The new-wave bluesman with the familiar last name mentions how he just hit up his friends for help while putting together his new record, The Blues Summit, which was released in July via Ruf Records. For example, while working on song “Runners in the Night,” an homage to B.B. King’s “Into the Night,” he shot off a message to a fellow guitarist buddy.
“I texted Kingfish and was like, ‘Man, can you rip on this? You would kill this.’ He was like, ‘Dude, send it over,’” Allman recalls. “When he sent it back that was exactly what I had hoped for and envisioned him doing to that track. Fantastic playing, phrasing, beautiful tone. Just iconic.”
Kingfish, or Christone Ingram, is one of the hottest blues pickers doing it right now. The two have known each other for years and recently teamed up on the Experience Hendrix Tour, which also included appearances from legendary axemen Zakk Wylde and Marcus King, in the spring. So doing their best for B.B. felt right.
“I told him it’s an unabashed nod to B.B. King, so embrace it, play like B.B.,” says Allman, the second son of the late Gregg Allman. “I thought it would just be cooler to have our own sibling song as tribute to that song [‘Into the Night’].”
Similarly, when ironing out a rendition of King’s “Peace to the World” cover, he again found himself hitting up his talented peers.
“It’s pretty apropos for the times that we’re in. I heard Jimmy Hall singing the balls of that in my mind,” he recalls, adding that the King version is included on one of his favorite albums, Live at San Quentin. “When it came to slinky stuff, I was like, ‘Oh, Robert would murder this.’”
He’s referring to the Jimmy Hall of Southern rock group Wet Willie and pedal-steel maestro Robert Randolph, for the record.
“Luckily, my cellphone has a pretty sexy Rolodex of fine musicians,” he quips.
Devon Allman, right, is out on the road again fronting an all-star cast. From left, Larry McCray, Jimmy Hall and Sierra Green.
Courtesy Heather Johnson
The Blues Summit initially started out as a project between Allman, Hall, guitarist Larry McCray and soul singer Sierra Green — all of whom previously jammed together during past Allman Betts Family Revival tours — but grew into a modern blues showcase.
“They were my first choices for doing this,” explains Allman, who’s built a following by collaborating with many musicians, whether he’s playing the Allman Brothers Band, Hendrix or original solo material. “That’s a big part of MO, for sure. This a whole new thing, but it’s been really rewarding playing with these legends.”
Allman brings the summit to town on Thursday, September 11, at Parker’s PACE Center.
The full-length is a combination of new tunes and odes to blues past. “Little Wing,” Hendrix’s iconic 1967 guitar-god staple, was a natural choice after Allman’s Experience experience.
“I was playing ‘Little Wing’ every night, and that just seeped over into this next phase and album and tour,” he says. “That’s a crowd pleaser, for sure.”
Then there’s the heart-hitting “Real Love,” which Allman composed specifically for Green.
“I got to write more in the vein of one of my biggest heroes, Curtis Mayfield, exploring something real ethereal and using major seven chords and having a lot of room for her voice to take the whole spotlight,” he explains. “I wanted to give her something she could really sink her teeth into. I really wanted to write a song she could hang her hat on and sing for the rest of her career. I think we did that.”
With such an all-star lineup, The Blues Summit landed at No. 9 on Billboard’s Top US Blues Albums list upon release. But the best way to take in what Allman & Co. are currently doing is live. That’s not necessarily a surprise if you’re already familiar with his work or have seen him before, though every show is never the same and always has its “own fingerprint,” as he likes to say.
“‘Peace to the World’ one night might be six minutes or it might be twelve. We might have a sax player that’s playing like his ass in on fire,” Allman shares. “If it’s time to let somebody with a hot hand take a solo up all the way into the mountains and then slowly come back down, then so be it.
“You might have the same set five nights this week, but every approach is going to be quite a bit different,” he concludes. “You never know what you’re going to get, and I dig it that way.”
Devo Allman’s Blues Summit, 7:30 p.m. Thursday, September 11, PACE Center, 20000 Pikes Peak Avenue, Parker. Tickets are $54-$64.
