The Uncle Devin at the Cabot Theater

Uncle Devin is an award-winning children’s artist who specializes in Family Funk. He is the owner of The Uncle Devin Show, an interactive musical experience for children that uses percussion instruments to cultivate their minds – a dynamic cross between DC’s Trouble Funk and Schoolhouse Rock.

When I Play The Drums Video | Uncle Devin

His performances, workshops and school residencies take children on a magical journey through the Land of Percussion that allows them to hear, see, and play different percussion instruments while gaining an understanding of the history of percussion and why it is one of the oldest forms of musical creativity.

Uncle Devin is both a drummer and percussionist, known as “The Children’s Drumcussionist.” This hybrid drum set of traditional drums and percussion coupled with the latest in electronic drums, allows him to play the normal drum groove while also playing different percussion instruments all by himself or with accompaniment. He also uses an assortment of percussion instruments, including cowbells, triangles, shakers, congas and timbales, as learning tools in his message.

His children’s book, “The ABC’s of Percussion with Music CD,” was named a 2015 National Parenting Publication Awards Bronze winner and his “Uncle Devn’s Drum Tales” CD won a 2013 Parents’ Choice Presentation Award. Also, in 2013, Uncle Devin received the first ever Creative Curriculum Award from the Homeless Children’s Playtime Project (HCPP) in Washington, DC for his willingness to provide free shows for children of homeless families.

He is also a Teaching Artist with both the Wolf Trap Institute for Early Learning Through the Arts and Teaching for Change. He has also performed at many different venues around the country including the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage, the U.S. Capitol, the Smithsonian Discovery Theater, the National Zoo, the Freeman Stage at Bayside in Selbyville, DE; the Kids Really Rock Festival in Boston, MA, Sugar Hill Children’s Museum of Art & Storytelling in Harlem, NY and KindieFest in Brooklyn, NY, just to name a few.

He created of the first 24/7 online music radio program for children called, Watoto Entertainment & Education or WEE Nation Radio, providing Global Beats for Little Feet! on WEENationRadio.com.  He is the former host of Uncle Devin’s WEE Nation Radio on WPFW 89.3 FM in Washington, DC and KBOO 90.7FM in Portland, OR.

Uncle Devin is the former host of his own Radio One Talk Show in the Washington, DC Metropolitan area and was a proud sponsor of the first annual Urban One Honors Awards in December 2018.