Bernard Allison

Before Bernard Allison there was Luther Allison and Luther Allison produced some wonderful Blues music during a 30+ year career before his death in 1997.
Son Bernard Allison has never ignored the importance of Luther in his own music – from age 13 he was a member of the Luther Allison band - and has included his versions of a couple of Luther Allison numbers on all his albums.
"I made a promise since day one – to myself and to my mom Fannie Mae Allison – that I’d always include at least one or two of my dad's songs on every album I record," he says.
This album is a hand picked collection of the Luther Allsion tracks that Bernard has had on his albums, remastered by Pauler Acoustics and spread over 2CDs.

Musically, Luther was a classic Chicago electric Blues man. Bernard is more in a Blues/Rock vein with a big hint to the Blues/Funk of players such as Johnny Guitar Watson, So the songs are all Luther Allison originals but very much in the style of his son. And it works really well.

The rock feel of Bernard really comes through on tracks such as ‘Hang On’ which has a massive riff, hard soloing and gruff and sharp vocals. The softer side though, comes through on numbers such as ‘Compromising For Your Needs’ where Bernards vocal is softer, almost pleading.
Standout numbers are manifold but the delicious soul of ‘I Gave It All’ is an essential listen while I defy anyone to sit still through ‘Too Many Women’.
His soloing is delicious and ranges from slow note holding to full-on shredding.

The album shows three things: Luther Allison wrote some superb songs, Bernard Allison is a very talented guitarist and excellent vocalist, Luther + Bernard is equal to more than the sum of the parts.