NEW BEGINNINGS
“WITH TWO STELLAR LEAD GUITAR PLAYERS IN THE BAND ALONGSIDE ME,”
DEVON ALLMAN SAYS, “my best move is to go with what I know, which is based on feel, and let them shine.”
The humble Allman is actually quite adept at taking a tuneful turn, or ripping up a lead break in a rough-and-tumble way. As his father, Gregg, stated in his autobiography, My Cross to Bear, “My son Devon…he can play the fuckin’ blues.”
But the younger Allman is also speaking truth, as his bandmates Duane Betts and Johnny Stachela are indeed stellar guitar slingers. Betts is a melodic blues rocker who cites the three Kings —B.B., Albert and Freddie — and Mick Taylor’s Rolling Stones output as major influences. And, of course, he picked up loads of lyrical licks playing alongside his father, Dickey Betts, in Great Southern. “Some aspects of my playing come from listening to that music a lot, but I also believe that certain rhythmic and melodic elements are genetic attributes,” he says.
Stachela, for his part, largely plays the role of slide ace and is well versed in the southern-rock style innovated by Duane
