There, he cut a long string of rocking R & B albums and built a devoted following. Luther was getting more accolades in Europe, so in 1984, he packed his guitars and moved to Paris. In the late 1970s, disco was cool and blues were old school. I was mesmerized by the age-old pomp and circumstance of the blues show: the band’s building intro theme and then, there’s Luther – with a 100-foot guitar cable, playing down amongst hoi polloi, like Guitar Slim. But even though I was an ex-boy scout, I was unprepared. Fresh out of high school, I had heard the odd Muddy album and Clapton’s whitebread blues. Luther was the first bluesman I ever saw live, way back in the bad old ’70s. Throughout the ’70s, he was on the verge of the big time, returning to Ann Arbor several times, as well as Fillmores East and West.
Luther played an inspired show, covering blues classics with his rock and roll touch.
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He first recorded as a frontman for Bob Koester’s fledgling Delmark label in 1967, releasing his first full album, Love Me Mama, in 1969.Īt the 1969 Ann Arbor Blues Festival, Luther wowed the blues world much as Jimi Hendrix had dazzled the rock world at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival. Luther appeared as a sideman on a handful of recordings in the 1960s, backing Delta bluesman Johnny Shines and Big Walter Horton on a Testament session.
King was playing as a frontman in Chicago at the time and was on the verge of breaking big with his 1960s Federal hits, “You’ve Got to Love Her With a Feeling” and “Hide Away.” He became Luther’s blues mentor, inspiring his music and his love of goldtop Les Pauls. But it was Freddie King who took Luther under his wing. Luther also played bass behind neighborhood chum Jimmy Dawkins, learned licks from friends Magic Sam Maghett and Otis Rush, and sat in with Muddy. In about 1957, Luther and another brother, Grant, formed a serious band, presciently named the Rolling Stones, but later changed to the Four Jivers. But he was also drawn to the blues clubs, and soon was drafted into Ollie’s band. After school, Luther played baseball, apprenticed in shoemaking, and sang gospel in a group called the Southern Travellers. Luther went to high school with Muddy Waters’ son, Charlie Morganfield, and hung out at Muddy’s house to hear his band practice. In 1951, the family said goodbye to Arkansas plantation life and made the exodus to the promised land – Chicago. He first experimented with a guitar was at age 10, learning licks from his elder brother, Ollie, and strumming along with records by Muddy Waters and his favorite bluesman, slide guitarist Robert Nighthawk. Like many other rural Southern youths, Luther fashioned a diddley-bow to make music: he stretched a length of broom wire between two nails on the side of a building, playing a one-string beat and melody using a slide. Music always mattered in his family, and he remembers he and his father listening to everything from the Grand Ole Opry to B.B. He learned to play organ and sing gospel early on, roots that come through today in his soulful, churchified blues singing. He was born in Widener, Arkansas, on August 17, 1939, the 14th of 15 children in a sharecropping family. “I feel great! I’m not running out of steam now.” Bursting with energy, he summed up his current state.
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We met for a series of three interviews and chats before and after his Minneapolis show. He is a gracious, friendly man who loves to talk about the blues and vintage guitars. Luther is justifiably proud of his recent achievements. Now, there’s no denying it: the former shoeshine boy has made it big. He has been touted as “the next big thing” ever since the debut of his first full record as a leader in 1969, and his legendary performances in the 1960s and 1970s. Luther has paid his dues to get to the top. Luther’s new Alligator CD, Reckless, promises to deliver more of the goods. And in the last year, he graced the cover of all the major blues magazines and Blues Access crowned him the new king of the blues. He’s instantly become the hottest headliner for blues festivals around the world.
Handy Awards in Memphis, including Best Male Blues Artist, and won a handsome 10 Living Blues Readers’ and Critics’ Awards. He took home an arm full of five big trophies at the 1996 W.C. He’s riding high on two fine albums, Soul Fixin’ Man (Alligator, 1994) and Blue Streak (Alligator, 1995). He picks guitar with his teeth, boogies across the stage, and waltzes out among his fans. Luther is rejoicing in the blues, and his energy is mirrored in the faces of the standing-room-only crowd. Halfway through a four-hour set in Minneapolis, he rolls into a rollicking version of his award-winning hit song “Cherry Red Wine,” unleashing a melodious storm from his trademark golden Les Paul. It’s Friday the 13th, but Luther Allison ain’t feeling superstitious.
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