Bernard Allison

Bernard Allison is the guitar-slinging, singer/songwriter son of legendary blues guitarist <a href="spotify:artist:7EynH3keqfKUmauyaeZoxv">Luther Allison</a>. Like his father, the Paris-based Allison is an energetic showman, a prolific recording artist, and a road warrior who sometimes performs 250 dates a year. His playing style incorporates vintage and modern Chicago and Texas blues, along with R&B and roots rock. His debut album, The Next Generation, appeared in 1990. Between 1995's Funkifino, and 2006's Energized: Live in Europe, he issued nine albums on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Ruf+Records%22">Ruf Records</a> and was a featured performer on several others. He also issued one-offs for <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Tone+Cool%22">Tone Cool</a> (Across the Water, 2000) and <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Cooking+Vinyl%22">Cooking Vinyl</a> (Storms of Life, 2002). He cut 2007's Chills & Thrills and 2013's Express -- the latter with <a href="spotify:artist:5tuhrLilxNi6N7D6VeQZnc">Cedric Burnside</a> for <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Jazzhaus%22">Jazzhaus</a>. He returned to <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Ruf%22">Ruf</a> for 2018's Let It Go. Following a touring hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, he recorded 2022's Highs & Lows. In January 2024, <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Ruf%22">Ruf</a> released Allison's handpicked double-length compilation Luther's Blues, chosen from versions of 20 of his father's compositions he'd recorded across his own career. The thoroughly remastered compilation appeared in January 2024.

Allison was born in Chicago in 1965 and moved with his dad between the Windy City and Florida. He accompanied his father to blues festivals while still in grade school, where he met <a href="spotify:artist:4y6J8jwRAwO4dssiSmN91R">Muddy Waters</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:737qPoiQQkeuIzuJy54aK4">Hound Dog Taylor</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:5aygfDCEaX5KTZOxSCpT9o">Albert King</a>. <a href="spotify:artist:7EynH3keqfKUmauyaeZoxv">Luther</a> was more than a casual record collector; Bernard benefitted from his father's and brothers' collections of classic blues and gospel. He taught himself to play guitar in Florida during the '70s while his father was touring internationally. At 12, he played for <a href="spotify:artist:7EynH3keqfKUmauyaeZoxv">Luther</a> for the first time. Impressed, the elder Allison brought his son a Fender Stratocaster but required him to remain in school. After turning 18, <a href="spotify:artist:7EynH3keqfKUmauyaeZoxv">Luther</a> allowed Bernard to join him on-stage at the 1983 Chicago Blues Festival. During that era, he furthered his skills under the tutelage of <a href="spotify:artist:2ODUxmFxJSyvGiimNhMHbO">Johnny Winter</a> (whom he'd known since he was a child), and <a href="spotify:artist:5fsDcuclIe8ZiBD5P787K1">Stevie Ray Vaughan</a>.

A week after graduating high school, he auditioned for and was invited to join <a href="spotify:artist:04qIJRFjTmvW5I1DMyGE1R">Koko Taylor</a>'s touring band. He stayed with <a href="spotify:artist:04qIJRFjTmvW5I1DMyGE1R">Taylor</a>'s band until 1985, and left to hustle his own gigs as Bernard Allison & Back Talk. He spent much time playing in Canada with his first band and later rejoined <a href="spotify:artist:04qIJRFjTmvW5I1DMyGE1R">Taylor</a> and her Blues Machine for another two years in the late '80s.

After accompanying <a href="spotify:artist:7EynH3keqfKUmauyaeZoxv">Luther</a> to Europe for a live recording, Bernard was asked to join his father's touring band as his European music director and bandleader. <a href="spotify:artist:7EynH3keqfKUmauyaeZoxv">Luther</a> tutored his son on the bandstand in the finer points of showmanship for several years. At Christmastime in 1989, while both were sharing an apartment in Paris, the elder Allison arranged for his son the most precious gift a budding musician could receive: studio time to cut his first album. Bernard's debut, Next Generation, was recorded for <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Mondo+Records%22">Mondo Records</a> using musicians from his dad's band. He issued No Mercy for <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22In-Akustik%22">In-Akustik</a> in 1994, and signed a longterm, non-exclusive deal with Germany's <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Ruf+Records%22">Ruf Records</a>. They issued Funkifino in 1995.

