Luther Allison (born August 17, 1939) taught himself to play the guitar. Growing up, from the age of 12, in Chicago of the 1950s he was an avid fan of the blues and taught himself to play the guitar. His big break was to be mentored by Freddie King and he took over King’s regular club gig in the west side.
Studio Albums By Luther Allison
Whilst he started recording in the 1960s, he was signed to the Motown label in 1972 as they tried to branch out into blues.
It’s useful to see the timing of the studio albums before looking at the live albums in detail. The year relates to the year of release whilst, for live albums, it refers to the date of the performance or performances.
1969 Love Me Mama
1972 Bad News Is Coming (his debut on the Motown label)
1974 Luther’s Blues
1976 Night Life
1977 Love Me Papa
1980 Time
1984 Let’s Have A Natural Ball
1984 Life’s A Bitch aka Serious
1985 Here I Come
1987 Rich Man
1992 Hand Me Down My Moonshine
1994 Soul Fixin’ Man aka Bad Love
1995 Blue Streak
1997 Reckless
1999 Standing At The Crossroad (originally recorded in Paris in 1977)
2007 Underground (previously unreleased studio recordings from 1958)
Albums from 1994 onwards were very well received and he was receiving the recognition that he’d long deserved.
Sadly he died of lung cancer on August 12, 1997 after problems in his ’97 summer tour.
Live Albums By Luther Allison
Luther Allison has released the following live albums:
1976-1994 Where Have You Been Live in Montreux
1979 Gonna Be a Live One in Here Tonight! (Peoria part 1)
1979 South Side Safari Live (Peoria part 1)
1979 Power Wire Blues (Peoria part 2)
1979 Sweet Home Chicago Charly Blues Masterworks Vol 37 (Peoria part 2)
1979 Live in Paris (part 1)
1979 Live (Paris part 2)
1988 to 1995 Pay It Forward (three live songs in amongst studio tracks)
1989 Live ’89 Let’s Try It Again (Berlin part 1)
1989 More From Berlin (Berlin part 2)
1995 Live In Chicago
1997 Songs From The Road
1997 Love The People
These are available from Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk
Please vote in the poll to find the best live blues albums. I’m hoping Luther Allison does very well in the poll.
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Power Wire Blues is a live album by Luther Allison.
It is Part 2 of the Peoria concert recorded in Peoria, Illinois, on April 18–19, 1979 and has been reissued as Sweet Home Chicago, Charly Blues Masterworks Vol 37. Part 1 was released as South Side Safari. Continue reading Luther Allison Power Wire Blues 1979
Love The People is a live album by Luther Allison.
It was recorded at the Barrymore Theater in Madison, Wisconsin on July 10, 1997 on the day he was told he had cancer. This was to be his last concert and was recorded by Triple M Radio on 105.5 FM, Madison.
This album was released on Alligator Records and is distributed by the Luther Allison Madison Memorial fund with the aim of raising enough money to finance a memorial for him.
A second album called Madison Blues contains more of the concert but this isn’t authorised by his estate. You can read more at http://www.mnblues.com/cdreview/cd-luther99.html
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South Side Safari is a live album by Luther Allison.
It was recorded at the Other Side, Peoria Heights in Illinois on April 18 and 19, 1979. The album was originally released as a vinyl album called Gonna Be A Live One In Here Tonight! in 1979.
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Live ’89 Let’s Try It Again is a live album by Luther Allison.
It was recorded at Quasimodo in West Berlin, Germany between May 22 and 25, 1989.
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Sweet Home Chicago: Charly Blues Masterworks Vol 37 is a live album by Luther Allison.
It was recorded in in Peoria, Illinois, on April 18–19, 1979 and was first released as an album called Power Wire Blues before being renamed Sweet Home Chicago. This is part 2 of the concert and part 1 has been released as South Side Safari.
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Live in Paris 1979 is a live album by Luther Allison.
It brings together two vinyl live albums for the concert at La Chapelle Des Lombards in Paris, France in 1979 called Live In Paris (with part 1) and Live (part 2).
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Where Have You Been Live in Montreux 1976-1994 is a live album by Luther Allison.
It has been compiled from his appearances at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Montreux, Switzerland with the majority of tracks coming from 1976 and 1984.
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Songs From The Road is a live album and DVD by Luther Allison.
It was recorded at the Montreal International Jazz Festival on July 4, 1997. Sadly this was to turn out to be one of his last performances as he died of lung cancer on August 12, 1997 when he was only 57 years old.
Luther Allison Live In Chicago is a live album by blues guitarist Luther Allison.
It captures him playing at two concerts in Chicago in 1995:
Luther Allison died on August 12, 1997 just before his 58th birthday. He isn’t one of the better known blues guitarists to the wider world but he’s highly respected by blues specialists.
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