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Thanks to Paul (mcnessa) for his suggestion to do a Blues Roots post on Luther Allison, and providing a recommendation of his exceptional official website and links to 3 of his favorite videos (marked with a “+” before them). The website has a great bio and discography (which I used for almost everything), so I’m not going to repeat that stuff here. (Paul also suggested Lonnie Brooks, which will be coming up someday. If you have an idea, please let me know.)
His fans are very loyal, and people who knew him loved him (from what I read on the online blues discussion groups). Probably had something to do with his attitude, which is partially captured in words in the quote featured on the home page of his website, “Leave your ego, play the music, love the people.”
My good friend from Chicago, Julius Klein, has a lot of stories from the time he worked as a porter and stagehand at Kingston Mines (on the North Side). One of the standout performances he saw there was Luther Allison; he said it was like he couldn’t stop playing (and no one wanted him to; roughly 1973).
In 1957, Luther Allison formed a band called the Rolling Stones* but they didn’t like the name and changed it to the Four Jivers (from the Ruf Records website).
His first recording was the killer “My Luck Don’t Ever Change.” It was heard on the 1967 Delmark compilation, Sweet Home Chicago.
The popularity of that song led directly to first album with his band, Blue Nebulae, in 1969 on Delmark. Love Me Mama contains a lot of classic songs, including “Little Red Rooster,” which also made it onto his second album (on Motown, a different version).
Luther Allison was the only blues musician signed with Motown, and his 1972 album Bad News Is Coming is another heavy album full of classic tunes (this is also the second video on playlist). It was my introduction to his music and it’s still my favorite, but I think that’s because I know it best.
Later on in his career, Luther Allison became one of the great blues composers. His “Cherry Red Wine,” “Big City Blues” and “All the Kings Horses” are all blues standards, especially “Big City Blues” (see number 30 on the playlist, they’re all represented there, along with “Freedom”). He uses an alternate tuning on “Big City Blues”; he probably uses them elsewhere, I don’t know.
Luther’s Blues (1974)
His next album, Nightlife from 1976, is the third on the playlist (if you enter playlist through the preceding link, you’ll find my small but possibly useful notes [usually album titles and release dates] to the right of the titles). Main OBR playlist referred to throughout is directly below.
Love Me Papa (1977) is represented by songs 4 to 6 on playlist. In general, I’ve followed the discography at Luther-Allison.com as closely as possible.
+ In East Berlin, 1987, with “Fast Frank” Rabasté (guitar), Michel Carras (keyboards), Zox (bass), Vincent Daune (drums)
Let’s Try It Again, Live ’89
Hand Me Down My Moonshine (1992)
Soul Fixin’ Man (1994); the European title is Bad Love.
+ This is the most-viewed Luther Allison video, with almost a quarter-million views was recorded for German TV in 1994. One of the comments should be of interest to Hendrix fans: “I worked @ the GVSC Jazz Festival in 80s. I remember drinking peppermint schnapps backstage with Luther, saying Duran Duran made more on one album than all the bluesmen in history. And also at the end of his set saying, ‘Jimi’s here, he’s come back to be with us, I’m just going to let him play here for a little while’ and then turning into Jimi Hendrix for a while. Playing backward, upside down, teeth, behind the head, all the tricks and totally unlike Luther’s usual sound. Still gives me chills.”
Blue Streak (1995)
+ Rawa Blues Festival, Poland, 1995, with Sulaiman Hakim (alto), David Johnson (tenor), Michael Carras (keyboards), Zox (bass), Zach Prather (drums)
The Motown Years is a 1996 compilation from the three albums recorded for Motown between 1972 and 1976, and also includes songs that never made it onto those albums.
Where Have You Been? Live in Montreux 1976–1994 (1996)
Songs from the Road (recorded July 1997, just weeks before Luther Allison died; song list at video), with James Solberg (rhythm guitar), Mike Vlahakis (keyboards), Ken Faltinson (bass), Rob Stupka (drums), and with the Memphis Horns, Wayne Jackson (trumpet), Andrew Love (tenor)
*I’ve previously read and repeated on the Forum that it was Phil Guy, Buddy Guy’s brother who formed the first Rolling Stones. If and when I get to the bottom of this, if there is a bottom, I’ll let you know.
***** SAUNDERS KING *****
Saunders King was a West Coast bluesman/guitarist whose music drew on all of the musics of his day. This is a really great compilation—I’m guessing most people who hear it will like it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJRqjIJ4uZI&t=2005sThe YouTube channel it’s on, the Jump Collector, is worth your attention. Since they first logged on last September, they’ve posted many hundreds of classic blues albums and compilations; the count may be in the thousands now.
Don D.
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Thanks again Don. I have followed Luther’s music for awhile have some of his CD’s. I have also seen his son Bernard perform a few times. I really look forward to Lonnie Brooks as he is one of my favorites. And though I never saw Luther or Lonnie live, I have seen their sons who are great contemporary bluesmen in their own right. Lonnie’s son is Ronnie Baker Brooks.
