Music Tuesday: Dion’s Blues With Friends

A number of Catholic outlets have noted Dion DiMucci’s new music album, Blues with Friends.  You may know Dion from the 1950s!  He was the lead singer of Dion and the Belmonts, players of Doo-Wop style of rock-n-roll.  Well, if you’ve kept up with his music career, it didn’t end in the 50’s with “Runaround Sue.” He’s made other music as you can read in his Wikipedia entry, some of it popular.  What you may not have known is that throughout his 57 year career he has been a believing Catholic and at some point a devout Catholic.  He has actually written songs with the well-known Catholic historian, Mike Aquilina.   

Dion’s new album has gotten a bit of air play because each song features a different virtuoso, usually well known.  Given that I love the blues, given that I love Dion, given that I love many of the virtuosos featured, I had to get the album.  Before I feature some of the songs let me provide a few excerpts of articles from Catholic outlets.

First about the record, let’s turn to the National Catholic Register’s article, “The Wanderer Sings the Blues: Rock ‘n’ roll legend Dion chats about music andfaith.”

Dion tells us about the making of the record.

 

“You don’t know how much fun it was to make this album,” Dion told the Register. “This album was like riding a cloud — no stress involved at all. It was amazing because sometimes making an album can be excruciating. … [This time] the songs came. I wasn’t under pressure. I was writing them as they came to me. I decided to record them. I went into the studio and knocked these tracks out in three days. I just sat down with the guitar and sang maybe six songs one day, six the next, two the next. A lot of them are just one take.

 

“One take — that way the songs are full of light, full of expression,” he continued. “You might not get it perfect, but its full of expression. I’m full of expression. I’m not a draughtsman. I express my art.”

Next in an article titled “Blues with friends, life with God: A conversation with Dion and Mike Aquilina,” from the Catholic World Report we get a one paragraph summary of the work:

 

Dion’s latest album, Blues With Friends, has spent months on the Billboard “Blues Album” charts, much of that time in the #1 slot. Featuring guest appearances by such rock legends as Jeff Beck, Paul Simon, Billy Gibbons (of ZZ Top), Van Morrison, Bruce Springsteen, and more, the album is another triumph from the man whose career began with Dion and the Belmonts, and has lasted another 60 years beyond – and counting.

 

Perhaps the most obvious question a Catholic journalist would ask is the first he asks:

 

Catholic World Report: Let’s talk about your Catholic faith, and how that influences your music.

 

Dion DiMucci: Well, my Catholic faith influences everything. That’s at the center of my being, of my mind. If you would unzip my mind and look inside my brain, you’d find a very orderly place, and that’s because of having a personal relationship with God. I came into a 12-step spiritual program 52 years ago and it was gleaned from St. Ignatius of Loyola’s Disciplines. It’s designed to lead you into union with God. And that’s a very peaceful place! A place of wisdom, a place of power, of serenity; it’s home. I’m home, and I’m not living in a chaotic world, because I’m living in God’s presence – or trying to, a day at a time.

 

That influences everything. It frees you up to write about beauty, and truth, and goodness, and relationships. I think it helps you be creative. I’ve had a lot of people say to me, “At your age, you sound like a young guy! Your voice is incredibly vital.” That’s God. Without God I’d probably be drinking and drugging, sounding husky – I probably wouldn’t even be alive. If he wasn’t the center, I think I’d be in trouble in some way. I think I’d be living in a chaotic state. I’d probably be grasping for position and power and money and pleasure and honor, fighting everybody, trying to be better, trying to win, all of that. Instead of just being content in all things.

 And of course then the collaboration with his partner comes tomind.

 

CWR: Can you briefly recount how you and Mike Aquilina got to know each other, and how you came to write songs together?

 

Dion: We found ourselves in Rome together, in 2000. We were on the bus, and we stopped and there was a statue of St. Jerome. I remembered a quote that I read in the back of Mt. Carmel Catholic Church in the Bronx that said, “Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ,” and that’s St. Jerome. So I said that to Mike, and he says to me “The Thunderer!” I said “’The Thunderer’? What’s that?” And he said, “Well, St. Jerome – he gave ‘ignorance of Scripture’ new meaning. He was from what we now call Croatia, the brightest of the bright, so he was sent to Rome. The pope saw how bright he was and had him translate the Bible from Greek to Latin – the Vulgate. And he was an intolerant guy – he didn’t like Italian women and Greek women, the way they combed their hair, the way they did their eye makeup. People got on his nerves.” I said, “People got on his nerves? How could he be a saint?” He said, “Well, it takes all kinds to make it to heaven. He had great qualities. He moved to Israel; he made friends with a rabbi, and he learned how to speak Hebrew, and he translated the Bible again, from Hebrew to Latin! So he gives ‘ignorance of Scripture’ new meaning.” I said, “I’ve got to write a song about this guy!” And we ended up writing a song called “The Thunderer” about St. Jerome. That was the beginning, that’s how we met.

