Devon Allman – Ragged & Dirty: Half The Truth, Can’t Lose ‘Em All, Leavin’, I’ll Be Around, Traveling, Midnight Lake Michigan, Ten Million Slaves, Blackjack Heartattack, Back To You, Times Have Changed, Ragged & Dirty, Leave The City
Personnel: Devon Allman – lead vocals, guitar, Felton Crews – Bass, Giles Cory – guitar, Tom Hambridge – drums, background vocals, tambourine, Marty Sammon – piano, B3 organ, Wurlitzer, Bobby Schneck, Jr. – lead guitar, harmony vocals, Wendy Moten – background vocals
Devon Allman – Ragged & Dirty was produced by Tom Hambridge and released on the Ruf Records label.
The 12-track Ragged & Dirty release is Devon’s follow-up to his first solo release, Turquoise, on the Ruf Records label. Unlike Turquoise where Devon wrote 10 of the 11-tracks, for Ragged & Dirty, he shares songwriting with Tom Hambridge, Thomas Randolph Bell, Otis Mark Taylor, and the late guitarist Luther Allison (1939 – 1997) who wrote the title track, Ragged & Dirty, and contributes five tracks on the release: Traveling, Midnight Lake Michigan, Blackjack Heartattack, Back To You, Leave The City.
Devon took time from touring with his band, the Royal Southern Brotherhood, to go into the studio to record Ragged & Dirty using an excellent group of Chicago musicians. The release opens with the hard-driving Tom Hambridge song, Half The Truth, with Devon belting out the lyrics …”I warn you once woman, now there ain’t no use in crying, I warn you twice woman, that’s one two many times …,” followed by the 2006 Tom Hambridge and Lee Roy Parnell song, Can’t Lose’Em All.
Leaving, written by Tom Hambridge, is a great guitar piece that features Devon Allman on guitar, Felton Crews on bass, Bobby Schneck, Jr. (who also played with Devon on the Turquoise release) on lead guitar, and Cory Giles on acoustic guitar, where the catchy lyrics will have you singing along with Devon, “… I told my mama when I left home, leaving but I don’t know where … same old story running through my life, leaving but I don’t know where…”
I’ll Be Around written by Thomas Randolph Bell in 1972 follows, then Devon shows his talent as a songwriter as well as a guitarist for the next two songs, Traveling, and the slow and sultry Midnight Lake Michigan, a fabulous instrumental piece and a definite highlight of the release, with Felton Crews on bass, Tom Hambridge on drums, and Mary Sammon playing a B3 organ and piano.
The pace changes with the memorable, almost chant-like Ten Million Slaves written by Otis Taylor in 2002 with Devon singing lead vocals and playing harmony vox and guitar, with Felton Crews on bass, Giles Cory on guitar, Tom Hambridge on drums and percussion, and Bobby Schneck Jr. contributing harmony vocals.
Devon contributes two more of his songs in the line-up with Blackjack Heartattack, and Back To You, which eases you back into the groove with its long instrumental solo before Devon is joined by Tom Hambridge and Wendy Moten who add background vocals to his own.
The Tom Hambridge song, Times Have Changed, picks up the pace again with Marty on piano leading the way, Tom and Bobby singing background vocals, and Tom layering in a tambourine. Devon does justice to the late Luther Allison’s song, Ragged & Dirty, a gorgeous funk blues piece with guitar front and center, and then closes with one more of his own songs, Leave The City, with Devon singing and playing resonator guitar, and Tom Hambridge on drums and xylophone. Devon Allman – Raggedy & Dirty is a 12-track release sure to become one of your favorites.
For information on upcoming performances, please visit the website: www.DevonAllmanBand.com.
Follow Devon Allman on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/DevonAllman
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Websites where you can procure are Amazon, and Ruf Records.
© November 2014. Luxury Experience. www.LuxuryExperience.com All rights reserved.
