “And backstage I say, ‘Oh hey, what’s up, Dad?’ It’s always a pleasure of course and we got to play together and it’s always nice to have that happen.”

Allman’s show at Gypsy Sally’s is one of the last on his band’s tour to support Ragged & Dirty, which was released in October 2014. He said that, after recording much of his catalog in the American South, he wanted to pull from the energy of the Chicago blues.

That creative desire led him to actually record the album in Chicago, with Buddy Guy’s drummer and keyboard player and producer Tom Hambridge, who’s worked with the likes of Buddy Guy, George Thorogood, Johnny Winter, James Cotton and Joe Louis Walker.

“I just wanted to get that Chicago vibe on the record,” Allman said. “I’ve always been a fan of the Chicago electric blues and I had done all my previous albums in the South, so I really just wanted to shake it up. You know, do something different.”

Allman said that working with Hambridge, whom he called a “triple threat,” was “amazing.”

“He’s a songwriter, he’s an amazing drummer and a great producer, so I got to utilize all three of those [talents] with him,” Allman said. “He brought a lot to the table. It definitely pushed me to bring in strong tunes and give him some good performances.”

During this October, Allman said he’s going to take some time away from the road to spend time with his family and write songs toward a new album, which he expects to release in April or May of 2016.

“I’m constantly writing, but I’m really just kind of cataloging small ideas,” Allman said. “And then I get home and I end up sifting through about 200 small ideas that I’ve cataloged on the iPhone or in Garageband and then I start fleshing out songs. So I need a good month home to really kind of flesh out everything.”

• For more information about the Devon Allman Band, visit devonallmanband.com.

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