Originally published in The Aquarian Weekly

December 26, 2007

Dion / Son Of Skip James /

Verve Forecast

A lot of people were surprised

when Dion DiMucci released

his highly acclaimed 2006

album of classic blues, Bronx

In Blue. Dion, in turn, was

surprised by the public reaction.

After all, he had been singing these

songs at home, in hotel rooms,

and in dressing rooms for as

long as he could remember. It's

just that he had never recorded

these songs, and so his

audience never knew about his

real passion.

Now Dion is back with a

new album of blues. This time

he has fleshed out the

arrangements, adding a solid

rhythm section and some

inventive keyboards to his

stellar acoustic guitar

performances. These may be

the blues, but there is nothing

downbeat about this music. This

is the joyous music that got

people up and dancing in

southern roadhouses in the last

century.

Dion is not afraid to take on

the founders, providing

masterful takes on Chuck Berry,

Skip James, Junior Wells and

Robert Johnson. He has an

ongoing fascination about the

crossroads where the sacred

meets the profane, and he

addresses it by providing two

original songs concerned with

the spiritual side of life, "The

Thunderer" inspired by the life

of St. Jerome, and the album's

title track.

Dion remains the coolest man

in rock and roll, his swagger

fully intact. He has given us one

of the year's best albums.

In A Word: Homage

Grade: A

—by Ken Shane