Luther Allison established himself as a big name on the blues scene. His list of credentials is a mile long, from dozens of blues awards to feature articles in every guitar magazine around to rave reviews from the newspapers covering his live shows. His intense energy and soulful vocals produced multiple recordings demonstrating that his sound offered something special to the listener.

  Allison’s sound on this 1992 recording blends both the Robert Johnson influenced pure blues roots with a refreshing new tone. His goal of capturing that "at home in the living room" feel takes blues fans back to the early days. Ten of the twelve tracks are Allison originals. The disc opens with the friendly sounding "Good Morning Love". This disc also does a good job of alternating uptempo tracks like "One More" and "She’s Fine" with slow, laid-back cuts like "Castle" or the intense-sounding "Lightning Bolt". Allison begs for some help, besides whiskey and gin, on "I Need A Friend". And the title track, over nine minutes long, features some great guitar playing and intense vocal work from Allison. This track is uniquely his own. The final cut, "Meet Me in My Hometown", features Luther’s son Bernard accompanying him on Acoustic Slide Guitar.

  Luther Allison was an interesting story in that although he has the Chicago blues sound down, he was not playing the Chicago club circuit. There’s a good reason for that. Allison lived in Paris, France, which is not exactly the blues capital of the world. But Allison’s fondness for Chicago is evident in his playing style.

  Allison’s sound captured on this disc is down-home and meaningful - exactly what acoustic blues music should sound like. With "Hand Me Down My Moonshine", Luther Allison gives blues fans a disc that they can sit back, relax, and enjoy the pure blues sound from the heart.

***1/2

David Sikorsky