In this video, Devon Allman joins Sid to talk about what it was like growing up with the Allman Brothers Band, as well as the unique relationship he had with his father. Plus, he’ll share about his recent marriage and how his long friendship with Duane Betts eventually led to the Allman Family Revival Tour.
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00:00Welcome to Biscuits and Jam from Southern Living. I'm your host, Sid Evans. And in this episode,
00:14I'm talking with someone who comes from Southern rock royalty, but who's also charting his own
00:19musical path. Devin Allman grew up in Corpus Christi, Texas and St. Louis, Missouri, and
00:25didn't meet his father, Greg Allman, until he was a teenager. A simple letter brought the two of them
00:30together. And before long, Devin was going on tour with the Allman Brothers band and getting to know
00:36his dad. In another twist of fate, he met his longtime collaborator, Dwayne Betts, the son of
00:42Dickie Betts, a founding guitarist for the Allman Brothers. And now the two of them are using all
00:47that genetic talent to celebrate their musical legacy and find audiences of their own. We'll
00:52talk about all that, the Allman Family Revival Tour, and Devin's recent marriage on this week's
00:58Biscuits and Jam. Devin Allman, welcome to Biscuits and Jam. Thank you so much. Thanks for having me.
01:15Where am I reaching you right now? I'm in Clayton, Missouri right now at home. And boy, it's cold.
01:22How do you like it up there? You've spent a lot of years in Missouri around St. Louis.
01:29I have. Yeah. I've been here a long time now, probably 30 years. I was born and raised in South
01:34Texas and ended up here in my high school years. My mom remarried a pilot and he got a gig with TWA
01:43Airlines, which was hubbed here in St. Louis. So, you know, if he would have got a gig with Delta,
01:49I might be talking to you from Atlanta. It's just how fate kind of spins it all out. But through the
01:56years, when I thought about, hey, maybe I'll scoot out of here, something always kind of pulls me back
02:01and it's been home for a long time. So, I've always wondered, does St. Louis feel Southern to you
02:08or kind of somewhere in between? That's a really good question. It is truly, and I can say this with
02:16the education from touring, it is the only city in America where I feel a confluence of all four
02:26directions of America. There's a little East Coast here. There's a little Yankee vibe here.
02:31There's a little Southern. And probably the least of that equation is the Western influence because
02:37there's not much. But funny enough, as soon as you go down Highway 73 hours to Kansas City,
02:43you start to feel that influx of that Western vibration. So, when you kind of pull a radius
02:50around St. Louis, if you go Memphis, it feels very South. If you go Indianapolis, it's starting to feel
02:56pretty East and North. So, St. Louis is, it's the one city that's like that. And it's kind of funny
03:03that a lot of companies will do their test runs of products and things here because it's really an
03:07amalgam of culture. Interesting. Interesting. Yeah, it really is. Well, I need to spend a little more
03:14time there. But let me ask you about where you grew up. Go South for a minute. So, you spent most of
03:20your childhood in Corpus Christi, Texas. My wife actually was born there. But tell me a little bit
03:26about your connection to that town and what it means to you. So, my mom's side of the family was
03:32from San Antonio. And my grandfather, it's funny how jobs really kind of dictate these places in
03:38our lives. He worked for Napa Auto Parts, and they wanted to open a new location in this city that was
03:45kind of on the rise. And it was Corpus Christi. And that's how they ended up there from San Antonio.
03:50My mom's side is pretty deep San Antonio for a few generations. So, every Thanksgiving,
03:57every Christmas, we'd go to San Antonio for the holidays and see the grandparents and everything.
04:02Great grandparents. But yeah, I mean, growing up there was really amazing. That's where I really
04:06fell in love with music. And my first concert, my first album, there was a lot of artistic firsts
04:13for me in Corpus Christi. So, what did your mom do for a living there?