In December 1996, Bernard Allison was contacted by <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Cannonball+Records%22">Cannonball Records</a> founder <a href="spotify:artist:14zAITr9qqm1lVkENvTxSA">Ron Levy</a>. Allison was home in Chicago visiting family at Christmas and hadn't brought any of his guitars or other equipment with him. <a href="spotify:artist:14zAITr9qqm1lVkENvTxSA">Levy</a> wanted traditional electric blues with a few guitar scorchers for newer fans of the idiom. Allison released his stunning U.S. debut, Keepin' the Blues Alive, in early 1997, receiving a great deal of critical acclaim. On his successful tour of clubs around the U.S. in the latter half of 1997, he was joined by drummer Ray "Killer" Allison (no relation) and <a href="spotify:artist:2gCsNOpiBaMNh20jQ5prf0">Buddy Guy</a> bassist Greg Rzab, among others. He returned to <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Ruf%22">Ruf</a> for Times Are Changing a year later. In mid-2000, Allison released Across the Water on the Minnesota-based <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Tone+Cool%22">Tone Cool</a> label.

Based in Paris full-time, Allison had the comfort and security that the multitude of blues clubs and festivals around Europe could provide. He maintained a prolific touring and recording schedule, gigging steadily in Europe, the U.K., Scandinavia, and the United States. In 2002 he released Hang On! for <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Ruf%22">Ruf</a> and the globally acclaimed Storms of Life on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Cooking+Vinyl%22">Cooking Vinyl</a>. He issued Kentucky Fried Blues: Live in 2003. His final studio album for <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Ruf%22">Ruf</a> during his first turn with the label was 2004's Higher Power. Allison issued the collaborative Triple Fret with guitarists <a href="spotify:artist:24NDm7vTLocVLStlgkKjJc">Larry McCray</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:2Qs4vDt8kbXB2sZUDisXPw">Carl Weathersby</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:3OxsMm9KHw2FRJLGHtILl5">Lucky Peterson</a> for <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22JSP%22">JSP</a> in 2005. Chills & Thrills appeared on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Jazzhaus%22">Jazzhaus</a> in 2007, and The Otherside on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22CC+Entertainment%22">CC Entertainment</a> in 2010. Allison seldom left the road during these years; in addition to playing prime slots at international blues festivals, he toured the States, Europe, and Japan.

In 2013, Allison and guitarist <a href="spotify:artist:5tuhrLilxNi6N7D6VeQZnc">Cedric Burnside</a> teamed up to release Express on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Jazzhaus%22">Jazzhaus</a>. The pair toured the globe together. Allison returned to the road alone in 2016. In February 2018, the guitarist issued Let It Go, marking his return to <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Ruf+Records%22">Ruf Records</a>, followed by an international tour that introduced him to fellow blues musicians <a href="spotify:artist:11qCism35wezz8ve5s5hBq">Vanja Sky</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:4IPDnwurwc0J2tXUty2hO4">Mike Zito</a>, resulting in the audio/video package Blues Caravan 2018 on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Ruf%22">Ruf</a>. In February 2020, a month before the COVID-19 pandemic put most of the world in quarantine, Allison issued the Songs from the Road, sourced from a German concert. In March 2022, the guitarist issued Highs & Lows, marking his return to studio recording for <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Ruf%22">Ruf</a>. The 11-song set crisscrossed modern blues, funk, and R&B, and included guest spots by <a href="spotify:artist:7LdFlcnzWpySPKngmFCnLi">Bobby Rush</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:5OH6mZ9jAWB8UnC1447H1j">Colin James</a>. It featured Allison playing Hammond B-3 organ as well as lead guitar. In celebration of <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Ruf+Records%22">Ruf Records</a>' 30th anniversary, the label asked Allison to come up with something special. In response, Bernard handpicked 20 of his father's compositions recorded throughout his own career, sequenced them, then handed them off to esteemed audiophile company Pauler Acoustics (<a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Stockfisch+Records%22">Stockfisch Records</a>) for a painstaking remaster. Titled Luther's Blues (after the legendary album by his father), it appeared in January 2024. ~ Richard Skelly & Thom Jurek, Rovi