Release: DION - "BLUES WITH FRIENDS"

DION RECORDS WITH PAUL SIMON, VAN MORRISON, BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN AND 14 OTHER SUPER STARS ON NEW STUDIO ALBUM
"BLUES WITH FRIENDS" RELEASED FRIDAY 5TH JUNE 2020

THE 14 ORIGINAL SONGS ALSO INCLUDE MUSICAL CONTRIBUTIONS FROM JEFF BECK, RORY BLOCK,

JOE BONAMASSA, SAMANTHA FISH, BILLY GIBBONS, JOHN HAMMOND JR., SONNY LANDRETH,

JOE MENZA, VAN MORRISON, PATTI SCIALFA, BRIAN SETZER, STEVIE VAN ZANDT,

JERRY AND JIMMY VIVINO, JOE LOUIS WALKER

THIRD SINGLE "BAM BANG BOOM" FEATURING BILLY GIBBONS
AVAILABLE TO STREAM AND DOWNLOAD

Dion knows how to sing, and he knows just the right way to craft these songs, these blues songs. He’s got some friends here to

help him out, some true luminaries. But in the end, it’s Dion by himself alone, and that masterful

voice of his that will keep you returning to share these Blues songs with him."

– excerpt from Bob Dylan’s liner notes for Blues With Friends

Blues With Friends is available for Pre-Order worldwide at: KTBArecords.com

Dion’s Blues With Friends, CD out June 5, represents the fulfillment of a lifelong vision. Dion explains the album’s impetus, “I wanted an album of songs that were strong and memorable and told stories that were worth telling.” His songwriting efforts were supported by a cadre of great players, each of whom jumped at the chance to collaborate with a music legend they think of in heroic terms. He’s quick to point out just how enduring this creative relationship has been, “The blues have been at the heart of my music since the early 1960s. ‘The Wanderer’ is a twelve-bar blues and I was covering Willie Dixon and Jimmy Reed in my early years at Columbia — much to the dismay of my corporate masters.” That’s the way it’s long been for the man Lou Reed inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame more than thirty years ago. That night the normally taciturn Reed exalted, “And then there was Dion — whose voice was unlike any other I had heard before — a voice that stood on its own, remarkable and unmistakably from New York. Bronx soul.”

The album’s guests include the cream of the contemporary scene’s blues-rooted slingers including Jeff Beck, Billy Gibbons, Joe Bonamassa, Brian Setzer, Sonny Landreth, Samantha Fish, John Hammond Jr., Joe Louis Walker, Rory Block, Jimmy and Jerry Vivino, vintage guitar guru Joe Menza as well as icons Stevie Van Zandt, Patti Scialfa, Bruce Springsteen, Van Morrison and Paul Simon.  Yes, that’s a whole lot of star power but each participated not because of his or her marquee appeal but because of what each could add musically. The result is one reflective of nuanced devotion to the blues rather than a gratuitous display of individual virtuosity. It’s very much Dion’s album and those bold face names participating are most convincingly there for him.

For this outing, Dion worked with producer Wayne Hood in whose Florida studio the basic tracks were recorded. “From the first day, I was at home. We hit it off like brothers on a mission. We caught the same vision and sound and off we went.” Over the course of the last part of 2019 and the first part of 2020, the album began to take shape.  Dion had the songs and the collaborators began to reveal themselves.

More Info: https://www.noblepr.co.uk/