Allman, Frankenreiter rollin’ into Iowa City’s Englert Theatre

Jul 24, 2023

Touring troubadours aim for record, playing 50 states in 49 days

Aug. 24, 2023 6:00 am

Devon Allman’s been a performer long enough that he has a nice catalog built up, with plenty of collaborative projects sitting alongside those that bear his name.

“Since I came onto the scene,” he said in a late-June interview, “I’ve switched up my game every three years or so. I had a band named Honeytribe and did a couple of records with them. Then I did the Royal Southern Brotherhood, which I formed with Cyril Neville, and did a few records as that. I joined forces with Duane Betts in the Allman Betts Band.

“And, now, it’s been nice to focus on my solo stuff. Boom, I’m doing a single with Maggie Rose and an EP with Donavon Frankenreiter. I’ve always loved shaking up my game. Instead of looking back at 15 years and having 15 Devon Allman (releases), well, that seems a little too safe, too monotonous to me.”

He met Frankenreiter at the Americanafest about five years ago.

“We bro’d up and realized instantly that we were cut from the same cloth,” Allman said. “We had simpatico sounds. It didn’t take long for me to think of him for the Allman Family Revival, which celebrates the life and music of my dad (Gregg Allman of the Allman Brothers Band). Once he was on the Revival Tour, we got to know each other and really had a chance to jam every day.”

That has led to “Rollers,” a new six-song EP. The mini-album’s release serves a few purposes.

For starters, it’s a way for Allman and Frankenreiter to perform together on a collaborative album, something they’d thought about for a bit. With the two going out together on a wild tour in 2023 — more on that in a moment — the pair now have shared material through “Rollers” that can be played during every night’s set list.

“Everybody seems to be digging it,” Allman said. “It’s our soundtrack for the upcoming tour,” which is coming to the Englert Theatre in Iowa City on Monday night, Aug. 28, 2023.

What: Devon Allman & Donavon Frankenreiter’s “See it All“ American Tour

Where: Englert Theatre, 221 E. Washington St., Iowa City

When: 7:30 p.m. Monday, Aug. 28, 2023

Tickets: $23 to $48; englert.org/events/

Artists’ website: devonanddonavon.com/#!

“I’d already been writing with Luther Dickinson of the North Mississippi Allstars. Halfway through, Donavon, Luther and I were writing, and what’s cool about the songs is that they’re not rockers. They’re rollers.

Newsletter Signup

Delivered to your inbox every Thursday

You will begin to receive our weekly Hoopla Events updates. Add [email protected] to your contacts.

“They all have motion — a fantastic sense of motion. It may sound like it’s an amalgam of different genres, but what you have is some western feel, some gritty blues, some pop, some R&B, some this, some that. Each song rolls by. It’s highway music — the perfect summer soundtrack.”

The songwriting trio kept things relatively tight for this round. They created six disparate tracks that, as Allman suggests, hang together despite some real differences in mood and feel. As an introductory work by a new songwriting unit (on which both lead performers sing), the half-dozen songs on “Rollers” make for a great, if short listen.

More music could be coming down the road, as Allman is “still a fan of the full-length album,” he said. “It takes nine, 10, 11 songs to tell a whole story. Funny enough, EP stands for ‘extended play,’ a single with a few extra tunes along with it. So it’s like a postcard, an EP, instead of the long love letter of an LP. Initially, we were going to do an LP, but with everyone’s attention spans so being short because of digital streaming. ...”

The EP will be the centerpiece of the full-band tour that Allman and Frankenreiter are undertaking this year, with each adding two or three of their own songs to the mix.

To add on a little extra fun, Allman’s thinking they will add an encore to each show, featuring a song unique to that gig. That process would start by selecting a cover track on the bus and running through it acoustically. Then they’d bring it to sound check, running through the cut a few times. And then into the stewpot it’ll go.

“We’ve talked about having a different encore in every state,” Allman suggested. “We could do a Peter Gabriel song one night, The Doors on the next night. Each tour stop would be really special that way. And wouldn’t it be neat to have that catalog of really great covers at the end?”

If that sounds a bit ambitious, let’s pause and focus on one part of the quote above: “in every state.” They’re calling the run the “See It All Tour.” It started earlier this month, and Allman, Frankenreiter and company plan to live up to that name by touring all 50 U.S. states, playing 50 shows. They even doubled up on opening day, playing concerts in Maryland and Pennsylvania on Aug. 5. That means they’re going to complete this goal in only 49 days, which will set the record for most states played in the shortest number of days.

Apparently, it only took about a decade and the right partner for Allman’s long-simmering idea to come together, during the year of his 50th birthday.

“I’ve had this crazy idea for the tour for about 10 years,” Allman said. “Finally it started to hit me that I’m turning 50. And the 50 shows in 50 states tour should happen when I’m 50. How lame would it be to do that on my own? ‘Wait, Donavon’s turning 50? And he’s (expletive) crazy! This is the perfect co-conspirator to help me on my quest!’

“I called him one day and said I had an idea. ‘What if someone did 50 shows in 50 states and ...’ (He said) ‘Let’s do it!’ This guy’s done 41 shows in a row in Europe, so I knew that he was nuts enough to do it. More nuts than me. I like to tour for five days, have two days off. I’ve even flown home to get off the bus for a couple days, to be home with my wife and pups. And sometimes I’ve just hung out and seen art museums and done the tourist thing,” Allman said.

“But this is going to be 50 shows without a day off. There’s not going to be any flying home. The voice inside is getting (expletive) loud. It’s saying, ‘I think this is the stupidest thing I’ve ever done.’ But you only live once. We are touring troubadours. We have toured like literal beasts for decades. And if anyone’s going to do this, it’s us. We want the braggin’ rights.”

Allman can go in detail about how he’ll be able to make it through this touring run, from tackling the Hard 75 nutrition and training program, to banning himself from post-show hangs, to getting into the bunk for sleep as soon as the gig’s over. If it sounds like a lot of work and discipline, it’s exactly that. And, yet, at this point in his life, Allman feels as if he has things figured out just enough.

“The first five years,” he said, “you have to pound the pavement and prove yourself. Once you sell some tickets and find your people, it can scale back a little bit. Now you’re going to a town once a year, instead of three times.

“Once you put in the work on the front end, you can live a normal life,” he said. “I can relax now. I have my own record label and can sign acts and produce their records. It’s nice to have time to be a human being.”