Uncle Devin's Bio
Devin Walker, a.k.a., “Uncle Devin, the Children’s Drum cussionist,” is a national leader in the children’s music industry and an award-winning drummer and percussionist specializing in Family Funk. He owns 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.
Uncle Devin and 25 other artists are members of the 1 Tribe Collective, whose album “All One Tribe” was GRAMMY-nominated for Best Children’s Music Album in 2022.
In 2022, he released “In the Pocket”, a children’s album inspired by the official indigenous music of Washington, DC, Go-Go! His children’s book, “The ABCs of Percussion with Music CD,” was named a 2015 National Parenting Publication Awards Bronze winner. His “Uncle Devin’s Drum Tales” CD won a 2013 Parents’ Choice Presentation Award. Uncle Devin’s 2018 release, “Be Yourself!” CD empowers, uplifts, and inspires children to embrace and celebrate what makes them unique.
As a Teaching Artist, Uncle Devin’s performances, workshops, and school residencies have taken thousands of children on a magical journey through the Land of Percussion that allows them to hear, see, and play different percussion instruments. His partnerships with Carpe Diem Arts, the Wolf Trap Institute for Early Learning Through the Arts, Teaching for Change, and his many affiliations within the field of family music help children understand the history of percussion and why it is one of the oldest forms of creativity.
Uncle Devin has performed at many venues around the country, including the Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage, the Freeman Arts Pavilion, the Cabot Theater, the GRAMMY Museum, Shreveport Art break Festival and the Sugar Hill Children’s Museum of Art & Storytelling in Harlem, NY, to name a few.
He is also the creator of a 24/7 online music radio program for children called Watoto Entertainment & Education or WEE Nation Radio, providing Global Beats for Little Feet! Streaming R&B, Funk, Hip-Hop, Jazz, Go-Go, Reggae, Calypso, and world music, all created for children and families. Uncle Devin is a former Radio Producer of a weekly children’s music show on WPFW 89.3in Washington, DC, which was syndicated on KBOO FM in Portland, OR .Uncle Devin is also a former Radio One Talk Show Host in Washington, DC.
Devin has been performing as a drummer and percussionist for over 30 years, playing with local and international groups such as Fertile Ground, Soul-In-Motion Players, Bottomland, the UMBC Jazz Ensemble, the Lafayette Gilchrist Project, the Contee AME Zion Church Connection, Sense of Urgency Band and God is heus International Funk Band. One of Devin’s greatest musical moments was when he accompanied on drums the Great Dizzy Gillespie during a 1985 Jazz Workshop in Baltimore, MD. Devin’s vast experience as a social justice activist is expressed in his music.
Uncle Devin also leverages his 25+ years of Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) expertise as an investigator, mediator, and trainer of complaints under Title VI and Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act with his passion for the arts to address a significant void within the arts sector.
As a former partner in the National Equal Opportunity Institute, Inc., Devin was instrumental in establishing the first national clearinghouse for Federal Titles, subtitles, and statutes of various Civil Rights Acts and a technical resource center that provided technical and program assistance to public and private sector organizations. Through this effort, Devin became a certified trainer in Program Investigations under Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which received recognition from the Ohio State Supreme Court in 2011.
Devin is also a grant reviewer for multiple jurisdictions and a contractor with the Grant Application Assistance Program (GAAP) sponsored by the DC Commission for the Arts and Humanities.
