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Though hardly a newcomer, Devon (son of Gregg) Allman has bided his time – as sideman, with his own band Honeytribe and the excellent Royal Southern Brotherhood – before making this solo debut.

The result is a mature and reflective work, the core power trio of Allman, drummer Yonrico Scott and bassist Myles Weeks grounded in a rich blues funk foundation. A hardened veteran of the road, Allman can let rip with gleeful abandon, as when he duets with Samantha Fish on a stirring recreation of the Stevie Nicks/Tom Petty classic Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around.

But it’s the hard-won wisdom accrued from a life on and off the road as a father and devoted family man (Homesick, Turn Off The World) that is his default songwriting posture. Such concerns may veer toward sappy indulgence (Key Lime Pie) but mostly they enrich and deepen the music. An honourable addition to a formidable family tradition.

Late NME, Daily Mirror and Classic Rock writer Gavin Martin started writing about music in 1977 when he published his hand-written fanzine Alternative Ulster in Belfast. He moved to London in 1980 to become the NME’s Media Editor and features writer, where he interviewed the Sex Pistols, Joe Strummer, Pete Townshend, U2, Bruce Springsteen, Ian Dury, Killing Joke, Neil Young, REM, Sting, Marvin Gaye, Leonard Cohen, Nina Simone, James Brown, Willie Nelson, Willie Dixon, Madonna and a host of others. He was also published in The Times, Guardian, Independent, Loaded, GQ and Uncut, he had pieces on Michael Jackson, Van Morrison and Frank Sinatra featured in The Faber Book Of Pop and Rock ’N’ Roll Is Here To Stay, and was the Daily Mirror’s regular music critic from 2001. He died in 2022.