April 27 street date. Reissue of 1997 album. The title is program. Born in 1965 in Chicago Bernard Allison was introduced into the roots of black music and playing electric guitar by his father, the living blues legend luther allison. At the age of 20 he played with the Queen of Blues Koko Taylor for two years and took part in countless sessions with musicians like Johnny Winter, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Jeff Healey. He joined the tour band of Luther Allison in 1989 after a furious collaboration of "Father & Son" at the '89 Chicago Blues Festival. A recording of this formation is to be heard on the Luther Allison album Let's Try It again. Bernard released his first solo album in 1990 with the significant title The Next Generation. Bernard was not only influenced by the old masters or musicians like Jimmy Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan but also grew up with the music of George Clinton and Johnny Guitar Watson. Born With The Blues was recorded in Chicago and mixed in Memphis - together with the band of blues legend Buddy Guy (with Ray Killer Allison/drums). Bernard's co-producer is the Rounder Bullseye producer Ron Levy who also plays the keyboards.
June 15 street date. Starting the blues calendar with a bang in 2018, Let It Go feels like a homecoming. After all, this studio album sees Bernard return to Ruf Records: the iconic German label that was created in 1994 to serve as a home for his father, the much-missed Chicago heavyweight, Luther Allison. Just as significant, Let It Go also found Bernard recording in the birthplace of the blues - Tennessee - and returns his sound to it's raw fundamentals, on 12 songs that hold up without embellishment. Let It Go was recorded at Bessie Blue Studio, Stantonville, Tennessee, with legendary music producer Jim Gaines, recalls Bernard. "We made the decision to not flood the CD with keyboards or horns, to go back to the true basic rhythm section sound - and to show more mature songwriting."
CD available now (lower price)/LP street date June 10. There's nothing like the sound of a world-class bluesman getting back to business. Last October, when Bernard Allison returned to his old haunt of Bessie Blue Studios, Tennessee, to be greeted by fabled producer and career-long collaborator Jim Gaines, it felt like coming home. And when Allison fired up the amps, counted in the band and embarked upon his latest studio album, "Highs & Lows", everything felt right with the world. For 56 years, music has been Bernard Allison's essence. As the youngest son of the much-missed Chicago bandleader Luther Allison, he was a bluesman from birth, naturally drawn to this ancient music that seemed to heal deep wounds, and held spellbound by early encounters with heavyweights like Muddy Waters, Albert King and Hound Dog Taylor.
Street date: June 10 (LP) / CD available now (lower price). There's nothing like the sound of a world-class bluesman getting back to business. Last October, when Bernard Allison returned to his old haunt of Bessie Blue Studios, Tennessee, to be greeted by fabled producer and career-long collaborator Jim Gaines, it felt like coming home. And when Allison fired up the amps, counted in the band and embarked upon his latest studio album, "Highs & Lows", everything felt right with the world. For 56 years, music has been Bernard Allison's essence. As the youngest son of the much-missed Chicago bandleader Luther Allison, he was a bluesman from birth, naturally drawn to this ancient music that seemed to heal deep wounds, and held spellbound by early encounters with heavyweights like Muddy Waters, Albert King and Hound Dog Taylor.