“Albert King took me aside. He said, ‘The biggest thing about music is you can’t play what people want you to play.’ My dad said that, too”: Bernard Allison grew up surrounded by blues legends – and hid the fact he was learning guitar for years

When Bernard Allison started playing blues guitar, he found himself in a familial atmosphere. “Back then, the blues field was especially tight-knit,” he tells Guitar World. “It was different from the battles you hear about from when my dad grew up, with the west side versus the south side.”

He’d been playing for two years before his guitar legend father, Luther Allison, found out he’d even picked up an instrument. Along with family friends Albert King, Johnny Winter and Stevie Ray Vaughan, Luther encouraged Bernard to be himself.

“Stevie, Albert and my dad all said the same thing: ‘You got all the licks. Don’t copy anyone else. Your heart, your feelings; every person’s different. Be true to who you are.’ And that’s how it unfolded for me.”

At 18, Bernard was asked by Koko Taylor to join her band. By his mid-20s, he’d progressed to the point where his dad didn’t just ask him to join his band but to be the band’s leader. “It’s hard to describe the feeling of being up there with your father,” Allison says.

“He was one of the creators. To receive his trust, and for him to allow me to be next to him, open the show, and even arrange his music – nothing gets better than that.”

Since Luther’s death in 1997, Bernard has led a distinguished solo career. Now 60, he isn’t slowing down. “I’m blessed to stay healthy, and I’m grateful that I can still go out and do what I love to do,” he says. “I just want to play music and put smiles on people’s faces. And we definitely need it during these hard times.”

Did your dad inspire you to pick up the guitar?

I actually started playing on my own. I was listening to his recordings and I started playing two years before he knew. He was home to make a record and caught me playing guitar! I’d wanted to be able to play his first album totally before letting him know I was interested in playing music at all.

What did he think of what he heard?

He was like, “Well, if you’re playing like that, you didn’t just start!” It came as a shock to him!

Bernard Allison - The River's Rising - YouTube

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He introduced you to Muddy Waters, Albert King and Hound Dog Taylor. What was that like?

They were my dad’s friends, and you just never knew who’d come to our house. We knew who they were as kids. All those influences and stories, listening to them jam with my father, impacted me. I studied a lot of my dad’s idols. It helped me get an idea of what direction I wanted to follow.

Did your dad’s friends offer you advice?

The biggest thing was from Albert King. When I was in Koko Taylor’s band we toured with Albert. He’d take me aside and explain things to me. He said, “The biggest thing about music is you can’t play what people want you to play.” My dad said that, too.

Albert said, ‘If you want to be a follower, become a rhythm player. But if you’re gonna be a leader, you have to sing and play guitar.” My dad was really keen on that, saying, “You have to be a leader. I don’t want you to be a follower. Stick to being Bernard Allison.”

You joined your dad on stage at the Chicago Blues Festival in 1983.

That was pretty crazy. I’d never been on a big festival stage. He’d bring us to clubs and smaller things to get me to play a couple of songs, but the festival was pretty mind-blowing. I’d been taking one step up the ladder at a time, trying to have patience and following my head to study music.

What led to your joining Koko Taylor’s band when you were 18?

Literally two days out of high school graduation, I got the call. It comes back to the relationship Koko had with my mom and dad. I think they discussed it – I was never told directly, but I kind of figured it out. They wanted to give me a chance to see if I was serious. They said to Koko, “Show him the rules of the road. See if he’s serious about it.”

Your dad had given you a Strat by then. Was that what you were using with Koko?

Yeah – it was a ’79 anniversary Strat. I had a Music Man amplifier, but Koko didn’t allow us to use effects pedals. She called everything a “wah wah!” If she heard a chorus or anything like that, she wouldn’t let us use it.

She came in the old-school way under Willie Dixon, and they didn’t use effects back then. She could play a little guitar herself, and the natural sound was what she considered true blues. There was no reverb, or anything. If she heard it she’d freak out!

You got to know Johnny Winter while you were with Koko.

I remember Johnny and Edgar coming to visit my father as kids. My brother and I were actually afraid of them because we’d never seen albinos before! But I’d always been a fan of Johnny.

