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Devon Allman: Turquoise

 A l b u m   D e t a i l s


Label: Ruf Records
Released: 2013.02.12
Time:
 41:52
Category: Blues / Blues-Rock
Producer(s): Jim Gaines
Rating:
Media type: CD
Web address: www.devonallmanband.com
Appears with:
Purchase date: 2014
Price in €: 1,00





 S o n g s ,   T r a c k s


[1] When I Left Home (D.Allman) - 4:05
[2] Don't Set Me Free (D.Allman/M.Zito     3:40
[3] Time Machine (D.Allman) - 3:39
[4] Stop Draggin' My Heart Around (T.Petty/M.Campbell) - 4:46
[5] There's No Time (D.Allman/T.Stokes) - 4:58
[6] Strategy (D.Allman/M.Zito) - 4:12
[7] Homesick (D.Allman) - 3:32
[8] Into the Darkness (D.Allman) - 3:24
[9] Key Lime Pie (D.Allman) - 3:04
[10] Yadira's Lullaby (D.Allman) - 2:25
[11] Turn Off the World (D.Allman) - 4:07

 A r t i s t s ,   P e r s o n n e l


Devon Allman - Vocals & Guitars, Bass on [11]
Yonrico Scott - Drums & Percussion
Myles Weeks - Electric Bass & Upright Bass

Luther Dickinson - Lead & Slide Guitars on [1]
Ron Holloway - Saxophone on [8]
Bobby Schneck Jr. - Lead Guitar on [6]
Rick Steff - Hammond B3 on [2,4,5,7]
Samantha Fish - Vocals & Background Vocals on [4]
Pete Matthews - Engineer, Background Vocals on [4]
Rueben Williams - Background Vocals on [4]
Adam Hill - Background Vocals on [4]

Jim Gaines - Producer, Mixing
Thomas Ruf - Executive Producer
Brad Blackwell - Mastering

 C o m m e n t s ,   N o t e s


After a couple of albums with his band Honeytribe, guitarist and songwriter Devon Allman scored with the Royal Southern Brotherhood. A blues-rock supergroup comprised of Allman and guitarist Mike Zito, drummer Yonrico Scott, and bassist Charlie Wooton from Zydefunk, the band's lone album hit the Top Ten on Billboard's blues chart. But Allman has proven himself restless from the start, and Turquoise is the latest chapter in his musical evolution. For those who've heard his past recordings as exercises in jam band expression, this set will come as a surprise. Produced by Jim Gaines (the Radiators, Huey Lewis, Santana, Ana Popovic, etc.), the album is a deeper, richer, collection of tunes that focuses on Allman the singer and songwriter rather than the guitarist. Joined by Scott and bassist Myles Weeks, as well as some select guests, he displays a multi-dimensional persona here, rooted in blues, Southern soul, swampy rock, and sultry funk grooves. Opener "When I Left Home" is a straight-up rocker whose lyrics reveal his autobiography with some fine lead and slide work by Luther Dickinson. The lone cover on the set, Tom Petty's "Strop Draggin' My Heart Around," is a gritty, emotionally taut duet reading that features blueswoman Samantha Fish in the Stevie Nicks role. "My Strategy" is a funky, nocturnal, midtempo ballad that revs it on the chorus. It's a love song with real power, and Bobby Schneck, Jr. provides some nice, economical guitar work. "Into the Darkness" showcases how soulful a vocalist Allman can be when he tries, employing a ragged falsetto inside his marbled, gritty baritone; he's backed by his trio, Rick Steff's B-3, and a saxophone solo by Ron Holloway. The misplaced -- and boring -- solo guitar instrumental, "Yadira's Lullaby," unbalances the album a bit, but it's a small misstep. Allman's still searching for the right mix inside his meld of Southern music styles, but that's because he's multi-talented rather than unfocused; he feels at home with all of them. Turquoise is a fine next step for a singer and songwriter who has plenty to offer.

