When I was sixteen, ran away.....

Mention Dion (DiMucci) to someone and he/she may quickly dismiss him as either a washed-up 50's pop star (The Wanderer/Lonely Teenager/Runaround Sue - some of the era's best) or a washed-up 60's folkie (Abraham, Martin and John - okay, I hated that, too), but you should know better. This guy is significantly more than that. The guy picks a mighty fine guitar and can really sing the blues. His 2004 Bronx in Blue and last year's Son of Skip James were critically acclaimed, if popularly ignored. He's coming for a 4-night stint (Thu-Sun, August 28-31) at Mohegan Sun's Cabaret Theatre. Anyone else wanna go?

Per AllMusicGuide....When Dion DiMucci, one of the early great rock & roll stars, knocked out Bronx in Blue in 2005, it caused a rumbling stir among critics, if no one else. To be honest, no one expected much -- not even Dion, who hadn't made music for the masses since 1968 with his last big hit, "Abraham, Martin and John." He nailed down a few hip records in the early '70s and has made plenty since, but American audiences don't get to hear them for all the usual reasons. If the biz wasn't itself, his turn of the century classic, Déjà Nu, would have sold a million or two. Bronx in Blue was a killer blues record. Yeah, a blues record. It was on this tiny little label with inadequate distribution, and whatever...you know the story. But if you were lucky enough to hear that disc, you could hear the same Dion who issued those hip blues records for Columbia in the mid-'60s, produced by Tom Wilson. The years melted away and Dion's unique take on the blues via the street corners, record shops, and alleyways of the Bronx came pouring through the speakers like some message from another world. For anyone cynical enough to think it improper for Dion to title this record Son of Skip James, quit reading right now; you won't get it at all. DiMucci played the Newport festivals and was as deeply under the sway of James, John Hurt, Fred McDowell, Lightnin' Hopkins, and Muddy Waters as Dylan, the Band, Fred Neil, John Fahey, Tom Rush, and the like.

DiMucci's voice is a thing of wonder; he has lost none of his vitality and none of his range, and his control over it is simply amazing. He also plays a pretty mean guitar. He didn't need any big-name producer or all-star band, either. Dion produced Son of Skip James himself, plays acoustic guitar and harmonica, and sings his rear off. Rick Krive accompanies him on piano on a few tracks, and Bob Guertin is on percussion and Hammond B-3 on others. That's it.

Damn it, I'm going. You?