Martin Devaney
Eli met up with Martin Devaney at SubText Bookstore in Saint Paul on a cold snowy day. Amidst the warm and cozy books, Devaney shared “Division St.,” a tune off his latest album Blueprint for a Ghost.
Martin Devaney. Photos by Eli Gardiner, 2025.
Veteran St. Paul songwriter Martin Devaney returns with his eighth solo album—and 10th overall—Blueprint for a Ghost.
The first release bearing Martin Devaney’s name since 2018’s Plaid on Plaid after a detour with his pandemic project Folios, Blueprint for a Ghost (released in December 2024) marks a return to form for Devaney, who worked with some old familiar friends to craft a warm bed of sound on which to lay his lyrical and literate tunes.
During a trip to New York in the spring of 2023, he visited the Lou Reed Archive, among other literary and musical landmarks, and made his way to Woodstock to find the legendary Big Pink where The Band and Bob Dylan held court 50 years earlier. After seeing a show that weekend with the house band at Levon Helm’s storied barn and studio, Devaney returned to the Twin Cities with a renewed commitment to his craft and community. Songs materialized quickly over the summer as Devaney and his band settled into their monthly residency at the White Squirrel Bar in St. Paul, where he also co-organized the Fort Road Folk Fest in July 2024.
Blueprint for a Ghost was recorded primarily in September 2023 at Sparta Sound in Sparta, Minnesota with songwriting legend and producer Rich Mattson (who produced Devaney’s album House of Rust), then mixed and completed with Tom Herbers (The Cactus Blossoms, Charlie Parr). In the recent past, Herbers worked with Devaney on his Folios releases, but their collaborations go way back to Devaney’s 2002 album Somebody Somewhere.
Rounding out the reunions are the band members themselves: Original guitar player Josh Peterson (Heiruspecs) and long-time bass player Matt Palin have returned to the lineup, along with drummer Ryan Lovan, who Devaney played with in Roma Di Luna. Guests on the album in addition to Mattson include Germaine Gemberling on vocals, AJ Srubas on fiddle, and Pete Sands (who played on the first three Devaney records) on various keyboards.
Watch Devaney perform “Division St.” at SubText:
Keep an eye on Devaney’s website for upcoming shows!
About the filmmaker / series creator
Eli Gardiner (Gardiner Productions) is a songwriter, photojournalist, and video creator. You can catch him playing shows all over the Midwest with his band or as a solo performer, and he also captures video and photography for local musicians and nonprofits. His passion is Storytelling through music and pictures.
