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Like father, like none: Published August 11, 2002 Every blues player under the sun considers it an inherent right to play songs by the music's most legendary figures. Bernard Allison also sees it as his inherited right. "Muddy Waters, Willie Dixon, Hound Dog Taylor -- they were like a part of the family," said Allison, 35, son of the late blues master Luther Allison. The singer and guitarist -- surely the only nationally known blues-rocker living in Lakeville now -- grew up accompanying his dad to blues festivals and seeing famous musicians stop by the family's home in Peoria, Ill. Later, he toured as his father's bandleader and got to know other greats that way. Of all of today's rising blues stars, then, Bernard is the one most likely to play the classics. That's why it's so surprising that he turned to other sources for his new CD, "Storms of Life." "I grew up under my dad, but I also grew up the youngest of nine, so you can imagine the range of music I was exposed to," Allison said recently in an interview at a downtown Minneapolis coffee shop. In a new twist on blues music's cyclical nature, the CD finds the son of a blues legend paying homage to younger players influenced by his father's generation. Among the songwriting credits on the album, which comes out Tuesday, are ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons, Dire Straits' Mark Knopfler, Texas slinger Johnny Winter and even new-agey guitar guru Anders Osborne. They're some of Allison's personal favorites. But their influence was rarely heard on Allison's seven previous CDs, which mostly included originals and standard blues covers. He did record two of his father's songs for the new album but chose ones that only had been released in Europe. "I really just decided to not worry about whose songs I was doing and just go in there and record the songs I most enjoyed playing," he said. Beyond 12-bar blues Recorded at the New Hope studio of producer David Z -- who also has overseen recordings by Jonny Lang, Buddy Guy and John Mayall -- "Storms of Life" is Allison's second for the hip Massachusetts label Tone-Cool Records. Along with other Tone-Cool acts such as Susan Tedeschi and the North Mississippi Allstars, Allison has been heralded as one of the players most likely to carry blues music into another generation of fans. Certainly, his dazzling use of guitar slides and solos that emphasize emotion, not speed, make him one of the most tasteful young guitar wizards out there. To him, though, the key to blues music's future is finding something original in it. "I love old 12-bar blues arrangements as much as anyone, but I'm all about putting my own stamp on it," he said. In addition to the unlikely songs he chose for the new album, Allison also let elements of old-school funk and modern R&B bleed into the music. It's a blend that he said his father would be proud of, even if some of Luther's older fans might be bothered by it. "One of the things I loved most about my dad's music is that you could hear that he was into a whole lot of other kinds of music," he said. "He really loved gospel, Otis Redding, Chuck Berry. A lot of people in America didn't want to hear all that, and that's one of the things that he loved most about European audiences. They're more open-minded." Both Luther and Bernard got to know European crowds well in the '80s and '90s. The elder bluesman moved to Paris around 1985 because demand for him overseas was much greater, and Bernard eventually relocated there when his dad asked him to join the band. Luther wasn't the first blues legend to employ Bernard, though. Chicago belter Koko Taylor recruited Bernard for her band practically the moment he graduated high school, after seeing him climb on stage with his dad a few times. "She called me three days after graduation," he said. "She was waiting for me." After three years with Taylor and a few more in his dad's band, Allison was offered his own European record deal and spent a decade performing and recording overseas. He didn't start touring much stateside until two years ago, when he signed with Tone-Cool and married his wife, Heidi Ann, a Minnesota native. Because his dad's managers were based here, Minneapolis was one of the first U.S. cities to get to know Allison. In fact, he was performing at Famous Dave's in Calhoun Square the night he learned that his father had died of cancer on Aug. 13, 1997. Although his tour schedule keeps him from playing here often, Bernard is glad he calls the Twin Cities home. It's just another example of Allison not doing what's expected of him. "If you play the blues, you're supposed to live in Chicago or Memphis or Texas, but I like it here," he said. -- Chris Riemenschneider is at chrisr@startribune.com. |
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