Dion
Biography
"This was an easy album to
make," Dion says of his Verve Forecast debut Son of Skip James. "Most
of these songs have been in my head and in my guitar for so many years,
and this music is so ingrained at the center of my being, that I didn't
have to do much thinking.
It's been five decades since Dion DiMucci first emerged as one of early rock 'n' roll's greatest singers and most adventurous innovators. Since then, he's continued to make compelling, heartfelt music in a variety of styles, from the streetwise swagger of his early hits to the mature introspection of his later work. More recently, the ageless icon has experienced a creative rebirth by reembracing his earliest roots, revisiting the raw blues material that first sparked his musical imagination.
Son of Skip James is the followup to Dion's landmark 2006 release Bronx In Blue, on which the artist, accompanied only by his own acoustic guitar, bared his musical soul on a set of personally charged readings of his favorite blues standards. Bronx In Blue become one of the year's most acclaimed releases, leading New York Times critic Jon Pareles to note, "He sings like someone whose demons are in the past but still not forgotten."
The self-produced Son of Skip James extends its predecessor's organic approach, with eloquently spare arrangements built around Dion's effortlessly soulful voice and sublime guitar and harmonica work.
"I did Bronx In Blue," he explains, "because I had been singing these songs in dressing rooms and soundchecks and people's houses for all these years, and my friends kept asking 'Why don't you record some of those songs?' I remember Bonnie Raitt telling me in 1968 that I should do an album of these songs, and Steve Van Zandt was on my case about it for years. But I always resisted the idea, because I felt like I'd be treading on sacred ground. I finally came around to it, and people really responded, and that made me think, 'Wow, I should have did this a long time ago.' I still had all these other songs in my head, so I thought, 'OK, I'll do another one, but let's do this one a little different.'"
Alongside the classic blues numbers that comprise the bulk of Son of Skip James, Dion delivers rollicking readings of Chuck Berry's "Nadine" and Bob Dylan's "Baby I'm In The Mood For You." The artist's revelatory performances of such blues classics as Skip James' "Devil Got My Woman," Junior Wells' "Hoodoo Man Blues" and the Robert Johnson tunes "Preachin' Blues" and "If I Had Possession (Over Judgement Day)" underline his abiding interest in the intersection of the sacred and the profane. Dion's spiritual concerns are further reflected on a pair of original compositions: the title track, which pays tribute to one of his essential blues idols, and "The Thunderer," a moving meditation that incorporates verses from an eponymous Phyllis McGinley poem inspired by the life ofSt. Jerome
Dion has been translating his musical and personal passions into distinctive, timeless music for most of his life. Growing up on the streets of theBronx in the pre-rock
'n' roll 1950s, his imagination was captured by the blues and country
sounds that he heard on the faraway radio stations whose signals
drifted in late at night.
"A lot of people think I grew up with rock 'n' roll, but I didn't," he notes. "When I was growing up, there was no rock 'n' roll. I grew up on Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, Jimmy Reed and Hank Williams. When I first heard this stuff, it was like it was from outer space, because in my neighborhood it was all Jimmy Roselli and Julius LaRosa. But the truth and honesty in this music spoke to me, and I fell in love with it. When I was in seventh, eighth and ninth grade, I couldn't wait to get out of school so I could sit on the stoop with Willie Green, who was the superintendent of one of the tenement buildings in my neighborhood, and listen to his John Lee Hooker records."
In the years to come, the early lessons that he learned from the blues would remain the foundation for Dion's varied musical endeavors, beginning with such late-'50s hits as "I Wonder Why," "Where or When" and "A Teenager In Love," recorded with his neighborhood doo wop group the Belmonts. Those hits established him as both a formidable singer and an icon of urban rock 'n' roll cool, but he achieved even greater success after launching his solo career in 1960. While such signature solo smashes as "Runaround Sue," "Lovers Who Wander" and the anthemic "The Wanderer" made Dion a teen heartthrob, his tough-yet-tender vocals established him as his generation's preeminent white soul singer.
