Songs From The Road Bernard Allison

• 1 Night Train 05:02
• 2 Stay With Me Tonight 04:47
• 3 You're Gonna Need Me 09:54
• 4 I Can't Get You Out Of My Mind 04:54
• 5 Call Me Momma 06:03
• 6 Feels Kinda Funny 03:23
• 7 Cruisin For A Bluesin 06:00
• 8 Same Ole Feeling 05:27
• 9 Let's Try It Again 09:56
• 10 Meet Me Half Way 03:56
• 11 Backdoor Man 05:02
• 12 Something’s Wrong 05:55
• 13 Slide Master 05:40
• Total Runtime 01:15:59

Info for Songs From The Road

Bernard Allison ist unaufhaltbar. Er ist das Gesicht auf den Zeitschriften und die Stimme im Radio. Er ist der Showstar, der beim Blues Caravan 2018 zusammen mit seinen Kollegen Mike Zito und Vanja Sky die Clubs zum Beben brachte. Er ist der Songwriter, dessen neuestes Studioalbum Let It Go bereits als heißer Tipp gilt. Er hat ein Arbeitsethos, das die meisten anderen Musiker nach Atem ringen lassen würde, doch für dieses kreative Energiewunder, das bereits mitten in seinen 50ern steckt, ist es nichts Besonderes.

Mit Let It Go startete das Blues-Jahr 2018 mit einem Knall und es fühlt sich an, als würde Bernard Allison zurück nach Hause kommen, denn sein neues Album wurde wieder bei Ruf Records veröffentlicht: dem Label, das 1994 für seinen Vater gegründet wurde – die viel zu früh verstorbene Chicagoer Blueslegende Luther Allison. Ebenso bezeichnend ist, dass Bernard Let It Go im Geburtsland des Blues, Tennessee, aufgenommen und sich beim Sound der zwölf Songs auf das Wesentliche konzentriert hat. „Let It Go wurde im Bessie Blue Studio in Stantonville, Tennessee, in Zusammenarbeit mit dem legendären Produzenten Jim Gaines aufgenommen“, berichtet Bernard. „Wir haben uns dazu entschlossen, die CD nicht mit Keyboards oder Bläsern zu überschwemmen, sondern uns wieder auf den echten, klaren Sound der Rhythmusgruppe zu konzentrieren – und auf noch besseres Songwriting.“

„Ich spiele am liebsten Live“, sagt Bernard „weil ich mit dem Publikum kommunizieren und interagieren will. Im Grunde ernähre ich mich von dieser Energie, zusammen mit dem Talent meiner Band und ihren Persönlichkeiten.“ (Bernard Allison)

Seit er 1990 seine Solokarriere mit The Next Generation begann, haben sich Bernards Songwritingkünste stetig weiterentwickelt, was Let It Go eindrucksvoll unter Beweis stellt. Als Künstler, der ständig auf der Suche ist und der einst sagte, dass es beim Blues ums Experimentieren ginge, scheut Bernard nicht davor zurück vom Schema F abzuweichen.

Ohne Zweifel sieht auch Luther von oben zu und er wäre sicherlich stolz auf die bisherigen Leistungen seines jüngsten Sohnes. Am 26. November 1965 in Chicago geboren beginnt Bernard früh damit, sich durch die Plattensammlung seines Vaters die Musik von Bluesgrößen wie T-Bone Walker oder B.B. King anzuhören. Sein eigenes Talent wurde offensichtlich, als er im Alter von 13 Jahren seinen Vater überraschte und dessen erstes Album Love Me Mama Note für Note mitspielte. „Er ist total ausgeflippt und sagte ‚Heute Abend nehmen wir zusammen auf’, erinnert sich Bernard, „und so entstand meine erste Aufnahme. Ich spielte ‚You Don’t Love Me No More’ und ‚Sweet Home Chicago’.“

Nach diesem ersten Live-Auftritt in Peoria, Illinois, bildete sich Bernard durch regelmäßige Sets mit seinem Vater weiter und sein Ruf war bald so gefestigt, dass er nach der Highschool direkt zu Koko Taylors Blues Machine ging. „Koko und Pops Taylor zeigten mir, wie es auf Tour Läuft“, erinnert sich Bernard. In den 80er Jahren verkehrte Bernard schließlich in den gleichen Kreisen wie etwa dem befreundeten Gitarristen Stevie Ray Vaughan (eine Freundschaft, die seiner künstlerischen Gitarrenpalette noch mehr Farben brachte) und 1989 tat er es seinem Vater gleich und zog nach Europa. Von nun an hatte er seinen Wohnsitz in Paris. Die nächste Veröffentlichung The Next Generation im Jahr 1990 sollte der Startschuss für eine erstaunlich erfolgreiche Solokarriere sein und 28 Jahre später kann Bernard auf ein umfangreiches und viel gerühmtes Repertoire zurückblicken: Hang On, Funkifino, No Mercy, Born With The Blues, Keepin’ The Blues Alive und Times Are Changing.

Im neuen Jahrtausend kamen Alben wie Across The Water, Storms Of Life, Kentucky Fried Blues und Higher Power hinzu, während aus jüngster Vergangenheit Veröffentlichungen wie das Live-Album Energized, Chills and Thrills, The Otherside und Live at the Jazzhaus, das in Zusammenarbeit mit Cedric Burnside entstandene Allison Burnside Express sowie In The Mix von 2015 zu erwähnen sind. Wie wir eingangs schon erwähnten: Er ist unaufhaltbar und wird auch 2020 auf seiner Tour die Säle zum Beben bringen.

