Dion – Blues With Friends
(Keeping The Blues Alive Records - 2020)
A man who needs no introduction to be honest with you as he's quite simply a household name with that big song beginning with the letter 'R' and many more from his days with the Belmonts.
This album sees him rubbing shoulders with many more big names in the guitar world and vocal planet too that as you imagine from the title is all things blues with a couple of other styles thrown I to mix it up a bit that relate to that genre regardless.
There are a variety of highlights like the moderate tempo opener 'Blues Coming' that features Joe Bonamassa; the slower countriness of 'Can't Start Over Again' with Jeff Beck that's filled with sadness; the wailing guitar of 'I Got Nothin' with Van Morrison and Joe Louis Walker and 'I Got The Cure' with Sonny Landreth that also has some nice horns and organ melody.
The real cut-above-the-rest standouts to me though are 'Song For Sam Cooke (Here In America)' that is an award winner for certain that's a duet with Paul Simon or the acoustic sliding of 'Told You Once In August' featuring John Hammond and Rory Block. Elsewhere on the album you'll also find Bruce Springsteen and Billy Gibbons but you'll have to buy it to find out where!
An album that has a nice slice of the blues that'll be charting for many years to come.
8/10
By Glenn Milligan