Chicago Blues legend Luther Allison performs a wailing, screaming slide guitar rendition of Elmore James’ classic!
Luther Allison
(August 17, 1939 – August 12, 1997) was an American blues guitarist. He was born in Widener, Arkansas, and moved with his family, at the age of twelve, to Chicago in 1951. He taught himself guitar and began listening to blues extensively. Three years later he began hanging outside blues nightclubs with the hopes of being invited to perform. He played with Howlin’ Wolf’s band and backed James Cotton. (source: wikipedia.org)
The great Luther Allison, who died in ’97, was a Chicago blues legend who was tutored by Freddie King. He spends most of his time in Europe in the Seventies and Eighties where he was appreciated. Luther returned to the States at the urging of Bruce Iglauer of Alligator Records in the Nineties. He went on a relentless touring schedule (pulling those huge crowds in many places) backed by his hard-working European band.
Allison was known for his powerful concert performances, lengthy soulful guitar solos and crowd walking with his Gibson Les Paul. Allison attacked his guitar as if he had a flaming whip and hands of barbed wire, and he sang like he meant every angry or sad word.
When he died aged 57, just when he was hitting yet another peak. His loss was deeply felt by those who had known the hot breath of his intense performances.
He was posthumously inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1998. In 2000, the Chicago Sun-Times called him “The Bruce Springsteen of the blues”. He was a chief influence on many young blues guitarists such as Chris Beard and Reggie Sears.
Allison is buried at Washington Memory Gardens Cemetery in Homewood, Illinois.
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