Bernard Allison, Gitarre, Gesang
Dylan Salfer, Gitarre
George Moye, Bass
Mario Dawson, Schlagzeug
Jose James, Saxophon, Percussion

Bernard Allison
was introduced to the roots of black music and playing electric guitar by his father, the blues legend Luther Allison.

He joined the tourband of Luther Allison in 1989 after a furious collaboration of 'Father & Son' at the '89 Chicago Blues Festival. Bernard released his first solo album in 1990 and the title was program: 'The Next Generation'. He started touring with his own group all over Europe and released several albums, taking the tradition of black music he grew up with into the new century melting the influences into his own brand - Bernard Allison.

"It's just a big pleasure for me to continue my father's legacy, but you know I don't go out and try to be Luther Allison. I just go and do what I've learned from my Dad and the likes of Koko Taylor, or Stevie Ray Vaughan or Albert King. So, I'm trying to keep the blues alive Bernard Allison style." (Bernard Allison)

Born in Chicago on November 26th, 1965, the youngest of nine children Bernard Allison was first introduced to the roots of black music and the art of the electric guitar by his father, the late great Luther Allison. Bernard made his first appearance on record at age 13, when he played on a live LP his father recorded in Peoria, IL.

"I didn't start to play 'til I was maybe 10 years of age" Bernard recalled "I picked up the guitar, listened to records. I was in grade school and I played with the high school jazz band. They thought I was reading the sheet music, but actually I was making up everything I could play."

Soon after graduating from High School, he began a three-year guitar apprenticeship in Koko Taylor's high-flying Blues Machine. He also played in the late Willie Dixon's Blues All-Stars and performed with his Dad at the 1983 Blues Festival - one of the event's highlights. Along the way, Bernard picked up slide guitar tips from Johnny Winter and in the 80's also learned from the late Stevie Ray Vaughan.

With those experiences under his belt, Bernard moved to Paris in 1989 to live and play the blues with his father. He joined the tourband of Luther Allison 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" (RUF Records). Bernard released his first solo album in 1990 with the significant title "The Next Generation". In 1999, two years after Luther passed away, Bernard decided to move back to the States to go back to his roots and push his career in his native country. Bernard seems to have inherited Luther's knack for igniting audiences, but he's no clone of his famous father. He is definitely blazing his own path with a style that reflects a unique mix of traditional and modern influences. The Allison torch has been passed, and it's clear that Bernard takes his role as its bearer very seriously. He's assumed the challenge of keeping the blues alive and growing - a commitment he renews every time he takes the stage.

In 2004/2005, Bernard Allison released his 6th album on Ruf Records, "Higher Power". Whether you pay your respects to Bernard Allison as one of the high powered blues guitarists in the world or you, like Bernard, pay your respects to that Higher Power that guides you through life, these are 13 songs Bernard sings that will speak to you.

Bernard totes the same smokin' six string shooter that his late father Luther Allison assaulted the blues with. And he is blessed with his father's soulful voice, spiritual devotion, and a musical freedom which experiments with the blues.

"In order for anything to expand, you have to take a risk," says Bernard. "Blues is about experimenting and getting your feelings across to someone else. And if you want to keep it going, people are going to have to give it all a chance because we're losing all our creators. Because I've been taking risks on every album I've recorded, this record is just a logical progression from everything else I've done. Instead of playing rippin' 12 bar blues guitar over and over, there are bluesy songs, soul, funk, R&B songs and a couple of rock things which shows the overall musicianship of Bernard Allison."

The major risk Bernard takes here is in his song writing, where he is confident enough to strip away the layers and bare himself to the world. It has taken Bernard a long time to feel free to talk or write a song about what's going on within him or his personal tragedies. After decades of chasing the muse, Bernard is now settled down raising a family without the old personal vices. Thus the music he's written speaks of the inner peace and companionship every human searches for. The CD opens with Bernard's trademark blues rock guitar, but it rocks out with a moral. Therapists recommend getting problems out, instead of concealing them. In the highly personal opening song "I've Learned My Lesson," Bernard sheds himself of any disguises and admits to the world the inner personal problems that have held him back. That is until his personal Higher Power delivered him safely to inner peace.

Other original songs like "Stay With Me Tonight" or "Next To You" speak intimately about his love of the security of his family. While in other songs like "New Life," Bernard goes even further by apologizing to those he's hurt by word or deed.

And that's the magic power of the blues. If Bernard's honesty touches just one person with a similar struggles then the power of the blues works. Then Bernard becomes the higher power by healing another troubled soul. "Musically and lyrically this is definitely a mature effort. I've been through a lot since the passing of my father. I'm married and I have started my own family. This music comes from everyday responsibility and lifestyle. I'm calling the album Higher Power because there were times when I had to pray to my own higher power to help me through. Immediately after my father's death I was still touring, I wanted to continue because that was what he wanted me to do. I feel that with his presence, he's still, even today, with me everywhere I go, and the help of my higher power, there's no going wrong. That is the message in many of these songs."

Amid all the daily pop culture pressures to be the next American Idol why does Bernard stay rooted in the blues? "The blues is my roots. Regardless of how far outside of the blues I reach for tones, I can't ever leave the blues. Whenever I play, all those guitar parts are Luther Allison coming through me. My dad was the same way, he wasn't all blues. He loved Otis Redding or Chuck Berry. I'm just showing where my influences come from. And respecting the people who got me to this point."

Booklet for Songs From The Road