Pete Devine is in his happy place.
Best known as a savvy drummer deeply versed in a broad swath of pre-World War II idioms like ragtime, Delta blues, and swing, Devine is at home surrounded by the artifacts and ephemera that captured the sounds and spirit of that era.
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Turning a hobby (OK, obsession) into a vocation, he and his wife Sandie Lee Devine opened Devine Records & Vintage last September. It’s a cozy, inviting shop on Martinez’s similarly vintage Main Street, and a recent visit on a quiet Monday afternoon found the couple organizing stacks of vinyl while tending to Shrimp Willie, their diminutive, newly adopted rescue pooch.
Guided by Devine’s musical predilections, with a few concessions to more populist tastes, the bins include blues, jazz, country, sound tracks, punk rock, and New Orleans/zydeco. Most of the albums are true collectibles, original Blue Note jazz releases and hard-to-find blues on Impulse!
“I bought a collection of reggae last week and it’s already half gone,” he said. “When we opened most of the blues and jazz came from my own collection. But I have a couple of connections with massive collections. When they’re ready to purge they call me and I get first pick, and a lot of stuff I pick are things I love.”
The store’s opening coincided with Devine’s cancer recurrence, which left Sandie to keep the shop open, assisted by friends and neighboring business owners. It’s been rough going, with major surgery and the attendant downtime, but he’s back in the shop and more than gratified that it’s been nominated for “best boutique” and “best antiques/vintage” in the Best of Martinez poll (voting closes May 2).
“It’s such an honor after only being open for a little while. I’ve been wanting to open a place like this since I was a kid,” he said, standing in front of a display box filled with Beatles memorabilia.
Still recovering from the surgery, Devine prefers to stand throughout my visit. He’s also standing at gigs, but thrilled that he’s well enough to be back behind a modified drum kit for a series of gigs with HowellDevine, the celebrated gutbucket blues trio he co-leads with slide guitar expert, harmonica player and vocalist Joshua Howell.
After our visit, Devine got the results from a PET scan that the cancer has returned and spread, which means he’ll be undergoing chemotherapy and other treatments in the coming months.
“It’s not the results we were hoping for or expecting,” he said. “But I’ve got the shop and I’m still looking forward to these gigs next month. I’m confident we’re going to beat this.”
Anchored by veteran bassist Joe Kyle Jr., HowellDevine plays the Back Room in Berkeley on Saturday, May 3, Rancho Nicasio on May 23, Roxx on Main in Martinez on May 24, and Richmond’s Sailing Goat on May 31.
Kyle, who helped cover shifts at the shop when Devine was in the hospital, has known the drummer since he arrived in San Francisco from Maine in 1989 as a member of the ragtime combo Bo Grumpus with guitarist Craig Ventresco. Their career paths have diverged and collided at various points over the decades.
Kyle started playing with Devine more frequently after the drummer attained sobriety around 2010. With his newfound stability paving the way for the success of HowellDevine and marriage to Sandie, Devine’s life has taken on a richness he couldn’t previously imagine.
The shop is a lagniappe as they say in Louisiana, a collaboration with Sandie “that’s truly a reflection of who they are,” Kyle said. “Sandie is a collector of rare and fine things. It’s a perfect fit and I can’t imagination a better place to establish a connection to the community which they love dearly.”
Devine has long collected “oddities and trinkets and early 78s,” Kyle said, referring to the record format that predominated until being supplanted by LPs in the mid-1950s. “That’s part of his personal identity, his connection to the early music that influenced his playing styles. Pivoting to this new venture is a culmination of the way he’s lived his life. None of us would have thought he was going to be a responsible business owner these days.”
Devine isn’t just the proprietor. He’s the presiding spirit. Music lovers and musicians come by to hang out and swap stories. Blues guitar great Mighty Mike Schermer drops by when he’s in town. Corey Duffel, the storied Walnut Creek skateboarder, entrepreneur and owner of the shop Up the Creek Records, is a Devine fan, as is rising R&B vocal powerhouse Celisse.
“A lot of regulars come in to schmooze with Pete,” Sandie said. “People come in and want advice about which albums he’d recommend.”
“This woman was in and she’d never heard of Sonny Boy Williamson II, so I played her an album,” he added. “It’s nice being able to turn people on to blues and jazz. It’s definitely a labor of love.”
Contact Andrew Gilbert at [email protected].
HOWELLDEVINE
When & where: 8 p.m. Saturday, May 3 at the Back Room in Berkeley; $25; backroommusic.com; 7:30 p.m. Friday, May 23 at Rancho Nicasio in Nicasio; $25; ranchonicasio.com; 7 p.m. Saturday, May 24 at Roxx on Main in Martinez; no cover; www.roxxonmain.com/music-events; and 5 p.m. Saturday, May 31 at Sailing Goat in Richmond; no cover; www.sailinggoatrestaurant.com/events