04:19Well, initially, when she had met my dad, she had moved up to Houston. And she was working at a
04:26concert promotion agency. And she was the intern. She was 20 years old. And the story goes that the
04:34Allman brothers were coming into town to play a show and they got lost. So, of course, the concert
04:41promoter sends my mom out to meet them and get them to the gig as fate would have it. Them getting
04:49lost is the reason I'm talking to you today. My father was smitten and things unfolded as they
04:57would. So, she went from kind of just being the cute little intern at the agency to marrying my dad
05:03and being kind of thrust into that world rather quickly, right as the Allman brothers were going from
05:10a moderately successful band to a major act. Their marriage was short-lived. That was my dad's
05:16first wife. They were married for about a year. And then, upon returning back to Corpus Christi,
05:22she really was kind of an odd jobs kind of person, secretary, intern, assistant, always kind of
05:29trying to better her situation and trying to kind of rebound from going from rock star wife to
05:34single mom. It was a tough decade for her. Yeah. So, did you grow up spending a good amount of time
05:42with your grandparents? I did, yeah. They lived right down the street and they were truly my core.
05:49My grandfather was really my father figure and that was a relationship that really grounded me
05:55in a lot of ways and just taught me a lot. My mom was so young when she had me. She was still kind
06:00of a wild child when I was a wild child. So, they were a good grounding influence for sure.
06:07Yeah. So, you left Texas when you were, I think, what, 11, 12 years old?
06:14Yeah.
06:15But when people grow up in a place like Texas, it can have a pretty profound impact. Do you think of
06:22yourself as a Texan?
06:25That's really funny that you say that because I've had this conversation with friends and
06:29they're like, Texan, you've been in St. Louis for 30 years. And I'm like, man, I know I have.
06:38However, when the plane lands in Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, Corpus, it doesn't matter.
06:43And I get that first whiff of Texas. Yeah, I'm home. It's always going to be home. It doesn't
06:50matter that I've actually spent more years now in Missouri than Texas. When I go back to Texas,
06:56which I still go back quite a bit, it just always feels like home. I think it always will. Your
07:02childhood years are the most important, you know? And also, any of us that are a little longer in
07:10the tooth and over the age of 40 that kind of remember America pre-9-11 and pre-internet and pre-AI
07:18and pre-COVID, that was a much, much more romantic period of our country's history. It was a much
07:26more innocent time. So childhood mixed with that innocence, that nostalgia really, it rings pretty
07:34deep for me. I will always be a Texan. I could move to Italy next year and spend the rest of my
07:39days there. But I'll still always consider myself a Texan. It's hard to shake. Yeah, I get that. And
07:46I've heard it from a lot of people. I wonder, does that loyalty also apply to things like football
07:53teams? Wow. Do you still have some Texas affinity there? Now we're getting in there. You know, it's
08:01funny though, because for every breath that I will always remain a true Texan, I stick up for the
08:08culture and arts and vibe of St. Louis equally. And same goes for loyalty on things like sports.
08:16So on the football side of things, I will always be a Houston Oilers fan. And now that team is
08:21defunct. Yeah. That's a hard one. I kind of started rooting for the Cowboys just for my family's sake
08:27and my grandfather and that continuity. But I tell you, I didn't fall in love with baseball until my
08:32later years. And what a great baseball town this is. I mean, you couldn't ask for a better
08:37baseball vibe than St. Louis. Yeah. So diehard Cardinals fan.
08:43You got to be, right? Yeah. Yeah.
08:46So what about on the food front? I mean, in Corpus Christi, I'm thinking there's a lot of great
08:51food in that town and there's a lot of great kind of Mexican influence and all of that.
08:57What were some of your favorites?
08:59Well, those that know, they know. Whataburger began in Corpus Christi. The first one was there.
09:07So that's a real bragging rights for our city is the birthplace of Whataburger.
09:11Yeah. I didn't know that.
09:12Yeah. And it was just like a little burger shack was all it was. I can't remember if it was the
09:18late 40s or late 50s, but yeah, it started there and then it was actually headquartered there for the
09:23first few decades. Yeah. We grew up hitting the Whataburger before we would go to Padre Island,
09:28the beach there. Great, great Tex-Mex. There's a place called Kiko's there that is just legendary.
09:35It's been there for as long as I've been alive and longer. So a lot of really great mom and pop
09:42Tex-Mex restaurants. And that's really the pinnacle there. It's really kind of hard to beat.
09:47Beyond that, the foodie scene there is slow because everybody just eats Tex-Mex or Whataburgers.
09:55But just like the rest of the country, it's getting better. But my memories are a lot of
10:00enchilada plates.
10:01Yeah, I bet.