"When I was a kid, there was a lot of conflict in my home," Dion recalls. "My father and mother always fought; they just didn't know how to talk to each other. So I never saw conflict resolved. But in a three-minute song, you could resolve conflict; you could take a complex situation and make sense of it and work it out. In my macho Italian neighborhood, it wasn't acceptable for a guy to express vulnerability or loneliness, but I could sing a song like 'No One Knows' and everyone would relate to it, and no one would feel like their manhood was being threatened."
As many of his contemporaries foundered amidst the seismic changes of the 1960s, Dion welcomed the opportunity to explore new musical avenues, seamlessly incorporating folk and blues elements into his work. The end of that decade saw the artist beat a longstanding heroin addiction and experience a life-changing spiritual awakening, as well as returning to the top of the charts with 1968's "Abraham, Martin and John." That contemplative hit set the stage for a series of memorable albums on which Dion reinvented himself as an introspective acoustic singer-songwriter.
In the years since, Dion has remained a consistently vital creative force, exploring new musical challenges while continuing to perform his classic hits for fans around the world. Along the way, he's experienced such career milestones as a historic 1972 reunion with the Belmonts at Madison Square Garden, the 1988 publication of his frank autobiography The Wanderer, his 1989 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the 2000 release of the career-spanning box set King of the New York Streets, as well as collaborations with such notable admirers as Bruce Springsteen, Lou Reed, Dave Edmunds, Paul Simon and Phil Spector.
"I've always been on a search for truth, even when I didn't know exactly what I was searching for, and the music has helped me on that road," Dion states. "The music has always helped me to explore my perception of the world and the nature of what I was feeling. Through all the ups and downs, I've always been full of wonder, and I've managed to hold onto that feeling."
Dion's trademark blend of street-smart experience and openhearted innocence helps to make Son of Skip James such a resonant, personal statement.
"A lot of people ask 'Is this a stretch for you?,' and I say, 'No, 'Teenager In Love' was a stretch for me,'" Dion notes, adding, "When you're inside a song, you have no age. You know exactly who you are, and you're right inside it and you're not trying or thinking. I think I really discovered who I am singing these songs, and I think you can hear that on this record."
It's been five decades since Dion DiMucci first emerged as one of early rock 'n' roll's greatest singers and most adventurous innovators. Since then, he's continued to make compelling, heartfelt music in a variety of styles, from the streetwise swagger of his early hits to the mature introspection of his later work. More recently, the ageless icon has experienced a creative rebirth by reembracing his earliest roots, revisiting the raw blues material that first sparked his musical imagination.
Son of Skip James is the followup to Dion's landmark 2006 release Bronx In Blue, on which the artist, accompanied only by his own acoustic guitar, bared his musical soul on a set of personally charged readings of his favorite blues standards. Bronx In Blue become one of the year's most acclaimed releases, leading New York Times critic Jon Pareles to note, "He sings like someone whose demons are in the past but still not forgotten."
The self-produced Son of Skip James extends its predecessor's organic approach, with eloquently spare arrangements built around Dion's effortlessly soulful voice and sublime guitar and harmonica work.
"I did Bronx In Blue," he explains, "because I had been singing these songs in dressing rooms and soundchecks and people's houses for all these years, and my friends kept asking 'Why don't you record some of those songs?' I remember Bonnie Raitt telling me in 1968 that I should do an album of these songs, and Steve Van Zandt was on my case about it for years. But I always resisted the idea, because I felt like I'd be treading on sacred ground. I finally came around to it, and people really responded, and that made me think, 'Wow, I should have did this a long time ago.' I still had all these other songs in my head, so I thought, 'OK, I'll do another one, but let's do this one a little different.'"
