Back in 2009 the late great Luther Allison had a live CD and DVD collection released posthumously by his label Ruf. Allison died on August 12, 1997, just five days before his 58th birthday, and shorty after his final studio record ‘Reckless’ had been released. The album, entitled ‘Songs From the Road’ was recorded in Montreal in 1997.
23 years after his passing his son Bernard has released a collection with the same format and title. This set though was recorded at Dortmund’s Musiktheater Piano club when Bernard and his band played there in October 2019. You can imagine that dad would be proud with the results as Bernard’s raw Soul-infused Blues is music made to be played and enjoyed live.
With 8 albums prior to this already under his belt Bernard still has a way to catch his Dad’s prolific output but if you’ve followed him lately then you’ll know that his recent releases have just gotten better and better. There are five tracks here for example from his latest studio album 2018’s ‘Let It Go’.
If you’re not familiar with Bernard’s back catalogue though then this is a very good place to start – you see a band on fire and audience who know they’re having one of those nights you’ll remember forever and it’s all against the backdrop of some truly wonderful Soulful Blues.
Try the roar of opener ‘Night Train’ or the wonderful Chicago sounds of ‘I Can’t Get You Out Of My Head’,’Cruisin For A Bluesin”, ‘and ‘Backdoor Man’ and tell me you’re not moved. There’s even a touch of Luther when Bernard plays his rendition of his dad’s classic ‘Let’s Try it Again’ – it’s a wonderful interpretation.
Simply put – one of the best live Blues DVDs I’ve seen in a long while.