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Our Saturday headliner is multiple BMA nominee Bernard Allison. Bernard Allison totes the same smokin’ six string shooter that his late father Luther Allison did. And he is blessed with his father’s soulful voice, spiritual devotion, and a musical freedom which experiments with the blues. Born in Chicago, Bernard was introduced to the art of the electric guitar by his father, the late Luther Allison. Like Ken Griffey Jr. hanging out in baseball locker rooms, Luther’s son was the kid running on-stage throughout the band’s set. “That’s when I decided I wanted to be up there like him. I think I was seven.”
“I didn’t start to play ‘til I was maybe 10 years of age” Bernard recalled. “I picked up the guitar and listened to his records.” Luther’s record collection played a major role in shaping the son’s direction. Bernard listened to his dad’s influences and also got into the next generation that followed.
Bernard made his first recording at 13, when he played on a live LP with his father. “When we moved to Peoria, Dad came home preparing to do his live album. I hooked up the amplifier and guitar in the basement and started playing his first record, Love Me Mama, note for note. He freaked out and said tonight you’re gonna record with me. That was my first recording". At 18, Bernard joined his father at the 1983 Chicago Blues Festival. Then, one week after he graduated high school, Bernard joined Koko Taylor’s Blues Machine. |
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“Koko and Pops Taylor taught me the do’s and don’t’s of the road. They were like my mom and pops. It was a great education, I was able to tour the world and see different cultures.”
The 1980’s became Bernard’s classroom. Relationships in the 80’s with Johnny Winter and Stevie Ray Vaughan expanded Bernard’s guitar foundation. In 1989, Bernard flew to Europe to record with his father, was asked to lead the band, and, like his father, adopted permanent residence in Europe. A recording of the furious collaboration between Luther and Bernard at the 1989 Chicago Blues Festival can be heard on the Luther Allison album Let’s Try It Again.
One year later, Bernard released his first solo album in 1990 with the significant title The Next Generation. Allison followed that in 1993 with Hang On, then Funkifino, No Mercy. Bernard’s other titles during the 1990’s included Born With The Blues, Keepin' The Blues Alive, and Times Are Changing. In the new millennium, Bernard’s recordings include Across The Water, Storms Of Life, Kentucky Fried Blues, the highly personal Higher Power, and Energized, a live recording and DVD from a 2005 show.
It’s obvious that Bernard has 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.
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