Dion DiMucci, the legendary New York rock ’n’ roller, will appear at SXSW for the very first time in a program set for Thursday, March 17 at 3:30 PM titled “A Conversation With Dion: Rock’s Enduring Voice”.
Dion, who was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by Lou Reed in 1989, will discuss aspects of his career, his creative process and his place in music history as we all as his latest project, New York Is My Home, an album set for release on February 12, with Richard Gotteher.
Dion commented, “I’m really looking forward to coming down to Austin for SXSW. I always enjoy conversations with my friend Richard Gottehrer, an interesting guy, an historian and a great guy to talk music with. Sharing this one with a few hundred others should be something special.”
Gottehrer is a veteran music industry figure who co-founded The Orchard, the music and media company that is the largest supplier of digital music in the world. He wrote such classic hits as My Boyfriend’s Back and I Want Candy and was part of the neo-punk group The Strangeloves. He co-founded Sire Records with Seymour Stein in 1966 and went on to produce albums by Blondie, The Go-Go’s and Richard Hell, among others. Gottehrer’s Instant Records is the label behind Dion’s new album and has already released its title track, a duet with Paul Simon.
New York Is My Home was produced by Jimmy Vivino, the musical mastermind who is seen nightly leading The Basic Cable Band on Conan. He will be on hand at the SXSW program and is expected to join, as Dion put it, in “maybe punctuating some of the stories with a song or two or three.” An official SXSW evening performance event in Austin by Dion with Vivino’s participation is planned; information about that is forthcoming.
Dion’s career spans six (or seven, depending on methodology) decades dating back to his days fronting Dion & The Belmonts in the late 1950s (I Wonder Why, A Teenager In Love) through the 60’s when, as a solo singer, he toured with Buddy Holly and Richie Valens and scored massive hits with The Wanderer, Runaround Sue, Ruby Baby and, in the folk idiom, Abraham, Martin and John. Over the years, he’s recorded Christian music and explored the blues that has so influenced his singing and guitar playing. Dion wrote or co-wrote all of the songs for New York Is My Home, his genre-defying new album, with the exception of Tampa Red’s I Ain’t For It and Lightning Hopkins’ Katie Mae.
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