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It's all in the boogie
Mississippi Allstars get you moving with a sound both urgent and ancient.
By PHILIP BOOTH
© St. Petersburg Times, published November 2, 2000
[Photo by Chapman Baehler]
North Mississippi Allstars logged 53,000 miles in the 18-month period ending in July, according to Time magazine.
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Luther Dickinson, 27, singer and guitarist for inventive hill-country blues explorers the North Mississippi Allstars, has plenty of friends his own age, including drummer brother Cody, 24, and Chris Chew, the trio's bassist.
But the six-stringer also stays tight with a few pals who couldn't easily be worked into a storyline on The Real World and would hardly be recognized by other members of Generation Y.
"Otha Turner is one of my best friends. He's 92," Luther says of the fife-and-drum master, a goat farmer first recorded by blues archivist Alan Lomax. Turner's music, which hints at African rhythms and textures, was reintroduced to the world on 1998's Everybody Hollerin' Goat. The disc, produced by Luther, was hailed by Rolling Stone as one of the best blues records of the '90s. A gospel collaboration is in the works.
Luther and Cody, now gaining raves and a burgeoning following for their own Shake Hands With Shorty CD, also have spent time with guitarist R.L. Burnside, 72, often hanging out at the now-defunct juke joint named for the late Junior Kimbrough. There, the Dickinsons put in lots of time jamming with the sons and grandsons of Burnside and Kimbrough.
Whether through osmosis or an organic process of musical education, Luther, Cody and the gospel-influenced Chew have landed on a sound that's simultaneously urgent and ancient, an intense one-chord boogie deeply rooted in music that's been played for generations in and around the hill country near Oxford, Miss.
Shake Hands With Shorty, which has grabbed radio attention on Triple A, college and rock formats and earned favor with the neo-hippie crowd, is a blast of newfangled old-time country blues, modern interpretations of tunes by Burnside, Kimbrough and Mississippi Fred McDowell. Those seeking more modern influences in the mix might hear traces of Cream, the Allman Brothers, Jimi Hendrix and '90s jam bands.
Trance is an integral element in the group's approach, as the Allstars, sometimes joined by Garry Burnside on second guitar, find a groove, and keep digging in until they achieve an effect that's downright hypnotic.
"That's something I've always gravitated toward," Luther says. "I always liked long, trancey songs, like early Dr. John or Indian classical music, or Hendrix -- long, one-chord songs. Then when I found Junior Kimbrough, I was like, "Oh my God, this is it.' "
The Dickinsons' unofficial internship in roots music began at home, with the extensive record collection of their father, Jim, the noted Memphis pianist who played with Aretha Franklin, Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones and Eric Clapton. The senior Dickinson also produced recordings by everyone from Ry Cooder to Toots and the Maytals to the Replacements to Big Star.
"I'd go from listening to the MC5 to Charles Mingus to the Even Dozen Jug Band," Luther says. "I always liked it primitive and raw, be it rock or gospel or blues or whatever."
The siblings, who put together their first band when Luther was 9, moved from a Memphis suburb to the Mississippi hills in 1986, and from an all-white school to one that was more diverse.
They put together a punkish rock band in high school, and organized the Allstars in 1996. The group logged 53,000 miles in their van during the 18-month period ending in July, according to Time magazine. Luther credits the band's success, in part, to some early career advice.
"It all comes down to the importance of getting the a- shaking," he says. "R.L. (Burnside) says blues ain't nothing but dance music. Around here, it's true. With the hill-country blues, it's all about boogie. It's all about getting people to dance, getting people riled up, getting some tension in the air, some sexual tension."
PREVIEW
North Mississippi Allstars, 8 p.m. Friday, Skipper's Smokehouse, 910 Skipper Road, Tampa. $12 advance, $15 day of show. (813) 977-6474.
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