Alongside the classic blues numbers that comprise the bulk of Son of Skip James, Dion delivers rollicking readings of Chuck Berry's "Nadine" and Bob Dylan's "Baby I'm In The Mood For You." The artist's revelatory performances of such blues classics as Skip James' "Devil Got My Woman," Junior Wells' "Hoodoo Man Blues" and the Robert Johnson tunes "Preachin' Blues" and "If I Had Possession (Over Judgement Day)" underline his abiding interest in the intersection of the sacred and the profane. Dion's spiritual concerns are further reflected on a pair of original compositions: the title track, which pays tribute to one of his essential blues idols, and "The Thunderer," a moving meditation that incorporates verses from an eponymous Phyllis McGinley poem inspired by the life of
Dion has been translating his musical and personal passions into distinctive, timeless music for most of his life. Growing up on the streets of the
"A lot of people think I grew up with rock 'n' roll, but I didn't," he notes. "When I was growing up, there was no rock 'n' roll. I grew up on Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, Jimmy Reed and Hank Williams. When I first heard this stuff, it was like it was from outer space, because in my neighborhood it was all Jimmy Roselli and Julius LaRosa. But the truth and honesty in this music spoke to me, and I fell in love with it. When I was in seventh, eighth and ninth grade, I couldn't wait to get out of school so I could sit on the stoop with Willie Green, who was the superintendent of one of the tenement buildings in my neighborhood, and listen to his John Lee Hooker records."
In the years to come, the early lessons that he learned from the blues would remain the foundation for Dion's varied musical endeavors, beginning with such late-'50s hits as "I Wonder Why," "Where or When" and "A Teenager In Love," recorded with his neighborhood doo wop group the Belmonts. Those hits established him as both a formidable singer and an icon of urban rock 'n' roll cool, but he achieved even greater success after launching his solo career in 1960. While such signature solo smashes as "Runaround Sue," "Lovers Who Wander" and the anthemic "The Wanderer" made Dion a teen heartthrob, his tough-yet-tender vocals established him as his generation's preeminent white soul singer.
"When I was a kid, there was a lot of conflict in my home," Dion recalls. "My father and mother always fought; they just didn't know how to talk to each other. So I never saw conflict resolved. But in a three-minute song, you could resolve conflict; you could take a complex situation and make sense of it and work it out. In my macho Italian neighborhood, it wasn't acceptable for a guy to express vulnerability or loneliness, but I could sing a song like 'No One Knows' and everyone would relate to it, and no one would feel like their manhood was being threatened."
As many of his contemporaries foundered amidst the seismic changes of the 1960s, Dion welcomed the opportunity to explore new musical avenues, seamlessly incorporating folk and blues elements into his work. The end of that decade saw the artist beat a longstanding heroin addiction and experience a life-changing spiritual awakening, as well as returning to the top of the charts with 1968's "Abraham, Martin and John." That contemplative hit set the stage for a series of memorable albums on which Dion reinvented himself as an introspective acoustic singer-songwriter.
In the years since, Dion has remained a consistently vital creative force, exploring new musical challenges while continuing to perform his classic hits for fans around the world. Along the way, he's experienced such career milestones as a historic 1972 reunion with the Belmonts at Madison Square Garden, the 1988 publication of his frank autobiography The Wanderer, his 1989 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the 2000 release of the career-spanning box set King of the New York Streets, as well as collaborations with such notable admirers as Bruce Springsteen, Lou Reed, Dave Edmunds, Paul Simon and Phil Spector.
"I've always been on a search for truth, even when I didn't know exactly what I was searching for, and the music has helped me on that road," Dion states. "The music has always helped me to explore my perception of the world and the nature of what I was feeling. Through all the ups and downs, I've always been full of wonder, and I've managed to hold onto that feeling."
Dion's trademark blend of street-smart experience and openhearted innocence helps to make Son of Skip James such a resonant, personal statement.
"A lot of people ask 'Is this a stretch for you?,' and I say, 'No, 'Teenager In Love' was a stretch for me,'" Dion notes, adding, "When you're inside a song, you have no age. You know exactly who you are, and you're right inside it and you're not trying or thinking. I think I really discovered who I am singing these songs, and I think you can hear that on this record."