Luther Allison – Cherry Red Wine

"One of the hottest live acts in the blues. Allison is an over-the-top guitarist with a raw, dirty sound utterly unlike the smooth speed of many of his contemporaries....His playing has primitive passion and strong musical imagination." ---BOSTON GLOBE

Luther Allison – Cherry Red Wine

Born in Widener (Arkansas) on August 17, 1939, Luther Allison was the fourteenth of fifteen children, all of whom were musically inclined, born to parents who were cotton farmers. He was exposed to gospel music as a young child, although he quickly became enthralled with the flourishing blues scene in Chicago upon his family’s arrival there in 1951.

Luther Allison

Luther began soaking in the sounds of Muddy Waters, Sonny Boy Williamson, and Robert Nighthawk. He was classmates with Muddy Waters' son and occasionally stopped in the Waters' house to watch the master rehearse. It wasn't until he was 18 already in Chicago for seven years that Luther began playing blues on a real guitar and jamming with his brother Ollie's band.

By 1957, Allison had dropped out of school and formed a band called The Rolling Stones. Unhappy with the name, they became The Four Jivers, gigging all over the West Side of Chicago. Before long, Luther was jamming with the West Side's best, including Magic Sam, Otis Rush, and Freddie King, who encouraged Allison to sing. "That," said Allison, "was my school."

Luther Allison

For five years, Allison honed his craft. He moved to California for a year and cut sides with fellow Chicagoans Shakey Jake Harris and Sunnyland Slim. He cut his first two songs as a leader on the now-classic Delmark anthology, Sweet Home Chicago, before releasing his first solo album (also on Delmark), Love Me Mama, a record of hard-hitting blues that spoke to the growing rock audience. But even before his debut album came out, Luther landed a headlining spot at the influential Ann Arbor Blues Festival in 1969, and went from relative unknown to major blues-rock attraction. "His guitar riffs seemed to defy the possible," raved John Fishel, the program director of the festival, who brought Allison back to perform at the following two festivals.

Luther Allison

Allison signed with Motown Records in 1972 as the label's only blues act. His three records for the Gordy subsidiary led to numerous concert dates and both national and international festival appearances, but domestically, interest in the blues was fading. After finding instant acceptance in Europe, he was convinced that Paris was the place to be. While he gained superstar status in Europe and released a dozen European records, his presence in the American music scene diminished.

Luther Allison

With the release of Soul Fixin' Man in 1994, Allison's first domestic album in 20 years, he announced his return. "Fever and chills performances," said Guitar Player, "ferocious solos combine the wisdom of a master storyteller with the elegance of B.B. King, the elasticity of Buddy Guy, and the big sting of Albert King."

Cherry Red Wine appears in 1995 on Blue Streak album. "A sonic roar as soulful as his gospel-shout vocals," raved the Washington Post. "Luther Allison's latest is nothing short of a masterpiece by a master," reported Blues Revue.

Blue Streak, album 1995

"Cherry Red Wine" is probably Allison's signature song, and certainly as close as he ever came to a hit, with amazing intensity, his guitar channeling passion, soul, and raw emotion through the bent strings and battered fretboard.

It is not easy to put together a good album of Luther Allison covers, but if there is one man who can do his work justice, it is Walter Trout. A brilliant guitarist in his own right who knows Allison’s music, Trout captures Allison’s classic Chicago sound while adding bits and pieces of his own musical innovation to the project.

Luther Allison

“Cherry Red Wine” is one of the greatest blues songs ever written, and Trout’s version proves it. It is one of a handful of truly magical tracks. Trout goes so completely over the top making it hard to believe such gut wrenching vocals are coming from a 62-year-old. "Probably 'Cherry Red Wine' is a song that really speaks to me. Growing up I had a lot of alcoholism in my house so that's one that I find relevant to me," says Trout.

Walter Trout - Luther's Blues, album 2013

In 1997, at the height of one of the most astonishing comebacks in blues history, Luther Allison was diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer. He died on August 12, 1997. He was posthumously inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1998.

Drinking Cherry Red Wine

Cherry Red Wine Lyrics

Watching you baby, watching you all the time 
Watching you baby, just watching you all the time 
Watching you destroy yourself woman, all you do is sitting around drinking wine 

You worry me baby 
I'm sitting here wondering what in the world can I do 
We got so much to live for, darling 
But I just can't sit here doing nothing and watching that wine destroy you 

I'm taking you to the doctor, darling 
The doctor knows what's going on in your head 
I'm taking you to the doctor, darling 

Maybe he knows what's going on in your head 
You gonna keep on drinking that bad wine, baby 
Even the grass on your grave will be cherry red