Thom Jurek - All Music Guide



After spending much of his adult life on the road as the driving force behind his bands Honeytribe and Royal Southern Brotherhood, Devon Allman is finally taking a moment to step back and reflect on it all. The result is Turquoise, Allman’s first solo album mixed by the Grammy award-winning producer Jim Gaines that doubles as an autobiographical narrative put to music. Don’t be fooled by the playful riffs and rhyming lyrics: Turquoise is as serious as it gets, a glimpse into this musician’s concerns and guilty pleasures. It’s a treat that we all get to bop our heads to experimental blues and learn a bit about the man behind the music at the same time.

Though Turquoise’s most noteworthy track “Time Machine” does not open the album, the imagery woven into this particular song functions as the underlying theme for the entire record. Over the slight echo of a steady drumbeat and the careful picking of a guitar, Allman invites his listeners to join him in revisiting some of the standout moments of his life and career, and that’s exactly what Allman uses the rest of the album to do. From the album opener “When I Left Home” through the closing track “Turn Off the World,” Turquoise explores the 20-year journey of one of rock’s most dedicated progenies, striking off on his own to create music outside of his father Gregg Allman’s towering shadow. By the end of the tour, listeners get the sense that despite his independence, the younger Allman’s musical chops are difficult to shake.

For all of the experimentation Allman mixes into the album (a bit of tropical reverb on “Key Lime Pie,” some Latin rhythms on “There’s No Time”), it’s when he dives into the blues that his skills really come through. “Time Machine” and “Strategy” both embody a distinct blues tone with grooves worthy of some serious foot tapping, while “Yadira’s Lullaby” gives acoustic lovers something new to add to their playlist of favorites.

Neither flashy nor decadent, Turquoise presents a type of everyday blues that listeners will easily relate to. It tells stories, explores musical genres, and crafts a multimedia narrative that is all Allman’s own. Find your iPod and dig out your headphones – Devon Allman’s time machine is about to take off.

Meghan Roos - February 7th, 2013
Blues Rock Review



Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#846 in the Series) is Devon Allman, Turquoise

The first thing that hits you between the ears with a critical listen to “When I Left Home,” the opening track of Devon Allman’s fine new album Turquoise, a song that takes you through an autobiographical narrative that touches only sparingly on his rock royalty pedigree as the son of Gregg Allman and the Nephew of the late Duane Allman, is that Devon‘s musical path was not a gold and glitter strewn road that was pre-paved for success, but rather an ongoing journey that may have blessed him with some heavy-duty pixie dusting of artistic genes, but certainly did not come with a GPS to tell him how to get to the pot of  career gold that might be waiting for him at the end of the rainbow.  Only some heavy road-dog dues paying along with staying true to one’s own personal muse would do that. The song sounds lyrically like it could have been written by his father, but the slide guitar work courtesy of North Mississippi All-Star Luther Dickinson sounds eerily like “Loan Me a Dime” era Duane Allman, and everything fits together quite nicely.

Turquoise represents a stepping out of sorts, following his band on the run, gig a night early days with Devon Allman’s Honeytribe where they were superstars on the local scene but did not get a lot of national airplay, and last year’s Royal Southern Brotherhood record, a sort of Southern Rock super group album that also featured Cyril Neville, elder statesman of the Neville Brothers and vocalist for The Meters.  The blueprint for that musical gumbo of an album that stirs Southern Rock, Cajun Soul, Blues, Tex Mex, and good old Rock & Roll into a delicious mix seems to be the one that Allman has adopted on this new release, the first truly solo album of his career.

Vocally, Devon has a gritty Marlboro Red type baritone that tends to grow on you with subsequent listens, and if you are listening to the album in sequence, right about the time you discover he sounds a bit like Tom Petty, you are treated to a truly bad-ass version of “Stop Dragging My Heart Around,” a track that stays pretty close to the best known version at the beginning, but wanders a bit into a subtly delicious direction with Blues woman Samantha Fish doing her best Stevie Nicks impersonation only much cooler, and the always welcome Hammond B-3 makes a guest appearance as well. The song is the only cover on the album, and plays very well sequenced in the cleanup fourth spot in pretty much the perfect line-up position.