Bernard Allison - Serious (Official Music Video) - YouTube

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When I was a sophomore in high school, my dad took me to Rochester, New York. We were on stage, and I saw this big flash of light in the crowd. My dad was like, “I’m gonna invite a friend up to play.” It was Johnny Winter! I stuck to my corner and wouldn’t even look at him. I could hear him, and he was trying to pass it back to me, and I’d play a little, but that was a real experience for me.

Once I was with Koko we did a package tour with Johnny. Every day he’d bring me on his tour bus. He showed me how to play slide guitar and use drop D, open E and open D tunings. Once he showed me that, everything made sense.

Through your dad, you also got to know and play with Stevie Ray Vaughan.

When I was no more than eight, my dad took us to New Orleans. I remember seeing this kid onstage who I thought sounded like Albert King. That was Stevie. Then he was in my hometown, Peoria, playing a show at Illinois State University. I was supposed to open that show, but they removed us, and we ended up doing the grand opening of a blues club called Duffy’s Tavern.

So Stevie contacted my mother and said, “Don’t tell Bernard, but we’re gonna surprise him for his birthday.” We’re on stage at this new club and it’s my first major gig. The place is jam-packed and the owner runs up and says, “You have to stop!” I was assuming we were fired, or playing too loud!

As I’m walking toward the dressing room I see this bus, and I’m like, “What’s a tour bus doing in Peoria Heights?” I get to the dressing room, and there were Stevie and Double Trouble. He said, “Happy birthday! You ready to play?”

There was no way to get Stevie through that crowd. They had this little door on the side of the stage, and that's where Stevie and the band snuck in without people realizing it. The only giveaway was the white tail feather in his hat! The place just went crazy. And that was my 16th birthday, where I got to share the stage with Stevie and Double Trouble.

After touring with Koko for several years, you became your dad’s bandleader in 1989. His band backed you up on your solo debut, The Next Generation, a year later.

That had always been a dream. He didn’t realize how much I’d progressed while I was with Koko. I’d learned how to actually be a rhythm player, as opposed to just jumping out and playing solos. I’d learned how to support someone.

When he invited me to record his live album in ’89, the plan was for me to play on the record and go back home. But then he was like, “No, I want you to stay on the tour.” He really started digging what I was playing. And he was really shocked by what I knew.

Bernard Allison, Ally Venable, Katie Henry - The House Is Rockin’ (Official Music Video) - YouTube

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I wasn’t trying to step on him, just trying to push him, ‘cause he loved to push, and I knew exactly the spots to do it. And it gave him freedom, where he didn’t have to come to rehearsals every day. He’d send me with the band, and I’d share the rehearsal tapes with him. He could get the rest he needed to do all the dates.

It was like a dream come true. And then I taught him how to open-tune his guitar and play slide, just as Johnny Winter had taught me. You can hear it on his last three albums. Once I showed him that, he was just ripping slides everywhere!

It was kind of me giving back. And he was my biggest fan; he liked music, and I got a chance to arrange Soul Fixin’ Man, his comeback record. I was on my first major tour with my own group, so I couldn’t make the recording. I said, “Dad, this is another appreciation from me. Take these arrangements and go do your thing.”

From there, he took off Stateside and followed it up with three more albums. That’s when everybody was like, “We got a new king of the blues!” I was like, “My dad’s been around for years!” But I got what they were trying to say – and that was a new highlight for me.

Where does your rig stand today?

I have quite a few of Dad’s guitars. He was endorsed by Gibson. Before he passed, he wrote down a list and said he didn’t want his guitars going into the halls of fame; he wanted them to be played. I distributed at least 40 Gibsons to various artists and kept his main guitars for myself.

I’d been using a Mesa/Boogie for almost 12 years, but I wanted to change my sound, so I started using a Fender Hot Rod III. I pair that with DB Mark 212 and an Eric Gales Raw Dawg head. So I have a clean sound on one side, and if I want dirty, I have the Hot Rod. And for pedals, I use AnalogMan.

What’s next for you?

We’re heading back to Europe in March for a tour. Then we come home to record my next album. We may have it out later in 2026, but I’m thinking we’re going to release it in the first quarter of 2027.

• Catch Bernard Allison on tour.