Bernard Allison — Blues Masters at the Crossroads, Salina, 2014

In October 2014, guitarist and singer Bernard Allison took the stage at the Blues Masters at the Crossroads festival, held each year by Acoustic Sounds at Blue Heaven Studios, a former Gothic church in Salina, Kansas, renowned for its acoustics. Son of the legendary bluesman Luther Allison, Bernard carries on and extends the family legacy, blending electric blues, funk and rock in an incisive guitar style. This live capture conveys the intensity of a concert in which the musician alternates driving shuffles, expressive slow numbers and edgy solos, backed by a tight band. The venue’s intimate configuration, within the stone walls of the old church, lends the performance a particular warmth and a rare closeness to the artists. A regular of European and American stages alike, Bernard Allison embodies a generation keeping contemporary blues alive without freezing it in nostalgia. A full concert ideal for electric-blues enthusiasts, to be seen as a filmed live concert to appreciate the lineage between tradition and modernity in an exceptional setting.