THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “The past few years have been some of the most productive over the course of Dion’s storied career that spans multiple eras in music, culture and consciousness. His latest album of all original tracks, Girl Friends, features a lineup of powerful female collaborators.
Dion explains, “I’ve noticed that men play a different tune when there are women in the room — and it’s a different kind of jam when women are in the mix. I don’t know why this is so, but it is. Maybe we men, at some primitive level, are competing for their attention. As I said, I don’t know why or how. I do know it makes better music and we’re all better for it.”
He continues: “I wanted the best music possible. So, I wrote up a batch of duets for me and my ‘girl friends,’ the women who inhabit my headphones — the women who make me turn up the volume when they drop into my radio. I invited them to join me, one by one, and here they are, wailing on the guitar and into the microphone. You’ll hear the feminine genius in every groove of this record, and you won’t forget any of it.”
Girl Friends finds Dion keeping musical company with a lineup of stellar female artists: Susan Tedeschi, Carlene Carter, Rory Block, Shemekia Copeland, Debbie Davis, Randi Fishenfeld, Sue Foley, Danielle Nicole, Christine Ohlman, Maggie Rose, Joanne Shaw Taylor and Valerie Tyson. Of the album’s 12 original tracks, 11 were composed by Dion and Mike Aquilina, with one written by Dion and the late Scott Kempner (Dictators, Del Lords). The album was produced by Wayne Hood and Dion, who also helmed Blues With Friends and Stomping Ground.
Girl Friends includes liner notes by Darlene Love, who commented, “I’ve been a huge fan since I was a young girl. In fact, when I sang He’s A Rebel I was singing about outsiders like Dion. I’m a bigger fan today. I’m still trying to emulate his unique bluesy overtones. Now I’m thrilled again with these new collaborations — not just friends, but all girl friends — great women vocalist and musicians. This is just what the world needs now. These duets are riveting.”
Dion explains the album’s raison d’être in a commentary titled The Feminine Genius that is included in the packaging. “I write about my preoccupations, and I know no better preoccupation than the female of the species. A friend of mine is a philosopher, and he talks often about ‘the feminine genius’ — the undeniable difference that’s in women and the difference that they make in the world. I’m grateful to my friend for giving it a name, because the fact has always been plain to me, but I could never put it into words.”
His mother was his family’s breadwinner, he says, and he had two sisters. He’s been married for 60 years to the former Susan Butterfield, who is name checked in the album’s Hey Suzy, and they are the parents of three daughters who, in turn, produced four more girls. He writes, “I’ve always been surrounded by the feminine genius — always living off it. Even my music has kept a tight focus on the ladies: Runaround Sue, Donna the Prima Donna, Little Diane, Ruby Baby. All those women, real and imagined, have made all the difference in my life.” He chronicles his female musical collaborators including those who joined him on his previous two albums as well as Darlene Love, Ronnie Spector, Cher and Patty Smyth.
This release follows his wildly successful Blues With Friends (2020) and Stomping Ground (2021) albums. Those two albums, with liner notes by Bob Dylan and Pete Townshend, respectively, include musical contributions from music royalty and icons Joe Bonamassa, Brian Setzer, the late Jeff Beck, John Hammond, Van Morrison, Joe Louis Walker, Jimmy Vivino, Billy Gibbons, Sonny Landreth, Paul Simon, Samantha Fish, Rory Block, Patti Scialfa, Bruce Springsteen, Paul Simon, Boz Scaggs, Eric Clapton, G.E. Smith, Keb’ Mo’, Marcia Ball, Mark Knopfler, Peter Frampton and Rickie Lee Jones.
There’s more from Dion on the horizon. Last year, The Wanderer, a musical based on his life debuted at the Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, N.J., and is expected to arrive on Broadway next year. Directed by Kenneth Ferrone and based on Charles Messina’s book, the initial run was the subject of critical acclaim.”
Watch my 2021 interview with Dion HERE.