10:03Yeah. Oh, yeah.
10:05So Devin, you moved to Memphis and this is my hometown. And that's a pretty...
10:10It's like you read the book that I haven't written yet.
10:13This is...
10:16Well, you've got to work on that one.
10:17Good chronology here. I'm like, wow, you know your...
10:20I do know Memphis. I grew up there and it's a pretty powerful place for a musician.
10:28Yeah, it is.
10:29What were your years like there and what kind of influence did Memphis have on you?
10:34I moved there when I was 17. I had dropped out of high school to go on tour with the Allman
10:42Brothers Band. And when that tour was over, I actually moved in with my dad for a bit. It
10:48was the first time we had lived under the same roof. And then I quickly put a band together
10:54and we moved from Nashville to Memphis because Memphis was just so much hipper for rock music.
11:02So I was 17 when I moved to Memphis and I moved straight into a band house. And what was that like?
11:08Rowdy, unruly, unorganized, unethical, a lot of uns. But the other uns, it was a lot of fun. And we learned a lot about what not to do.
11:23But that was my first experience of being away from home in a band, writing songs and working
11:30up the songs and rehearsing a band and leading a band. And it was an awful band. I mean, it was just
11:36awful. Terrible, terrible. I mean, we were 17 years old, you know, and everybody wanted to like be
11:43Aerosmith or whatever, you know, it was kind of the end of that era of glam metal. But while I was there,
11:49the Allman Brothers came into town to record an album called Shades of Two Worlds with legend Tom
11:55Dowd. And I was a real punk ass back then. And I didn't know much, but I knew enough to be around
12:02for those sessions. And I knew enough to sit back and shut up and listen to Tom Dowd and pay attention
12:09and not just be in awe of him and some masters working, but actually pay attention to what he was
12:19saying, what he was suggesting, why he was suggesting it, how it bettered the song. And even
12:26for being a 17 year old dumbass, I knew enough to go, man, this is a college education in song
12:36craftsmanship and recording that you'll never get again. And I went to those sessions every day
12:44and fly on the wall, just listened. And I'm really grateful for that. Memphis has a strong vibe.
12:50I ended up making a lot of my records there and producing some records there as well. And when I
12:56still go back there, it still feels a little bit like home. There's a little Memphis in me,
13:00for sure.
13:01You mentioned your dad, Greg Allman, and you didn't really know him until you were,
13:07you said, 16 or 17.
13:09Yeah.
13:09How did you get to know him after all that time? I mean, was this something that you initiated or
13:17did it just kind of happen?
13:20You know, zero contact between me and my father for the first 16 years of my life, 15 years of my
13:27life, 15 years. So it was 87. At this point, I was living in Mobile, Alabama. Actually, I went to
13:35my sophomore year at Murphy High. And I saw him on, I think it was MTV. And I was like, man, I'm going
13:45to write him a letter. So I wrote him a letter and it was just three sentences long. Hey, I'm your
13:51son. Here's my phone number. I play guitar. I like Ozzy Osbourne. Hit me up. Like it was, you know,
13:58like what a 15 year old would say, right? I wish I still had that. Anyway, we're talking 15 years of
14:05zero contact. So never a call, never a card, never, uh, anything in the mail or just no
14:11acknowledgement, which was hard as a young, young guy and hard as a teenager and just hard,
14:20just bewildering. Like why, you know? So I wrote him that letter and I think it was four days,
14:28five days later, um, the phone rang and it was my dad. And I was, I was really impressed that he
14:36worked up the nerve, the courage, the whatever to make that call. So he made that call and we were
14:42just instantly kind of thick as thieves. We were a lot alike. We had a very similar sense of humor
14:47and he said, Hey, well, I'm going to be on tour. Let's connect. And so I said, sure.
14:54And it was, I don't know, four months or something later, five months, I had already
14:59relocated to St. Louis and he came to play the Fox theater. And I drove my Datsun B210 to the Fox
15:08theater. And I sat on the hood smoking a Marlboro light, the punk ass 16 year old and up drives the
15:16tour bus. And I'm like, wow, my heart's racing. I'm like, you know, this is it. And a couple of guys
15:22kind of stumble off the bus. And then there's the guy with the long blonde hair. Right. And I remember
15:27the, the internal, uh, I don't know why I got emotional. Uh, sometimes it just really missed dad.
