Blues master Luther Allison will bring his hard-edged blues to Des Moines Friday night for a show that will undoubtedly be electrifying.

Allison, who grew up playing the blues in Chicago with greats like Otis Rush and Magic Sam, brings his own blend of blues and rock to Connie’s Lounge.

Allison’s blues are not the “classic” blues per se, but more of a style that combines many different aspects of music with and within the blues, something which forced Allison to move to France in the early ’80s, in part because of the heavy criticism he received for his “crossover” style.

Once in Paris he said he played the same music he always had; the difference though, was that he was accepted on a new level. “I made people enjoy themselves,” he said. People there didn’t care about whether or not he was classic blues or not, they just liked his music.

Now that Allison has returned to the States, he said he has “a new record and a new light,” and that his popularity is soaring; both old and new admirers are coming out of the woodwork.

He said he definitely wants to get more young people into the blues. “I have the energy; I have the talent to redo the blues, [to make] my blues, Luther’s blues.”

Allison’s life began on a cotton plantation in Arkansas where he first realized his musical inclinations with a broom wire nailed to the side of his dad’s house. The 14th of 15 musically-gifted children, Allison has been surrounded by music since the beginning, from gospel to blues.

At the age of 11 he moved to Chicago, where he had to walk past Muddy Waters’ home on his way to school. Eventually he became friends with Waters’ son, and the two would watch Muddy rehearse with some of the greatest names in blues: Buddy Guy, Freddie King and Howlin’ Wolf.

Allison began playing seriously in his teens, where he would sneak into blues bars and hope to be invited up on stage, usually with success. “The whole bottom line was the fun of it,” Allison said. “People like to dance.” He says today he plays for the same reason, for the fun, and that he is proud to have started the way he did.

He said he tries to get the real feeling from the music. “[Just because it’s a] blues song doesn’t mean you have to sing about being down and out . . . I want to hook the blues into a joyful situation.”

Allison, who has been supported by much of the blues musicians’ community, said he doesn’t buy the idea of blues categories or regional blues, and that “[I] always have been a little bit different from the [mainstream] blues.”

He is set on his own style; he is not trying to break away from the blues or anything else, he just wants to do his own thing.

To see this legend, one only needs to go to Connie’s Lounge in Des Moines, located at 3839 Merle Hay Road, at 9:30 p.m. Friday and shell out a measly $10 for a night not easily forgotten.