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I didn’t know of Luther and What I hear here makes me wonder how I missed this as its typical of the Chicago sound that I so love and he’s a great player. So thanks for posting I shall definitely pickup an album or two. There are some great tunes and songs and this could be a useful place to attempt to learn them from… if my guitar picking can ever get good enough for the simpler ones! Sure as hell makes you want to try!
JohnStrat
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Wish I could take credit for both suggestions, but neither were mine. I was happy to contribute some research on Luther Allison because I was impressed with both his great strong voice and his never ending licks.
Looking forward to the Lonnie Brooks post too. He’s got a great voice too and Cold Lonely Nights is one of my favorites.
Sweet Home Chicago
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John, thanks for your comments. You can sample the albums here or on YouTube before buying.
Paul, if that wasn’t you, I owe you and the person who actually suggested this an apology, please let me know if that’s “you,” whoever you are. Thanks again for getting me started.
Mike, thanks for listening and for your comments.
CORRECTION/CLARIFICATION: If you want to cut right to the songs I mentioned as his blues standards (“Cherry Red Wine,” “Big City Blues” and “All the Kings Horses”), please see the song list at YouTube for video number 30. There are several other songs on the video, which is great if you have the time. “Big City Blues” starts seconds after 27 minutes in.
Don D.
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The more I read about Luther Allison, the more fascinated I become with the man. The day after he was diagnosed with lung cancer and brain tumors he went on to perform an 80 minute set that was described as “watching a master at work”. He left the stage to play long solos in the crowd and people fought over his broken guitar strings.
Quote from Luther Allison’s memorial brochure:
Luther Allison lived life to its fullest. Although his life was short, the joy he gave to the world was more than most are able to give in many more years. Both on and off the bandstand, he spread love to everyone he touched. He was a man who brought people together. He saw only people, never black or white, male or female, rich or poor. To those of us who hurt, and those of us who felt alone, he offered his voice, his fingers, his sweat, his body, and his soul to each who heard. He made us smile; he made us dance; he brought us together; he made us care about each other: He was a true soul fixin’ man.
Thanks again Don for these great posts every Thursday. I enjoy learning a lot more about some of my favorite blues artists. Keep up the great work!
Paul
Sweet Home Chicago
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Thank you for letting me know that you appreciate them. Your participation and comments really contribute to my desire to go the extra mile when I’m putting them together.
I won’t have a lot of time in this coming week to do so, but I’m going to prepare a comment to add to this one about his musical partnership with son Bernard Allison, and with Bernard’s career in the past 19 years. So be sure you click “Subscribe” at the upper right corner of this post so you’re alerted when that section gets added.
Don D.
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There’s always going to be more, but I missed a vital connection in Luther Allison’s career. His last commercial recording was made for Paint It Blue, Songs of the Rolling Stones (this ain’t no tribute), 1997, House of Blues Records (link in title shows other artists and songs). The release was dedicated to the memory of him and Johnny Copeland, who both passed between recording and release.
This song opened the album and it was a song he used as a set-closer in his later years. Directly from the page in the CD booklet devoted to Luther Allison (I don’t completely understand what he means by this statement beyond that he loved the Stones; I wish there were more of a context):
‘I loved the Stones for so long,’ Allison said in a bedside conversation two weeks before his death [August 12, 1997]. ‘When I wrote “Confusion in the Parking Lot,” people said I was listening to the Stones. I couldn’t figure that with my age. We should have blown this open a long time ago’.”
One funny result of looking this up was finding this rock band, Bottom Shelf, doing a version of “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” and crediting it to Luther Allison—they did take their cues from Luther Allison’s version. The one comment there refers to this.
This leads me to a future OBR post. I’m going to post the original version(s) of the songs the Rolling Stones covered on their current Blue and Lonesome. I’ve heard they did this on their website, but I can’t find it I also read that this was only available in England, or maybe UK or something like that. The Little Walter version of that title song is smoking—they were brave to cover it. Eddie Taylor’s “Ride ‘Em On Down” is a great song for them to cover.
I’m going to say one thing, and beyond that, I’m not going to criticize them in the least. They were brave to do it but they really ought to have learned the songs a little better, especially the lyrics.
There’s at least one other song selection that links the Stones to Eddie Taylor—mentioned it before and I intend to mention it again when I do the post. They both covered Robert Johnson’s “Stop Breaking Down.” The Stones released Exile on Main Street on May 12, 1972. Eddie Taylor released I Feel So Bad in June 1972.
Don D.
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Just wanted to mention something I came across while reviewing Luther’s music on you tube. One of my favorite songs is on a CD I own called ‘Reckless’ I believe. The song is ‘Low Down And Dirty’ and I was looking for a live version to watch how he played the slide part. But to my surprise, the you tube version labelled ‘Low Down And Dirty’live is actually a live version of ‘Cherry Red Wine’. The only reason I mention it is because it is smoking hot blues and a great example of his live performances. One of his best.
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Luther Allison was born August 17, 1939 and died August 12, 1997 (many interesting sections and external links at his website; link in name is also the first link in the main article above). It was what he did in between that makes him worth remembering, but being August I recently mentioned that I wanted to shine a light on his many accomplishments, having forgotten I’d already done that back in January. This is that Blues Roots for anyone interested.
His YouTube Topic page is in this link.
Don D.
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