15:39I remember the internal dialogue being, that's your dad, man. You know? And that was, uh, that was a
15:46moment for sure. And then we, uh, hung out backstage and just laughed and he went on stage
15:54and played. I remember him being really nervous. He was really nervous. And I know it was me and the
16:01gig because he got stage fright. Really? Yeah. He got stage fright every time, even later in life.
16:08And he'd be the first to tell you first or second note of that first song. That's gone.
16:14But eating up that hour before he's, you know, but it was pretty wild. I remember turning around
16:21after we hung out and I was heading to my car and I walked back and I said, Hey, I got a question for
16:27you. And he's like, what's that? And I said, 15 years. Like, why didn't you? Cause we had such a
16:34great night and I could tell it was a relief for him to make that connection. And he pulled his
16:40wallet out and he pulled out this piece of paper and he unfolded it. And it was my letter.
16:46Oh, wow. He had it in his wallet for that five months between the phone call and the meeting.
16:52He said, I was waiting for this. And I was like, Oh, son of a bitch. Like he was waiting for his kid
17:00to make the first move. Like, wow. Okay. I'd have done it sooner. So it's just one of those things.
17:10And we ended up being really, really close, man. We had a lot of ups and we had some downs and
17:15there was tough times in there when he was battling his demons. Um, and there was times
17:21where I was right by his side. And there was times where I said, I can't, my boundaries are beyond
17:26stretched. You know, there were some times that were really tough, but overall, I mean, man,
17:34we were tight and I love that guy. And I miss that guy so much.
17:38Well, what a gift that you had all the time with him that you did.
17:41Definitely.
17:42I wanted to ask you about, you know, you lost your dad in 2017 and it seemed to have a very
17:50profound impact on you. I think you took off touring for a while. You had to kind of take a break and
17:56wanted to spend some time with the family. I mean, what had your relationship become by that point?
18:03Were you, you know, in regular contact all the time? Were you playing music together?
18:09Yeah. I mean, once that initial meeting was over, I came out on a lot of tours and then I started
18:15becoming an opening act on a lot of tours and we were close. I mean, we did all the Christmases
18:20and stuff together. He would come to me for advice, which I really appreciated. You know,
18:25one time he even said, Hey, you ever think when you met your dad that you'd be the dad?
18:30You know, he said that before. And I really, um, that really touched me because he grew up without
18:36a dad. And I think he knew that in me, he had a confidant. He had someone that wouldn't just say
18:42yes all the time. He had someone that would shoot it to him straight, whether he wanted to hear it or
18:48not. He had somebody he could trust, you know? So we had a very close bond because of that,
18:54because he didn't have much of that in his life. There's a lot of people saying
18:58yes. And yes, man, and people in the industry, they just want to hang out with them to be cool.
19:03And I tell you what, when he did something that wasn't thoughtful or insensitive, I let him have
19:09it. And I was the only one in his life that would do that. And he'd listen. So we had a unique
19:15relationship, you know, it was son, father, it was brother, brother. It was confidant. It was a lot
19:22of different things, but yeah, I'm blessed that we had that, even though we missed those first 15
19:27years together. It's like, we really made up for lost time. We got very close. And, um,
19:33losing him was really tough. Um, half of me thought we got an extra 20 years out of this guy.
19:43Like he really, you know, he should have been gone by 50, the way that he lived. Everybody knows he
19:48lived so hard for decades. And so that half of me was ready for that horrible phone call every day,
19:55every day. I was ready for that call or not ready, but in fear of getting that call.
20:00And then the other half of me is like, he's made it this far. He's going to live till 90.
20:05And of course things unfold as they're going to unfold. And that was a hard day. It was really hard
20:11for me because for four, four and a half months prior I lost my mom. And that was the one that was
20:17like, I just thought I'd have her forever, you know? And actually the day after my mom died,
20:24I got a phone call to go down and spend some time with dad because we're, you know, quote unquote,
20:29we're losing him. I was like, just lost my mom last night. And my dad hung on for a handful of months
20:37after that. But yeah, the double shot was soul crushing. It was really tough. And when mom died,
20:43I took a couple months off from touring to just spend some time healing. And I got back out on
20:49the road and dad passed about a month later. And I canceled the rest of that year because of a few
20:56reasons. Number one, I wanted to heal. That hurt. Losing them both like that was just, ugh. And two,
21:03I wanted to be able to be able to be there for my siblings whenever they wanted me. You know,
21:07I'm the oldest. So like, oh, can you come out for the weekend or whatever? I wanted to kind of have
21:12free reign to do that, to be there for them. And we did spend a lot of time together when he passed.
