LUTHER ALLISON

Luther Allison come into the picture about the middle of 1957. I needed a bass player and I met Luther Allison walkin’ on Ogden Avenue there strummin’ his big body type guitar, you know, and I asked him was he interested in learning to play and said, ‘Yes.’ So I told him I needed a bass player and he said, ‘OK,’ you know. ’Cause he couldn’t play the guitar and he wanted to try and learn it. So he played bass for me for a few months but then he wanted to play guitar. One record that really got him on, B.B. King played a thing ‘I Got A Whole Lot Of Lovin’ For You’ and he wanted to learn how to play that lead part. So we got a record and I showed him how you should do it by listenin’ to the record. So he went on. He studied for weeks and weeks until he got that. That’s what started him with the guitar and made me lose a bass player.”

Jimmy “Fast Fingers” Dawkins