“Michael Dinallo is a scientist of sound. His guitar does for The Dinallos what Pete Anderson used to do for Dwight Yoakam, and that is to provide a stinging commentary or the kind of rhythmic thrust that propels the narrative. He did it when he produced soul singer Eddie Floyd and he did it when he masterminded a spectacular Charlie Rich tribute album. Thus, anything he ever does is worth hearing. Here, he goes from lullabies and country-rock to the blues (almost) and radio-ready pop. The man can do no wrong.”
-Mike Greenblatt, Goldmine Magazine
“If you’ve caught one of Michael Dinallo’s bimonthly soul-blues revues at Betty’s Grill this year, you’ve seen the Ohio-born guitarist and producer pick in tandem with some of Nashville’s best singers and players. He’s a stone-cold bluesman, but honors both soul and Americana.”
-Edd Hurt, Nashville Scene
“Crooked Road Songs leaves us wanting more from Dinallo. He's at home in any kind of music, and his stellar guitar playing puts him in that class of guitarists that includes Vince Gill, Robert Cray, Dale Watson, Duane Allman and Danny Flowers who never waste a note and possess the just-right phrasing for any song they touch. This small masterpiece of an EP delivers the promise of the kind of musical portraits Dinallo can paint on a larger canvas.”
-Henry Carrigan, Country Standard Time
“If you look up the word underrated, then Michael Dinallo's name should be right beside it. He has an imposing array of credits from producing soul great Eddie Floyd to helming the esteemed "Feel Like Going Home: The Songs of Charlie Rich," yet he has never received the credit he deserves. This new EP is the first record under his own name -- and it's an absolute gem. It's a rootsy excursion incorporating his deft, twang-heaven skills on electric and acoustic guitars as well as mandolin. He brings in Boston mainstay Tim Gearan to sing modernized treatments of "Lonesome Road Blues" (originally a Muddy Waters tune) and "In the Pines," associated with Lead Belly, on which Dinallo sounds almost Duane Eddy-ish. Then he adds exquisite soul singer Barrence Whitfield for originals such as the bluesy-psychedelic "Mr. Johnson" and the poignant but hopeful "Waiting for a Better Day." Let's hope that Dinallo's better day has arrived. He has earned it.”
-Steve Morse, former staff music critic at the Boston Globe
“Dinallo is a Boston-area music veteran, perhaps best known as one of The Radio Kings blues-rock quartet which earned a record deal with Icehouse Records of Memphis and toured the world in the 1990s. Dinallo has been working on production, and has been out of the spotlight in recent years, except as guitarist for the rockabilly group Juliet and the Lonesome Romeos – Juliet also being Mrs. Dinallo. This six-song EP is a chance for him to stretch out and unveil his six-string mastery again. Dinallo surrounds himself with some first class help, as on the gently rocking “Lonesome Road Blues,” where Tim Gearan sings lead and plays guitar, with Kevin Barry giving the quintet a three-guitar attack. The darker atmospherics of “In the Pines” offers a more fuzz-toned type of sound. Three of the songs feature Dinallo in a stripped down trio with Barrence Whitfield on vocals and Ducky Carlisle on bass drum, and “Mr. Johnson” boasts dazzling acoustic and electric guitar work and a 1960′s psychedelic blues feel. “Waiting for a Better Day” is a shimmering, soulful ballad that proves Dinallo’s songwriting abilities are still among the best in roots rock.”
-Jay N. Miller, Patriot Ledger
“Producer Michael Dinallo recorded all these tracks at Sam Phillips Recording in Memphis….everything exudes boundless energy along with a love of Rich and his songs and does exactly what this set should do: send newcomers back to the originals to hear an artists that Sam Phillips put on ‘the same pedestal as Howlin’ Wolf’ as Knox Phillips relates in the liner notes.”
-Hal Horowitz, American Songwriter (Reviewing Feel Like Going Home: The Songs of Charlie Rich)
“OK, after thinking long and hard, I guess I can summarise it as: ‘imagine Mississippi John Hurt and Duane Eddy jamming with an acoustic psychobilly band on a programme of songs embracing all their influences and recording the results in the Sun Studios on Union Avenue as a dazed Sam Cooke walks in to add the vocals after having spent the previous evening out on the town with Screamin’ Jay Hawkins’. Yep, I’m kinda happy with that. If you ever wanted a definition of Americana, stop here.”
-Norman Darwen, Vienna Blues Art Studios (reviewing The Mercy Brothers’ Strange Adventure)
“Thanks to Michael Dinallo’s dynamic production...the sound of Alastair Moock’s Let it Go is shot through with rugged clarity.”
-Dan Gewertz, Boston Herald
“Dinallo brings some classy touches to the production room. Beautifully soulful, guitar in hand, the producer’s experience as main man with the Radio Kings, finds him in such groovy fettle that he hits B.B. King highs.”
-Loudon Temple, Maverick Country Magazine
“Dinallo has a reputation as a player and producer who knows how to sublimate his ego in service to the material, and doesn’t let habit get in the way when looking for the right sound.....(He) works up a steady soul sweat. It’s his vision of rock and roll heaven - with brown Fender amps.”
-Rick Allen, Vintage Guitar
“Dinallo is that rare self-effacing guitarist who eschews the spotlight. He writes twangy songs that are intriguing amalgams of blues, rock, and country, stubbornly defying convenient idiomatic labeling.”
-Bill Dahl, Living Blues Magazine