21:19And that was crucial for all of our healing was to bring it in and be together. And the third is if
21:24I had concerts a month after my father passed, all the energy in the room would be about his passing.
21:29And I didn't feel like that was fair to him or my music. Like, let's let some time pass and
21:38reconvene. But the bummer about that approach was that a few months after he had passed,
21:44I realized I was denying myself the healing power of togetherness with music. And I was really anxious
21:50to get back out there. And the revival concerts were born out of that.
21:54Yeah. What a year for you. But it is interesting that as you overcame that and worked your way
22:02through it, it's also kind of when you found this musical outlet and this kind of new musical
22:10journey working with Dwayne Betts.
22:13Yeah, for sure.
22:14After the break, I'll talk more with Devin Allman about his music, his dad, and his collaboration
22:21with the son of another Allman Brothers Band veteran.
22:35Welcome back to Biscuits and Jam from Southern Living. I'm Sid Evans. And today I'm talking with
22:40the musician Devin Allman. I want to talk about your music. You know, for the last few years,
22:46you've been recording and touring with Dwayne and he's the son of Dickie Betts. Of course,
22:51he's another founding member of the Allman Brothers. Talk to me about him just on a personal level and
22:56what your connection is like with Dwayne.
22:59Sure. Yeah, we met on that tour that I was talking about. I left high school to go on that
23:04reunion tour in 89. And we met literally on the tour bus. I remember dad saying, hey,
23:10go drop your bag on the bus. Dickie's kid's in there. Go say hello. I'm like, all right.
23:16I get on the bus and he's sitting there with some headphones on. And I mean, it looks like a
23:23miniature Dickie Betts, you know, just like, wow, this kid, it's like Dickie spit him out.
23:29I think I'm 17 and I guess Dwayne's 11. I think that's our age difference, 12, something like
23:36that, which at the time seemed like quite a bit of an age difference. The other guys were trying
23:42to sneak beers and chase girls and he's a kid, you know, but I'm like, hey man. And he kind of
23:48ignored me. I'm like, hey, hey man. And he finally looks up and I go, what are you listening to?
23:56He's got the headphones on. And he just kind of goes, what? And I go, what are you listening to,
24:03man? And he goes, Testament, which was a big 1980s thrash metal band. And especially with my
24:13Texas roots, I had been a thrash metal fan for some years, you know, Metallica and Slayer and all of
24:19that. And this is before that music really kind of exploded. So when you were into that, you were
24:25kind of one of the cool kids. And I think I named dropped one of their records and I was like, well,
24:30are you listening to practice what you preach? And he just kind of gave me a look like, oh, you're
24:35all right. So I instantly really loved his attitude and I really loved his energy. I really did. But
24:43we were enough age difference where I was like, well, have fun. We're going to go sneak beers and
24:48chase girls. But later in life, as we got older and we got into our thirties or forties, we were
24:55running into each other on like a cruise ship that my band was playing and Dickie Betts' band was
25:00playing. Dwayne Betts was in Dickie Betts' band as the second guitar player. We ran into each other
25:06backstage in London. He was playing with someone. I was doing my thing. And we'd always laugh about
25:13being kids on the All My Brothers tour. So we always had that family connection and that kinship.
25:18And there was times where my band would play Florida and he'd come out and sit in and
25:22we'd go over to a mutual friend's house and jam guitars. So there was always these times where
25:27we were kind of catching up. It's not like we grew up together and were inseparable or anything or
25:33never lived in the same city or anything like that. But we had this bond that was that reunion tour
25:39and that bond just always kept us close. So when dad passed away, I thought, well,
25:47I'm ready to play music again and go out and play live. And I'd like to just have a big party for dad.
