Reviewed by Ian Phillips.
By Dion, Keeping The Blues Alive 2020.
Dion DiMucci (better known simply as Dion) will be forever known for his 1962 mega-hit, The Wanderer, and the musicians amongst us will be quick to point out that the song is actually built on a classic 12-bar blues chord pattern.
Well, Dion is still alive and kicking and he’s just released this wonderful new album, Blues With Friends.
More about that in a moment but first, for you youngsters.
Dion was born in 1939 in the Bronx in New York City into an Italian-American family.
His father was a vaudeville entertainer and from an early age Dion travelled with him as one of his accompanists.
It was during this time that he fell in love with the music of Hank Williams and that of black blues artists and do-wop singers.
As a young teenager he started out as the lead singer for a do-wop vocal group, Dion and The Belmonts, and they had a string of hits between 1957 and 1960 before Dion went solo.
It was his early solo career that really cemented his place in rock and roll history.
In 1961 he released Runaround Sue which hit number one on the singles charts and that was followed by The Wanderer which reached number two.
Next came Ruby Baby which also reached number two and by this time he was a superstar.
From the late 50’s until the early 60’s Dion had 30 top 40 hits.
He was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 1989.
Dion, like many US artists, was swallowed up by the Beatles and resultant British invasion that changed the course of pop music in the mid-1960’s and despite still releasing singles and albums he disappeared from sight onto the cabaret circuit for many years.
Fast forward to the present day and this new release, Dion’s influence on American music is evident in the guest list of friends that volunteered to play on the record.
Joe Bonamassa, Brian Setzer (Stray Cats), Jeff Beck, John Hammond, Van Morrison, Billy Gibbons (ZZ Top), Paul Simon, Stevie Van Zandt (E-Street Band), Patti Scialfa, Bruce Springsteen, Samantha Fish and the list goes on.
Bob Dylan even wrote a foreword to the CD booklet.
As Dion says himself, he has always loved the blues and many of his early hits were in fact blues songs.
Dion has co-written the 14 tracks and they are fantastic and his voice is as strong as ever.
I’ll leave the final word of this review to my wife who commented “That’s the best album you’ve played in a long time.”
It certainly is, long live The Wanderer.