Produced by Jim Gaines who has doneDevon_Allman_by_ some knob twirling for Santana, Huey Lewis and the News, The Radiators among others, he seems to be moving Allman and the band into a more genre diverse, less jam band, and more concise direction than either The Allman Brothers or Honeytribe, and this is a very good thing. The Spanish influenced “There’s No Time” could be the sister song to “She’s Not There,” and would have been a key cut on any of the more recent Santana albums.

Minus a couple of cuts, most notably the instrumental, “Yadira’s Lullaby”, this is a very strong album. Devon Allman seems to have the formula down.  Start with some solid songwriting along with a strong comfort sounding vocal delivery, add a couple of top notch guest musicians, throw in a cool cover song and let her rip.

I am supremely confident that based on this solo effort, the song writing will get a bit better, “Key Lime Pie” is a lovely song but may sound better on a Jimmy Buffett album, A Black Key may be brought on board to energize the tracks a bit more, and if an instrumental song is to be added something in the “No Way Out” style might do the trick.

In the end though, this is Devon Allman’s album, on his own terms, and is a very successful dive into the solo album pool.  The judges throw up an 8 on this one, and even the Russian judge was impressed.

I’m calling my shot on this one early.  His sophomore release will be on most of the year end lists for the best album of 2014.  Mark my words.

Walt Falconer, Houston Texas, USA
CoolAlbumReview.com



Turquoise is a solo album by Devon Allman, released on February 12, 2013. It features Yonrico Scott on drums (Allman's band-mate in Royal Southern Brotherhood) and Myles Weeks on bass, and includes guest musicians Luther Dickinson, Samantha Fish, Ron Holloway and Rick Steff.

In September 2012, Allman finished recording sessions for his first solo album. The sessions were recorded at Bessie Blue Studio and Ardent Studios, in Memphis, Tennessee, engineered by Pete Matthews and produced and mixed by Jim Gaines. Ron Holloway, who contributes saxophone on the song "Into the Darkness", also made a guest appearance on Allman's 2010 Honeytribe album, Space Age Blues.

The material on Turquoise is highly-personal and reflects Allman's life on the road over the past decade. There are ten original songs, including two tunes co-written with Royal Southern Brotherhood band-mate Mike Zito. Songs "Homesick" and "When I Left Home" are autobiographical tales. "These songs are very special to me," says Allman in a press release for Turquoise. "It's part 'dusty road driving music' and part 'tropical getaway' music. These are the stories, feelings and reflections from my last couple of decades of forging my musical path."

Wikipedia.org



After spending more than a decade with Honeytribe and Royal Southern Brotherhood, the vocalist/guitarist (Gregg's son) has stepped out with a solo album that tells his personal stories. Turquoise is well-crafted, more reflective than fiery, and soulful.

Jerry Shriver - USA Today



Guitarist Devon Allman makes music that is inspired by the blues ... and that s about all he has in common with his famous father, Gregg Allman of the Allman Brothers Band. Musically best described as Muddy Waters meets Sun Ra, the younger Allman finds inspiration in a wealth of influences, from Memphis soul and the guitar-driven blues-rock of the 1970s to jazz and R&B.

About.COM



Royal Southern Brotherhood unites two legendary roots-rock bloodlines along with a rising star guitarist and an in-the-pocket rhythm section for one of the most highly anticipated albums of the past decade.

Blues Revue



Royal Southern Brotherhood unites two legendary roots-rock bloodlines along with a rising star guitarist and an in-the-pocket rhythm section for one of the most highly anticipated albums of the past decade.

Blues Revue



Nach zwei Alben mit seiner 'Hausband' Honeytribe und einer Exkursion mit der königlichen Südstaaten-Bruderschaft, legt Devon Allman nun sein erstes Soloalbum vor. "Turquoise" ist seinem Sohnemann Orion Gregory gewidmet und meine persönliche Assoziation bezüglich des Titels geht beim Hören unwillkürlich in Richtung der türkisblauen Farbe des Wassers in der kubanischen Heimat seiner Lebensgefährtin Yadira. Am Strand sitzen, einen eisgekühlten Longdrink vor sich auf dem Bistrotisch und aus den Boxen die gleichermaßen entspannte wie packende Musik von "Turquoise" - das wär's jetzt, wo gerade der Winter hierzulande noch einmal zurückschlägt...