25:54It was going to be his 70th birthday. And I'm like, why don't we invite some friends and have a big
26:02throwdown in dad's honor? A big revival. And Dwayne was on board. And now we're going on our
26:10eighth year with the revival series. It's a tremendous time for Dwayne and I to tip our hats
26:15to our dads. It's only three weeks. That's it. For 20 shows a year, we will go out and play Allman
26:21Brothers music. And we curate the experience to invite some really lovely names in the music community.
26:28I get to kind of play the part of a casting director more than anything. Like, oh, who's
26:33going to do Melissa this year? Who's going to do Whip and Post this year? That's a really fun thing for
26:38us to curate. And then also born out of that initial concert in 2017 was the idea of this is fun. Why
26:45don't we start a band together? Let's go out on tour together. And Dwayne, you open for me and we'll
26:51spend our time on the buses and backstage and try and write some songs. And if we write some, awesome.
26:57Then we got a band. And if we try and write some and it's not what we like, then it's okay. We try
27:03it. And we did have a chemistry writing songs, not just because you got an Allman and a Betz,
27:09but we could actually sit down and write a tune together. And then singing together,
27:14it turns out that the timbers of our voices work together. Just instant chemistry, no effort,
27:21just right in that pocket, just right in the cut. And then Allman Betz band was born. So, you know,
27:28turned out to be a really important concert. You know, we threw a party for dad and it's almost like
27:32dad said, okay, well, here you go. Now you get to play once a year and have a band. You can't script
27:39that. Yeah. Let's talk about the Allman Betz band a little bit. I mean, you've got the spring tour
27:46coming up. Like you said, you've been on hiatus. I mean, what feels different about this tour than
27:51others that you've done before? I don't know that much feels different. I think that we've missed
27:57playing these songs and being together. The fans have missed this band together. I've done some
28:03solo touring. Dwayne's done some solo touring. I did a collaborative project last year with Donovan
28:10Frankenwriter, where we set up to break the world record for playing all 50 states in the least
28:17amount of time, which we broke that record, which was insane. Congratulations.
28:23So anyway, I digress. You know, it was really great to have some time to put into
28:29some solo endeavors and we're still working on solo endeavors. This is just a, hey man,
28:35we miss playing this music and we miss playing for our fans. And we know that our fans love seeing
28:40Dwayne and I together in a project. So this is a way to go reconnect with them. And we're still
28:46working on solo records and touring and different projects and collaborations, but we always have
28:52the Allman Betz band to kind of pick up and work on whenever we want.
28:56Yeah. You know, you mentioned a couple albums. You've got one called Down to the River and another
29:02one called Bless Your Heart. And I wanted to ask you about a song on Bless Your Heart. And it's called
29:09Magnolia Road. It's a great song. It's kind of autobiographical. But ironically, I think it was
29:15written by your collaborator, Stoll Vaughn. Tell me about that. Like, how did that kind of come
29:22together?
29:23It's just so funny that our most known song and arguably most personal, it wasn't even
29:29written by us. I don't consider that embarrassing at all.
29:32Sing it all.
29:33Sweet man, I know you're wrong. Take me home. Take me home. Let go of your river, Lord. Keep on rolling. Keep on rolling. Keep on rolling. Keep on rolling. Keep on rolling. Keep on rolling.
29:59I actually consider that to be quite a victory for the really talented Stoll Vaughn. He's an exceptional
30:07songwriter and collaborator. He's done stuff with John Cougar Mellencamp and Dwayne Betz had worked
30:12with him and suggested him for the songwriting trio to have someone to kind of play interference. And he
30:19was great. What he brought to the table was a lot of organization. He would collect the riffs and the
30:24lyrics and had folders with, well, why don't we work on this one today? And let's work on this one.
30:28But he was really good about, in the in-between times, talking to us, getting to know us, talking
30:35about our histories. And he wrote that based on the history that he knew. And we were just flabbergasted.
30:43It was such a touching portrait of who we are and where we come from that we would have never written
30:47ourselves, you know? And that's really what was amazing. He says a whole lot about us in just a few
30:55short lines. Devin, back in 2022, you sang for the first time at the Grand Ole Opry.
31:02Yes.
31:03And that must have been a thrill for you. You did a beautiful thing on that occasion. You sang
31:08a version of These Days by Jackson Brown with the singer Maggie Rose. And I think it was a kind of
31:15tribute to your father. How did that come together?
