Legendary Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Dion delivers a new album that transcends generations: Girl Friends.

His latest from KTBA Records sees him collaborating with a stellar lineup of female artists including the soulful Susan Tedeschi, powerhouse Shemekia Copeland, icon Carlene Carter, virtuoso Joanne Shaw Taylor, and the versatile Maggie Rose, among others.

Dion’s timeless voice, and the distinct styles of these acclaimed artists, create a fusion celebrating the rich tapestry of American music.

Indeed, there’s more from Dion on the horizon. He will be saluted next month by the Bruce Springsteen Archives & Center for American Music at Monmouth University at its second annual American Music Honors event. Dion’s fellow honorees are Mavis Staples, Jackson Browne and John Mellencamp.

1. Soul Force [with Susan Tedeschi]
2. I Aim To Please [with Danielle Nicole]
3. Stop Drop And Roll [with Valerie Tyson]
4. Do Ladies Get The Blues [with Christine Ohlman & Debbie Davies]
5. An American Hero [with Carlene Carter]
6. Don’t You Want A Man Like Me [with Rory Block]
7. Sugar Daddy [with Christine Ohlman]
8. Endless Highway [with Randi Fishenfeld]
9. I Got Wise [with Maggie Rose]
10. Hey Suzy [with Sue Foley]
11. Mama Said [with Shemekia Copeland]
12. Just Like That [with Joanne Shaw Taylor]

Following up the release of his much-lauded recent albums Blues With Friends(2020) and Stomping Ground (2021), this brand new recording opens on the flourishing Soul Force [with Susan Tedeschi, Tedeschi-Trucks Band] and the organic, low slung foot tapper I Aim To Please [with Danielle Nicole, Trampled Under Foot], and then we get the Gospelized hand clapper Stop Drop And Roll [with Valerie Tyson, Valerie Tyson Band], the dutiful Do Ladies Get The Blues [with Christine Ohlman & Debbie Davies], before both the impassioned An American Hero [with Carlene Carter, The Carter Family] and the guitar-fed, mid-tempo twanging Don’t You Want A Man Like Me [with Rory Block] are brought forth.

Along next is the slinking blues of Sugar Daddy [with Christine Ohlman] and the fiddle-veined Endless Highway [with Randi Fishenfeld, Wildfire Band] and they are in turn backed by the cinematically-hued I Got Wise with Maggie Rose, the jaunty, free-wheeling Hey Suzy [with Sue Foley], the album rounding out on the languishing beauty of Mama Said [with Shemekia Copeland], closing on the forthright blues stance found within Just Like That [with Joanne Shaw Taylor].

Dion explains the album’s raison d’être in a commentary titled “The Feminine Genius” that is included with Girl Friends. “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.”

Girl Friends, set for release Friday, March 8th, 2024, is his third consecutive album through Joe Bonamassa and Roy Wiseman’s Keeping The Blues Alive Records. The previous two album saw Dion collaborate with a range luminaries including 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.

Official Purchase Link

Dion - Mama Said with Shemekia Copeland - Official Music Video

www.diondimucci.com