Although Katie Henry and Ally Venable are on this special Blues Caravan bill, the star of the tour is inevitably Bernard Allison. It was Bernard’s father the great Luther Allison, who inspired Thomas Ruf to not only promote Blues music but also to set up a European Record label. So it was that RUF Records, devoted to promoting the best of New Blues, began exactly 30 years ago.  Anniversary time then at Bonn Harmonie on Thursday evening and an opportunity to celebrate RUF records, Luther Allison, and of course the Blues.

My first visit to the RUF Blues Caravan was in 2005. Candye Kane, Sue Foley and Ana Popovic. The trio went down a storm. I was hooked. As Thomas Ruf had been inspired by Luther Allison to start a Record label, so Thomas’s Record label inspired me to start a music website. And here we both are still enjoying great music. The Harmonie on that day in 2005 was packed, as it has been every year since. Along with Candye, Sue and Ana we’ve been blessed to hear many now-familiar Blues faces for the first time. Mike Zito, Layla Zoe, Deborah Coleman, Aynsley Lister, Oli Brown, Samantha Fish, Vanja Sky, Laurence Jones, Dana Fuchs, Albert Castiglia, Big Daddy Wilson, Joanne Shaw Taylor, Dani Wilde…  and this time around Bernard Allison, Katie Henry and Ally Venable. 

For regular BC fans there were no new faces this time around, but that didn’t stop it from being a packed Harmonie that sang “Happy Birthday to you!” the moment Thomas Ruf stepped onto the stage at 7:15 pm. Clearly moved beyond words, Ruf could only hold a hand to his heart and smile happily before introducing the first music of the evening.

The show was neatly divided into two with part one adhering politely to the principle of Ladies First. Hailing from New Jersey, Katie Henry has a charmingly laid-back presence on stage, and whilst she certainly has a blues influence in her music she nods musically more in the rock direction of Berth Hart with some excellent own compositions. Henry also plays guitar, but with two six strings already on offer (three if you count the multi-talented Matt Mwangi) she sensibly chooses to weave her musical magic from a seat behind a keyboard, particularly on ballads such as her own ‘Wake up time’. But sitting didn’t mean she couldn’t rock out on Bernard Allison’s Blues boogie number ‘Clear Vision’ and finally leave the piano stool completely to release her inner Jerry Lee Lewis on the rocking ‘Love like kerosene’. Even the Sesame Street Cookie Monster who had been sitting patiently beneath her keyboard might possibly have been dancing along (don’t tell me that was just the floorboards vibrating!).

There’s no danger of comparisons when it comes to the second lady in part one. Ally Venable and Katie Henry are chalk and cheese stylistically. Which lady you prefer really comes down to your musical preferences. Venable is very much more in the vein of guitar-slinger blues rockers like Samantha Fish and Joanne Shaw Taylor. She truly comes into her own though when treading in the southern blues footsteps of fellow Texan Stevie Ray Vaughan. Probably her best number of the evening in that respect was a homage to SRV that had Venable looking for perfection in tone on every note played, with regular quick adjustments to her (short) dress hemline and to her hair that indicated someone psyching themselves up for challenges of the task ahead. Beautifully played, and I’m sure SRV would approve. 

There is though a pure blues side to Ally Venable as hinted at by the autograph of Buddy Guy on the headstock of her Jimmy Wallace Strat copy. The signature is dated 2023 which is further proof of her current musical status in the genre (‘Real Gone’ topped the Billboard Blues Chart in 2023). And does she play those electric blues? Anyone who can stand up and trade riffs with Bernard Allison as she did on Luther Allison’s ‘Serious’ deserves RESPECT! Which brings me to…

Without Luther Allison, we wouldn’t be here celebrating either 30 years of RUF Records or listening to his son Bernard. It seems unbelievable now that Thomas Ruf had to create his own label because no one was interested in bringing out Luther’s now classic ‘Bad Love’ album. But here we are, twenty-seven years after Luther’s passing, and listening to son Bernard Allison, himself now something of a blues veteran at fifty-eight, who has just released a double disc homage of his own versions from dad’s songbook.

 

“Change your way of living the songs” was Father’s advice from the start, explains Bernard early into his fine set. “If you gonna play it – play it how YOU feel it!”. Bernard Allison has been doing just that ever since. His own style is a funkier one tinged with soul and he’s perfected it over many concerts, but when he first steps onstage Alison looks somewhat world-weary. His heavy-lidded eyes look down to the tuning pegs of a white Gibson Les Paul that seems to carry weighty expectation as if it’s telling him to “Play me. Play me right now. Do Luther’s memory proud!”. The weight of anticipation hangs in the air. You can tell these concerts showcasing his father’s songs are special ones to Bernard.

It doesn’t take long for that guitar to get well and truly played-in of course. The melody gets steadier and the eyes start to open wide. Pretty soon there is even a smile and he’s enjoying himself, digging his musicians digging into the rich musical heritage of Allison Senior. ’Life is a bitch’ has a funky beat that takes it on not a lesser, but a different course than the original. That description is true of all tonight’s set. It tightrope balances between different styles and different rhythms so organically that word has to go out about Bernard’s band – they are truly killing it this evening. George Moye on bass has the air of playing as if a nuclear explosion wouldn’t make him drop a note, whilst over to my right, Eric Robert is so full of energy that he could actually be sitting on a nuclear explosion behind his electric piano. Or standing. He seems to go from one position to the other within a mere half a bar. hammering the poor keyboard as if it were a Tonka toy.

Surprise of the evening for me was Matthew Mwangi. On Katie Henry’s set the man was laying down some mean guitar with all the swagger of a guitar hero. Now here he is playing drums behind Bernard Allison as if he was born to it from the cradle. I suspect this young guy could be going places with his own band one day. If I’m right – you know where you heard it first. 

The usual Blues Caravan format finds all musicians onstage for the close-out. That doesn’t usually include three drummers, but who cares if everyone can find a foothold and the music is good. They can, and it is. ‘Going Down’ and the BC staple ‘House is Rocking’ fly past in a state of musical ecstasy from musicians and audience alike. Bernard Allison and Ally Venable trade guitar licks as Katie Henry steps out from her place on dual keyboards with Eric Robert to bash seven bells out of a tambourine. Smiles all around. Great music played from the hearts of nine very talented musicians. I’m sure Luther Allison would be glad both to hear his son do his music proud and also to hear young musicians keeping the blues not just alive, but well, into the 21st Century.