Devon Allman bringing 'birthday party' to Lewiston

By Joshua Maloni

GM/Managing Editor

More than a concert, Devon Allman is having a “birthday party” Sunday at Academy Park – and everyone is invited.

“This tour is called the ‘20 Years Strong’ tour, so this tour is about celebrating 20 years of touring and 20 years of making records,” the frontman of the Devon Allman Project said. “I'm going to be playing a song off every record I've ever done to kind of celebrate this whole thing. So, there should be one song from ‘Blues Summit,’ but we're going to play a song from Allman Betts Band; we’re going to play a song from Royal Southern Brotherhood – a band that I had with Cyril Neville. We’re going to play a song of off each of the solo records. We’ll play a couple of dad’s songs. A couple surprise covers.

“It's kind of a birthday party for my career.”

A blues rocker and son of Allman Brothers singer/guitarist Gregg Allman, Devon has had a storied start to his career. Having performed with Honeytribe, Royal Southern Brotherhood, the Allman Betts Band and the Devon Allman Project, he has built a reputation as one of the genre’s top performers. He’s also someone who attracts other top-tier musicians, as was the case with his 2025 release, “Blues Summit.” The award-nominated album features contributions from Jimmy Hall, Larry McCray, Sierra Green, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram and Robert Randolph.

Interestingly, a gift for blues wasn’t necessarily what Allman had in mind when he first got into music.

“My mom was really into music and she would spin vinyl records in the living room nonstop; and when we were in the car, it was on FM rock radio nonstop. So, that bug bit me organically,” he said. “I met my father when I was 16. But I was like a music addict by, man, it was early – it was like age 4; and driving to the beach every weekend, and quizzing my mom about who's singing this song and who's singing that song. That was my early musical love affair, and then it would evolve. Then the records came with me into my bedroom and I had my own (record player) as a youngster, at age 5. And then it was my first concert at age 9 – was Cheap Trick – and that, oh man, that was monumental in my life.

“And then at 13, I saw some knucklehead kid down the street play a guitar, and it was the first time I ever saw somebody play guitar right in front of me, and I just kind of looked at it, and I was like, ‘Well, I could do that,’ and that was that. And then by 15, I’m in garage punk bands; and by 17, I'm kind of putting together my first bands and on stage, and that was it.

“While it was tough to grow up without a father, I am grateful that my path to music was my own, and it was organic, and it wasn't influenced by growing up as a backstage kid.”

Devon Allman photo by Emma May // courtesy of Shore Fire Media

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Allman explained, “When I got out there and started playing clubs, it was like '92. So, that's when Pearl Jam, Nirvana and all of that was exploding. So, if you were in a band and you were between the ages of 17 and 35, that was going to have an influence on you, because people wanted to be seen and wanted to be heard. I think that whole post-grunge kind of thing was where we landed as a band, and I think I would have landed there no matter what my last name was, frankly.

“It wasn't like sludge factory grunge metal or anything. We weren't detuning and sounding like Soundgarden. But there was just some obvious kind of reverberations and influences. Some of the margins were peppered with some of the times.

“I started playing some blues on the side during that time. We actually had a side band that went and played blues gigs for fun – we were almost like the Blues Brothers. It was like an alter ego band called American Blues Revival, and I opened up for my dad as that band. I opened up for G. Love. We got festival appearances. I started to realize, like, ‘Hey, if I sing with passion and with soul, and I play guitar with soul, it's going to lend itself to that world that the Allman Brothers is in,’ along with so many other great bands, Cream and the Stones.

“I think it just took some growing up to say, ‘It's OK to sound like your family.”

Devon Allman photo by Emma May // courtesy of Shore Fire Media

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Allman said he’s looking forward to a return WNY date.

“Buffalo, I think, historically was my first-ever sold-out show, like 20 years ago,” he said. “So, Buffalo always has a rare place in my heart. The fanfare is great. I know a lot of friends come down from Canada to those shows and, yeah, they get pretty rowdy. It's a good time. I'm looking forward to it.”

Promoter Ray Barry of Barry Entertainment/Barry Harden Productions said, “We are very excited about Devon Allman coming to Lewiston; he brings his unique style of blues/rock with the signature Allman Brothers flavor that is so beloved in this area. This will be a must-see show this summer in Lewiston.”

“Doors” open at 4:30 p.m. Sunday at Academy Park. The show begins at 5:30 p.m. GA-20 will provide support. Tickets are available via the QR code in the graphic shown below.

•For fans who can’t make this show, the AMC television network recently announced Allman will be a part of its new NASCAR drama series, “Thunder Road.”

Devon Allman Project photo provided by Barry Harden Productions