Customer Reviews

Hand Me Down My Moonshine

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"Hand Me Down My Moonshine" is a superb acoustic album featuring Luther and his son Bernard on guitars, recorded while he was still living in Paris. If you are only familiar with his electric guitar playing, this is a real treat. No bells and whistles, only the fine interplay of the two guitars and of course the emotional vocals that are Luther's trademark. The songs on this CD recall the old masters, and you'll hear the influence of Robert Johnson and Lightnin' Hopkins on cuts like "Lightning Bolt", "Don't Burn My Bread", and "You're The One". Put this one on and close your eyes. You'll swear you're sitting on the back porch at the Allison's, a special guest of one of the finest bluesmen that ever lived. A must for any serious Luther Allison fan.

... Then we see Luther Allison looking up at us from the CD rack, and we remember what the big deal is.

Allison's 1992 release "Hand Me Down My Moonshine" is recorded acoustically, as opposed to the electric Chicago blues which comprises most of his body of work. There's nothing more electric on this disc than a steel guitar.

In an era where digital technology has all but eliminated the possibility of a bad record, it's easy to pine for the scratches and over-the-phone qualities of recordings made before quality was an issue that recording media could address. Sometimes it's pleasingly quaint to hear the remnants of a wax cylinder in a Bessie Smith song, or whatever made Woody Guthrie sound as if he were standing three or four rooms down from a microphone. While most of "Moonshine" was recorded on digital audio tape - the two grittiest songs were recorded at studios near Allison's home in France - Allison's voice brings back that found-in-the-back-of-the-Library-of-Congress feeling that makes those old recordings so endearing. His pipes hit their apex in the title track (one of the two recorded in Paris), swerving between church-balcony highs and dirt-floor lows.

Allison's voice overshadows most of his guitar work, which again in the title track reaches complexities hard to describe to someone who isn't a blues fan. French bluesman Patrick Verbekes plays steel guitar ably on "You're the One," a classic blues conceit, and Allison's own son Bernard screams on slide guitar in the disc's final track, "Meet Me In My Hometown."

Other tunes stand out, like "Farmer's Child," an ode to - and lament of - Allison's rural upbringing and family history, and the infinitely sexy "Don't Burn My Bread," which - no offense to Chris Isaak - should have been used in that dirty scene in "Eyes Wide Shut."

All in all, the disc starts out upbeat and winds up low and grinding, like a day spent listening to friends play music in your home - which is exactly what Allison wanted from the album.

Blues makes me feel good when it hits that hurting spot. Over 5 minutes of "Good Morning Love, how did you sleep?" hits it real good. This is a great work.

This is first rate acoustic blues. Luther and crew nail every song

I'm here looking for other stuff by him that's as good to add to my collection. I also have Reckless, but to me its not as good. I really like Luther's acoustic sound.

Sweet all the way down to the bone. Can't say enough about this effort. I can only wish Luther will produce a part II. As reviews go, Moonshine looks like my second favorite blues CD of all time (in my 43 yrs experience), next to Savoy Brown's Getting To The Point. Thx Mr. Allison