Ruf Records tut derzeit gerade gut daran, sein Portfolio stilistisch zu erweitern, denn mit klassischem Blues, der bis vor kurzem die 'Hausmarke' des rührigen deutschen Labels war, hat "Turquoise" wenig zu tun. Gleichwohl ist Devon Allmans Solowerk (erfreulicherweise) sehr 'schwarz'. Obwohl der überaus talentierte Musiker in den ersten fünfzehn Jahren nix von Vaddern gehört haben will, scheint er dessen musikalische Vorliebe - den Soul und R&B - mit der Muttermilch aufgesaugt zu haben!

Zunächst startet die Scheibe aber mit zwei herrlich 'schrammelnden' Roots-Rockern. Kein Geringerer als der North Mississippi Allstar Luther Dickinson veredelt den Opener "When I Left Home" mit seiner Slide. "Don't Set Me Free" hat Devon gemeinsam mit seinem 'königlichen Bruder' Mike Zito geschrieben und der Song hätte ganz sicher auch zur RSB gepasst. Aber dann ist Schluss mit 'rootsig' - jetzt wird die rabenschwarze Soulkiste geöffnet. "Time Machine" beweist, was für ein Geschenk diese großartige Musik der Farbigen war und ist!

"Stop Draggin' My Heart" (unüberhörbar eine Petty-Nummer!!) beginnt zwar 'schrammelig', aber der seelenvolle Gesang des Fräuleinwunders Samantha Fish schiebt die Nummer in eine andere Dimension. Mit dem befreundeten Singer/Songwriter Tyler Stokes teilt Devon Allman die Liebe zur vom Latin inspirierten Musik. Gemeinsam haben sie "There's No Time" geschrieben, das genau in diese Richtung abzielt. Entspannt wie gleichermaßen druckvoll zielt die Powerballade "Strategy" voll in die Magengegend - Slashs Co-Klampfer Bobby Schneck Jr. krönt die Nummer mit zwei kurzen, aber überaus inspirierten Soli.

"Homesick" ist eine weitere - und das ist bei "Turquoise" auffällig - sehr persönliche Nummer. Die liebevolle Streicheleinheit für Sohn Orion, "Into The Darkness", allemal... Hier bläst der Tenorsaxofonist Ron Holloway, aus der Warren Haynes Band wohlbekannt, eine zu Tränen rührende 'Gießkanne'! Für seine kubanische Lebensgefährtin hat Allman mit "Key Lime Pie" und dem akustischen "Yadira's Lullaby" (erinnert stark an das Bananenloch) gleich zwei Liebeserklärungen auf "Turquoise" verewigt. In sprichwörtlich letzter Minute ist der 'Rausschmeißer' "Turn Off The World" entstanden. Bassist Myles Weeks war bereits abgereist, sodass Allman die Bassfiguren im Studio selbst einspielen musste. Eine Laid Back-Nummer wie Balsam für die Seele...

Alles was Devon Allman in den letzten Jahren angepackt hatte, wurde zwar (noch) nicht unbedingt zu Gold, hatte aber stets Hand und Fuß. Das ist keinesfalls erwartungsgemäß, wenn man bedenkt, wie groß der Schatten des übermächtig scheinenden Vaters ist, aus dem er mittlerweile wie selbstverständlich herausgetreten ist. Wie nicht anders zu erwarten war, ist dem 37-Jährigen mit "Turquoise" wieder mal ein Klassealbum gelungen. Eine durch und durch reife Leistung!