 And about the actual making of the record, Dion

 

CWR: Coming to your new album: in the liner notes, you talk about how the album’s genesis was in an interaction you had with Joe Bonamassa. How did the album come to fruition? How did you come to choose the “friends” on the album – Paul Simon, Bruce Springsteen, Van Morrison, Jeff Beck, etc.?

 

Dion: Well, you’re right, Joe Bonamassa was the catalyst for the album. Mike and I had written all these songs. To be honest with you, Mike kept calling me saying “Hey, got any plans to record those songs? They’re real good, and keep running around my head!” I think this is the best batch of songs we ever put together. They’re memorable, they’re great stories, they’re worthy to be told.

 

I went in and cut all of the songs in three days. Bonamassa heard them at my house and said he wanted to play on “Blues Comin’ On”. And that was it. That really sparked something in me. It sparked the idea that I could cast characters, like each of these songs is a mini movie and I could cast a character to infuse their personality onto my song. It worked so well with Bonamassa, maybe it will work well with Billy Gibbons – and it did! So I sent one to Brian Setzer – and it did! So I decided to send one to Jeff Beck – and it worked again! When he said yes, that was the gold standard, because he has magic in his hands.

 

After that it was just like dominos, like riding a wave. It was crazy fun, because I never gave anybody an idea of what to play – I just gave them the song, a finished track, and they would just add their own thing to it. When these artists do something, it really puts a smile on your face.

 

There’s a lot more good stuff in both those articles, and well worth reading.  But now let me turn to the music.  Here is the entire playlist with the featured artist of each song.

Playlist:

Blues Comin’ On                    Featured Artist:  Joe Bonamassa

Kickin’ Child                          Featured artist: Joe Menza

Uptown Number 7                  Featured artist: Brian Setzer  

Can’t Start Over Again           Featured artist: Jeff Beck      

My Baby Loves To Boogie     Featured artist: John Hammond        

I Got Nothin’                          Featured artists: Van Morrison, Joe Louis Walker

Stumbling Blues                      Featured artists: Jimmy Vivino, Jerry Vivino

Bam Bang Boom                    Featured artist: Billy Gibbons

I Got The Cure                        Featured artist: Sonny Landreth

Song For Sam Cooke (Here In America)        Featured artist: Paul Simon    

What If I Told You                Featured artist: Samantha Fish

Told You Once In August      Featured artists: John Hammond, Rory Block

Way Down (I Won’t Cry No More)   Featured artist: Stevie Van Zandt

Hymn To Him                         Featured Artists: Patti Scialfa, Bruce Springsteen

 

Whoa, those are some heavyweights.  Dion should record with some of his friends more often.

So let’s start with the song that inspired the album, “Blues Comin’ On.”

Joe Bonamassa is a blues guitarists, a really good one.  Dion’s vocals really intertwine nicely with Bonamassa’s guitar licks.

You will just love the rhythmic beauty of “Kickin’ Child” with Joe Menza, who I am not familiar with, on guitar. 

This one has a religious message with “Uptown Number 7,” featuring Brian Setzer from the Stray Cats.

 

I can’t embed all songs, and I’m having a hard time cutting back.  “I Got The Cure” with Sonny Landreth on slide guitar is superb blues. 

Perhaps the highlight of the album has to be Dion’s tribute to his departed friend, Sam Cooke with “Song For Sam Cooke (Here In America)” featuring Paul Simon on backup vocals.  Here’s a clip where Dion explains the song at the end. 

I just love that melody.  And the lyrics are beautiful.  I’ll skip quoting the chorus, but here are the verses from the song.

 

We traveled this land back in nineteen sixty-two

We played the places that were home to me and you

We drove to Memphis, rocked a set

We walked the streets at night and smoked a cigarette

 

Down the block I saw the people stop and stare

You did your best to make a Yankee boy aware

I never thought about the color of your skin

I never worried 'bout the hotel I was in

 

You were the man who earned the glory and the fame

But cowards felt that they could call you any name

You were the star, standing in the light

That won you nothing on a city street at night

 

You stayed more steady than a backbeat on a drum

You told me you believed a change was gonna come

You sang for freedom but lived life free

I saw it in your smile and in your dignity

 

You were a star when you were standing on a stage

I look back on it, I feel a burning rage

You sang "You Send Me", I sang "I Wonder Why"

I still wonder, you were way too young to die

 

That’s one of the best tributes to another singer I have ever heard. 

I do have to highlight Samatha Fish’s lead guitar on “What If I Told You.” 

Wow, she can play. Great blues song too. 

 

Around and round like an old top

You spin my mind and then it won't stop

Down and down you let a name drop

Say you love me then you flip flop

 

Finally I have to include with the most religious song on the album, “Hymn to Him,” featuring the husband and wife team of Bruce Springsteen and Patti Scialfa.

He's the light of salvation

He's the head that's never bowed

He's the first step of wisdom

He's the sun through the clouds

 

That’s very moving and a great devotional.  Another interesting note.  The linear notes of the CD were written by a Robert Zimmerman.  Hey, that’s Bob Dylan!

“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

This album is great.