Four years ago, Devon Allman staged his first Allman Family Revival — an all-star concert dedicated to the memory of his father, Gregg Allman, who had died seven months before, in May 2017, at the age of 69.
The modest idea turned out to be bigger than the younger Allman planned at the time, and has grown even more since. While last year’s Revival was presented virtually from Nashville, this year it’s a full-scale tour, with 19 dates leading up to a New Year’s Eve blowout in Macon, Ga., which was Allman Brothers Band ground zero. The guest list is a who’s-who as well, with the Allman Betts Band joined by core players such as Robert Randolph, Lily Hiatt, Cody and Luther Dickinson, Eric Gales, Joanne Shaw Taylor, Wet Willie’s Jimmy Hall, Donavon Frankenreiter and Lamar Williams Jr., whose father replaced Oakley in the Allman Brothers Band.
Rotating guests, meanwhile, include Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Samantha Fish, G. Love, saxophonist Karl Denson (fresh off the Rolling Stones’ No Filter Tour) Ivan Neville, Beth Hard, former Black Crowes/Magpie Salute guitarist Marc Ford, the Meters’ George Porter and others.
The Allman Betts Band — formed by Allman and Duane Betts, son of Dickey Betts, and including Berry Duane Oakley, namesake son of the original Allmans bassist — will be back to its own devices during 2022. But the younger Allman is happy to keep things all in the Family for the end of the year.
• Allman, 49, says via Zoom from New Orleans that the Revival’s evolution has been a surprise. “It’s funny because it wasn’t like it was some kind of planned-out thing. It was one show (at the Fillmore in San Francisco) … and a lot of people wanted to be part of it, more than I ever imagined. And then the next year they were like, ‘Well, let’s do two nights’ and then the third year we did Denver and the Beacon in New York City. … And then this year my agent was like, ‘How many do you want to do?’ I was thinking maybe six would be cool, like a week of these, and we got 31 offers! So I’m like, ‘Let’s just fit in as many as we can’ and now it’s a coast to coast tour, three tour buses and a semi-truck with a 40-foot video wall. It’s really great. It’s really evolved from just something to play tribute to dad.”
• Allman acknowledges that the lineups for the Revival tour have given him a further appreciation for the impact his father and the Allman Brothers Band had on other musicians. “I think I’ve known that for a long, long time. I think I always knew it was special. With the Allman Brothers you really got this cross-genre, cross-everything. … They get mad respect from fans of, like, Metallica and fans of Merle Haggard. It doesn’t matter if you’re pop guy or a jazz beaux or a country cat or a metalhead — people dig the Allman Brothers. There’s something there that just transcends genre, race, everything. The Allman Brothers are an American institution. That’s a pretty incredible thing to be born into.”
• There is a sense among the players, according to Allman, that they’re continuing a legacy of the Allman Brothers Band. “I think there’s a lot of torchbearers — it’s not just the Allman, the Betts and the Oakley. Jason Isbell’s out there as a torchbearer, Blackberry Smoke, Lukas Nelson. … There’s this whole wave, a whole generation. We’re in our 30s and 40s, not in our 70s playing a greatest hits tour in casinos. We’re right in the middle of the peak of our powers. It’s kind of like when you’re playing ball — ‘We got next!’ It’s like, we got next with the music.”
• Allman says his favorite Allman Brothers song to play is “Dreams” from the group’s self-titled 1969 debut album. “It’s kinda got everything. It’s got the jazzy time signature, it’s got the heavy rock chorus without being heavy rock. … It’s dramatic, is what I’m trying to say. It’s got the perfect pocket for those vocals to float like clouds in the sky. It’s got this story arc for guitar solos and stuff. It’s just kind of like the quintessential Allman Brothers song, I think. It’s always been my favorite.”
• The Allman Betts band will be headed back on the road in March, and Allman expects to the group to release its third album during 2022 as well. “We’re going to take January and February off and then reconvene right when pitchers and catchers are reporting (for spring training), we’re gonna be reporting and we’ll get out there and be back in ABB world instead of Revival world. If the third record is like a baseball game, we’ve already rounded first, so I think having January and February off and then the March tour, we’ll probably wrap up all the writing and record in May and drop record number three in the fall.”
The all-star Allman Family Revival plays at 8 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 11, at the Michigan Theater, 603 E. Liberty St., Ann Arbor, 734-668-8297 or michtheater.org.
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