If you go
* What: Devon Allman Project with Duane Betts* Where: Songbirds Guitar Museum, South Stage, 41 Station St.* When: 9 p.m. Tuesday, July 10* Admission: $20 in advance, $23 day of show* For more information: 423-531-2473
As descendants of Southern rock royalty who've known each other since they were teenagers, Devon Allman and Duane Betts might have been expected to collaborate decades ago. But it was only recent circumstances that brought them together on tour and also, if all goes according to current plans, in the studio.
"I think the cliché is true: Timing is everything," said Allman, whose late father, Gregg Allman, was a co-founder along with Duane's father, Dickey Betts, of the much-revered Allman Brothers Band in 1969.
"Before now, Duane was touring as a sideman in the band Dawes and playing in his father's band, so he obviously didn't really have the power to pick and choose his own touring destiny when he was a side cat," Allman explains.
But after Betts finally released his debut EP, "Sketches of American Music," in April, the time was right for the two musicians to hit the road together.
Allman and Betts will stop in Songbirds Guitar Museum on Tuesday, July 10, for a 9 p.m. show.
The current Allman-Betts tour will open with a short set by Betts, followed by Allman and his new band, then close with an extended encore during which Betts rejoins the band for a set of Allman Brothers classics.
"We're staying real true blue to those original studio recordings, but also throwing in some nods to other heroes who have left us recently," Allman says. "We've covered Tom Petty, we've covered Prince. So it's not solely relegated to the Allman Brothers catalog, but we're certainly leaning pretty hard on it."
His renewed attention to the Allmans' legacy is not altogether surprising. Facing the loss of both his parents in rapid succession, Allman stepped off the touring treadmill and spent time with the people closest to him.
Asked what he learned about himself during that time, the musician answers, "I think I learned that I'm a lot stronger than I gave myself credit for, and a lot more savvy to kind of pick up the pieces and rally around my family. I also got to spend time with my son in his final year of high school. After being on tour for 12 years, I finally had a year where I got to make supper almost every night, pack his lunches, talk about his day and be a full-time dad. And now he's gone off to college. I'm really glad I had that year."
Allman was raised in St. Louis by his mother, and didn't get close to his father until he'd reached his teens. It took even longer for him to let the Allman Brothers music influence his own.
"I didn't have a eureka moment, like, 'Oh, I'm going to start doing things this way because my dad does,'" says Allman, whose first band The Dark Horses leaned toward '90s stoner-rock.
"But I think what did rub off on me, something that I always enjoyed about the band, was that they were song-based, but they could really crack open a song and jam it out if they wanted. Whereas, a lot of modern-day jam bands just jam and jam and noodle and noodle, but don't really have those timeless songs. So that influenced me for sure."
The lesson paid off when his recent solo album, "Ride or Die," debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard blues chart. Did Allman expect that kind of response?
"Oh no!" he laughs. "If memory serves, I think the particular week that it debuted at No. 1, it only sold 18 copies more than the newest Clapton record. So I just got really lucky; it's the luck of the draw. I can't really speak for other artists, but, for me, if you're thinking about chart positioning or acceptance in the marketplace, then you're really not being very pure to the art."