Dion DiMucci is best known for his early doo-wop and rock hits in the 1960s and 1970s, but at the dawn of the eighties, Dion took a spiritual turn, becoming a born-again Christian and releasing a half-dozen Christian rock albums.
The last of these was his 1986 LP Velvet & Steel, which featured a very eighties devotional entitled “Hymn to Him.”
“Hymn to Him” never charted (none of Dion’s Christian music did), but Dion never gave up on it. He resurrected it for his latest album, Blues With Friends, paring back the musical arrangement to better serve his lyrics.
The backing vocals were pared back, too. Gone is the original backing choir, replaced by a soulful, mostly wordless vocal by Patti Scialfa, who Dion beseeched to provide a new arrangement to suit the new track.
“I just wanted her to hum along on some of the solos, but she had a different idea,” Dion told Rolling Stone. “She had a whole other arrangement in mind and did this layering kind of thing and I just have to say she captured the wind of the holy spirit, truly something beautiful and sublime.”
Patti’s husband was taken by it, too–so much so that he was moved to add his own contribution, a mid-song guitar solo.
“Hymn to Him” was released as an online video single on May 1, 2020, a month in advance of Blues With Friends, to a generally positive reception.
And while it doesn’t seem like a live performance is on the horizon any time soon, we can be grateful for one more beautiful piece of music from an otherwise mostly quiet year.
Hymn to Him
Recorded: Unknown
Released: Blues With Friends (2020)
Never performed
This is beautiful. Thank you, Ken …
“He’s the first step of wisdom; he’s the sun through the clouds.” Must admit, I was slightly surprised that Bruce and Patti lent their “voice” to such a direct devotional when this first appeared. However, with Patti “capturing the wind of the holy spirit” and The Boss’s “Chris Isaak inspired” solo, their contributions surely made their hero proud.
Some of Dion’s Chrisitan music actually did chart/award