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‘Tite File’. We then go a bit country with Lucinda Williams and Tommy McLain on ‘Release Me’
and also Steve Earle pairing up with Anthony Dopsie for Louis Jordan’s ‘Just Like a Woman’,
with Steve Berlin of Los Lobos on sax.

Things calm down for the soulful ‘I’m on the Wonder’ with NOLA piano man Jon Cleary joining

Curley Taylor, while the 50’s-style instrumental ‘Hot Rod’ teams Clifton’s son C.J. Chenier with
David Hidalgo from Los Lobos. ‘My Soul’ is a great bluesy soul workout with Jimmie Vaughan
on vocals and guitar and more accordion from Mr. Riley and ‘You Used to Call Me’ has John Hiatt
up front with guitar from Roddie Romero and ‘Ay Ai Ai’ has Los Texmaniacs with the Baca
brothers, Josh and Max, on accordion and bajo sexto respectively and augmented with Augie
Meyers on cheesy Vox organ. Then it’s back to Louisiana for ‘I May Be Wrong’ with Geno Delafose
on accordion and Marcia Ball on vocals and piano and finally we finish with C.J. Chenier on the
delicious ‘I’m Coming Home’ featuring an old member of Clifton’s band from the 1980’s – ‘the
king of slydeco’ - slide guitar maestro Sonny Landreth in masterful form. This is a really good
tribute to a truly great artist and the various guests just add that extra something and a nice

touch of variety without being at all gimmicky.
Graham Harrison

Devon Allman—Blues Summit—Ruf Records ASIN :
B0F9FZXVDV

In 1993 B.B. King had a Grammy-winning album called ‘Blues
Summit’ where he played with guests including contemporaries
like Buddy Guy and John Lee Hooker as well as up-and-comers

like Robert Cray and Joe Louis Walker. Was that the inspiration
for Devon’s album ‘Blues Summit’? There is a similar (although
less high-profile) mix of performers here with old stagers like

Jimmy Hall and Larry McCray and new comers like Christone
‘Kingfish’ Ingram and Sierra Green. We kick off with Devon and
Christone on ‘Runners in the Night’ (a Devon/Larry McCray co-write) a soulful song with brass

from the Memphis Horns, Devon’s vocal and Christone’s lead guitar. ‘Blues is a Feeling’ is a raw,
‘riffy’ blues with Jimmy Hall (Wet Willie) on vocals and blues harp and Jimmy also sings on
‘Peace to the World’ a cheery gospel workout that sounds like Three Dog Night’s ‘Joy to the

World’, complete with Robert Randolph’s pedal steel.

Devon’s band mates from the Allman Betts Band form the backing band here – Jackson Stokes
(guitar), John Ginty (keyboards), Justin Corgan (bass) and John Lum (drums). ‘Real Love’ is a

soul ballad featuring Sierra Green on vocals and ‘After You’ is a mid-tempo poppy song, a bit
like Hall and Oates. Larry McCray is out front on vocals and biting lead guitar for ‘Hands and
Knees’ with the Memphis Horns adding Stax-style brass – for me the stand-out track here. The

rest of the album is rather routine – a workman-like version of the old blues chestnut ‘Wang
Dang Doodle’ with Jimmy Hall, a rerun of Hendrix’s ‘Little Wing’ based on his dad and Clapton’s
version and two instrumentals the funky, brass-heavy ‘Get Greasy with It’ and ‘Midnight Lake

Erie’ a moody, atmospheric guitar-led slow blues.
Graham Harrison