31:18For the revival tour 2022, Maggie was selected to be on that tour and graciously accepted and was a
31:26great part of that tour. And I don't know, it was a few months out. It was kind of once we had hired
31:31her onto the tour and she hit me and she goes, hey, I got an idea. I always love that song these
31:36days. Why don't we do our own version? We can use it to promote the tour. And I'm like, I would have
31:42never thought to cover that song. And it's one of my favorite songs of all time. I'd be honored to do that
31:47song with you. So I took dad's two favorite guitars and drove down to Nashville and handed
31:54the one to Maggie. And we sat down and I just told them cats, I said, hit record. And we're going to
32:00play this in a loop. And I'll bet you the third or the fourth one is going to be the one. And they did.
32:06And I think we sang the very last line of the song. And then I just kept tapping my foot.
32:11And then we'd go right back into it, started, and we played it all the way down
32:15six or seven times. And I think they kept number four. And what you hear is live. It's one pass.
32:22And she's a phenomenal singer and what a sweetheart. And then I guess a month later,
32:27we brought it to life at the Grand Ole Opry. And that was a supreme honor. And then every night on
32:33Revival, we got to do These Days in the Encore, a real quiet, poignant moment in the song with the
32:40slideshow with dad through the years. It was really sweet. And I was really grateful to bring
32:46that song to life with her. I remember I texted the song, Our Version, to Jackson Brown. And he said
32:53he loved it. And I texted it to Cher. And she said that she cried. And I was just like, wow, man,
33:00you know, just blown away.
33:02Well, it's a great song. And what a great moment and tribute to your dad.
33:06Thank you very much.
33:08So, Devin, you had a pretty big year last year in a lot of ways. You may not have been
33:12touring with Allman Betts, but you did get married.
33:15Yes.
33:16Congratulations.
33:18Tell me a little bit about your wife and how y'all met.
33:21My wife is a doctor. She had her doctorate at age 24, chiropractor, functional medicine. She
33:28owns her own practice. She's a very savvy lady. We met through mutual friends, Blackberry Smoke.
33:34And when we first met, we just went and had a coffee. And then a month later, we had dinner.
33:40And it was just kind of one of those things where it wasn't just explosive out the gate. It was just
33:45kind of tentative. I was getting over losing my parents. And on the road with Allman Betts band,
33:51I knew we were going to play and play and play for a couple of years straight. So she kind of was
33:55coming in at kind of a tough time. So we really took it really slow, you know. But yeah, we got married
34:01in May and we had this insane six-stop honeymoon, which was like its own world tour. We did South
34:09Africa, Dubai, Oman, Milan, and Lake Como. And it was just magical. What can I say? She really balances
34:18me out. You know, she's a terrific person. She does so much for so many people, not to mention,
34:24I think every single person in my band and crew has gone to her practice to get something worked on.
34:31Adjusted.
34:33She's just one of those people. She does so, so much for so many people. And she is an absolute
34:38inspiration to me. And just really, really happy that we found each other and that we tied the
34:44knot in May. So.
34:45That's great. Well, congratulations.
34:47Thank you so much.
34:48Well, Devin, I just have one more question for you.
34:51You got it.
34:51What does it mean to you to be Southern?
34:54Oh, that's a great question. I think there was those negative connotations to Southerners
35:00that stem so far back from the previous centuries. And the thing that I like about the South and
35:06where I think that Southern charm is born and where I think Southern hospitality originates is that we
35:14take our time. And it's not because we're lazy. We are enjoying the flavor of this life.
35:20And that's what it means to me to be Southern.
35:25Well said. Well, Devin Allman, thanks so much for being on Biscuits and Jam.
35:29Thanks for having me.
35:30Thanks for listening to my conversation with Devin Allman. Southern Living is based in Birmingham,
35:37Alabama. Be sure to follow Biscuits and Jam on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen.
35:44And we'd love your feedback. If you could rate this podcast and leave us a review,
35:48we'd really appreciate it. You can also find us online at southernliving.com slash biscuits and jam.
35:53Our theme song is by Sean Watkins of Nickel Creek. I hope you'll join me next week when I'll be talking
35:59with the Grammy Award winning blues man, Cedric Burnside. We'll see you then.