It's the Birthday of Luther Allison

Luther Allison was born on this day in 1939 and he passed away on August 12 in 1997. He was an blues guitarist who was born in Widener, Arkansas and moved with his family, at age twelve, to Chicago, Illinois in 1951. He taught himself guitar while still a kid down in Arkansas where he first heard the blues. Many years later he began hanging outside blues clubs with the hopes of being invited to perform. He played with Howlin' Wolf's band and backed up James Cotton among others. He was also called to the stage to play with Muddy Waters.

Remembering Luther Allison


Luther Allison - Evil Is Going On




I love the harmonica part on that last video, according to a comment left on YouTube for this video, Garfield Angrove is playing the harp on this track.

And it really saddens me to have to write that Luther Allison died of inoperable lung cancer just a few days before his birthday back in 1997. As so often happens the good die young, and Mr. Allison was definitely one of the good ones. His death, "robbed music fans of one of the most exciting and popular blues performers ever."