Steve Braun - 26.02.2013
RockTimes.at



Von keinem geringeren als Jim Gaines produziert stellt Turquoise nicht nur einen sehr privaten Einblick in das Leben von Devon Allman dar, sondern ist zudem auch noch mit Unterstützung von Allmans Bandkollegen der Royal Southern Brotherhood, Yonrico Scott (Schlagzeug+ Percussions), sowie Myles Weeks (Upright und Electric Bass) entstanden. Special Guests sind unter anderem Luther Dickinson (Gitarre), Samantha Fish (Vocals), Ron Holloway (Saxophon), Bobby Schneck Jr. (Gitarre) und Rick Steff (Hammond B3 Orgel). Turquoise ist ein Album voll von persönlichen, ehrlichen und sehr kraftvollen Songs. Im letzten Song des Albums Turn Off The World bezeichnet Allman Turquoise als einen mystischen Ort, an dem er mit der Vergangenheit abschließen und endlich den zukünftigen Herausforderungen entgegensehen kann. Homesick wird ebenfalls von dieser Stimmung beherrscht und war der erste Song, den Allman für sein Album schrieb: Die letzten zehn Jahre habe ich in Hotels, Flugzeugen und Taxis verbracht. Diesen Song widme ich meiner Familie, die dies alles ertragen hat. Turquoise schließt einige der bisher besten Werke Allmans ein: Von There s No Time (geschrieben zusammen mit Tyler Stokes), wobei er seine Affinität zu lateinamerikanischer und afrikanischer Musik demonstriert, über When I Left Home (zusammen mit Luther Dickinson), womit er einen sehr einfühlsamen Einblick in seine Vergangenheit gewährt, bis hin zu einer der ruhigsten Sequenzen in Yadira s Lullaby. Dies ist ein Album, das Devons Vergangenheit wiederspiegelt und die Geschichten erzählt, die nur er erzählen kann. Die zehn Originaltitel auf Turquoise enthalten zwei Songs, die er zusammen mit seinem RSB-Kollegen Mike Zito schrieb, plus einer fantastischen Version von Tom Pettys Stop Draggin My Heart Around im Duett mit Samantha Fish. Devon, der zurzeit in St. Louis lebt, wurde in Corpus Christi, Texas geboren. Dort wuchs er unter bescheidenen Verhältnissen bei seiner Mutter auf, weit entfernt von dem Rock n Roll-Leben seines Vaters, der als Mitglied der legendären Allman Brothers in den 1970er Jahren Bekanntheit erlangte. Erste Beziehungen zur Musik knüpfte er bereits in sehr jungen Jahren und bald darauf sollte sie zu seiner Berufung werden, als ob es ihm bereits in die Wiege gelegt worden sei. Musik entwickelte sich für ihn zu einem Grundbedürfnis, das ihn immer antreiben wird. 1999 schaffte er es mit seiner Band Honeytribe auch erstmals international aufzufallen. Sein Durchbruch mag allerdings etwas abgeschwächt worden sein, als er sich entschied, nicht unter seinem richtigen Namen aufzutreten, da dies unzählige Fragen über den berühmten Vater nach sich gezogen hätte, von denen er selbst nicht wusste, wie er sie beantworten sollte. Als Honeytribe begann erste CDs zu veröffentlichen und auf Tour zu gehen, sickerte jedoch auch durch, dass Devon der Sohn eines der größten Stars der Rock n Roll-Welt, Gregg Allman ist. Im Laufe der Zeit hat Devon seinen berühmten Vater auch als Special Guest auf der Konzertreihe der Allman Brothers Band im Beacon Theater in New York begleitet. Heute ist er dankbar dafür, der zu sein, der er ist, und dafür, dass er seinen eigenen Weg ging, der ihn schließlich zu seinem ersten Solo-Album Turquoise führte.

Amazon.de



"Der knietief im Southern Rock verankerte Junior singt einfach souverän und spielt dazu eine kraftvolle Gitarre ohne Fehl und Tadel. Zudem hat er für sein erstes Solo-Album TURQUOISE, teilweise in Co-Produktion mit James Zito und Tyler Strokes, ein Bündel Songs geschrieben, die dem jahrzehntelangen Niveau der Allman-Familie voll und ganz entsprechen."

Good Times, April/Mai 2013
 

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