North Mississippi All
Stars
The lineup of the North Mississippi All Stars is ever changing.
This combo includes the grandson
of bluesman RL Burnside (at the top in the white sweater.) Kenny Brown (not
pictured) also played a few songs.
The North Mississippi All Stars got its start on the Tuscaloosa Strip in 1998 during 25-cent beer night at the Booth. Since then, the band's (Chris Chew - Bass, Luther Dickinson - Guitar, Duwayne Burnside - Guitar, Cody Dickinson - drums) music has spread far and wide across this land. The All Stars' second cd, 51 Phantom, has been nominated for a Grammy in the Best Contemporary Blues category by the National Academy for Recording Arts and Sciences. But the catergory fails to fully capture the All Stars' dynamic and rambling style. These four players' blues don't make you sit down and cry, they make you get up and dance. It's an undeniable feeling to see and hear four wandering musical ideas come together on the downbeat ... like holding a rope that snaps taut as you swing out over a big cliff. It's plenty exciting and plenty of people turn out to experience it. The Dickinson Brothers sat down before their January 23, 2003 show at the Jupiter to talk about the band's beginnings, late night Tuscaloosa and other things. Luther is tuning his guitar. Cody is bouncing a drum stick on a practice pad ...
Take a picture tour of the North Mississippi All Stars in Tuscaloosa
Druid City Online - Please introduce yourself … tell me where you’re from and what you’re doing here?
Hello, my name is Cody Dickinson. I play drums for the North Mississippi All Stars. And I’m here to play this show in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
My name is Luther Dickinson, and we (Cody and Luther are brothers) grew up in Hernando, MS and now live in MS and TN. We’re here at the Jupiter Club, one of my favorite places to play in the South.
You guys have obviously played a lot of college towns around the South and the country … compare Tuscaloosa to some of those places?
Luther - Tuscaloosa was one of the first towns we started touring in back in 1998-1999. We used to play down at the Booth opening up for 25 cent beer !(laughs) Every Wednesday night for like six weeks, and we made a lot of good friends here. We used to go eat at Dreamland when we had time. Tuscaloosa’s great man! Beautiful girls and rowdy guys.
Let me ask you Cody, what are some of your earliest memories of the Booth, which is somewhat of a local institution at this point.
Cody-At that time, we were doing five different cities every week. We were doing a weekly show in five different places. Wednesday night and 25 cent beer was the Booth. We had some of the best crowds there I think. But most of the people did come because there was 25-cent beer that night. But that was all good ‘cause they enjoyed the music. But there was this one character named TJ, who still comes to our gigs today … but it would just be me and Luther playing, and he would come in and not even think twice. He’d start really getting into it and be like “Give it to me! Give it to me! Come on ! Come on!” I’ll never forget that man, it was hilarious. He still comes to see us, he’s around here somewhere.
That is one thing about Tuscaloosa … it is a late night town, later than most towns.
Cody-Yeah, it is. You know, I can’t help but compare it to Oxford a little bit ‘cause that’s where we grew up playing (in Mississippi) and it’s a college town like this. But they shut it down. On Saturday nights, we have to stop at midnight. Where in Tuscaloosa, we have to start at midnight! (laughs) So that’s the difference there.
Is that good or bad, as far as the band goes?
Cody-Well, it depends on how much sleep I got.
Luther-It makes the girls all the more beautiful and the guys all the more rowdy!
That’s an issue in Tuscaloosa now. There’s been talk of shutting down Tuscaloosa a lot earlier to try and curb the University’s image as a party school.
Luther-Well, there’s nothing they can do about that. Ole Miss and Tuscaloosa are branded for life, they’re party schools.
What happens in Oxford after the bars shut down? What do people do?
Luther-That’s a well kept Mississippi secret.
I’ll ask you that then (Cody), maybe you’ll reveal it.
Yeah, same old after show party stuff. They just start stuff a lot earlier. You can’t buy a cold beer at the store, so they stock up on warm 6-packs and go freeze them down. You know, they get kegs of beer and have after show parties at houses. Bands always go hang out at those a lot. Sometimes they play. But you know, there’s not much to do when it all shuts down.
Would you consider Oxford a bigger or smaller party town than Tuscaloosa?
Cody-Well, having seen both in full effect. It’s definitely a very cool part of Tuscaloosa that you can go so late. It brings on a different vibe, a different energy than having them shut down at midnight. I think Tuscaloosa should stick with it.
Do y’all experience that kind of late night activity in other cities?
Luther-We were talking about that just tonight, and New Orleans is the only place you really see that besides Tuscaloosa. I’m going to miss it if they do it (do away with late night hours), because Tuscaloosa is notoriously late and wild.
Tell me about the last three shows you played, and the next three. Where have you been and where are you going?
Luther-Well, we played Starkville MS last night and that was a nice show to get warmed back up. Before that we spent New Years’ and the first week of January in Colorado. That was a lot of fun. We played a lot of ski towns and saw a lot of snow. It was a lot of fun. People really like to party in those ski towns. But man, we all got sick cause it was so cold up there. After tonight, we go up to Athens, GA and Asheville, NC and then we go back home. So we’re glad to be back in the South.
Cody, talk about a few of the bands you’ve really enjoyed seeing or playing with in the past few months.
Cody-Unfortunately, I don’t get to go out and see music as much as I
want to because we play so much. But we did a tour with MoFro, and I had a lot
of fun meeting those guys and hearing them play. They kick ass. Robert Randolph
has been real fun to get to know and watch him play. I don’t know really
…
Luther-The Kenny Brown Band opening for us to
night, they’re bad ass! I watched them last night. They are awesome. It's
Cedric Burnside, Kenny Brown and Takeshi Imura. They’re a
badass blues trio. Raw, real thing. Basically, it’s RL Burnside’s
rhythm section, Kenny and Cedric. They backed RL for years touring all over
the world, playing with the Beastie Boys and whatever man! They did it all!
And obviously, you’re up for a Grammy this year. That’s got to feel good.
Cody-I was surprised. I was really, really surprised. I don’t know. Luther
and I vote on the Grammys and I just didn’t even see it there. I didn’t
vote for it or anything. I didn’t even look to see if it was there.
Luther-Well, it didn’t get nominated last year, so we just figured it
wouldn’t get nominated because it’s been out for a year and a half.
What does that mean for a band like yours? You’ve already got a decent amount of success going. You’ve got a nice crowd here tonight.
We’re pretty much a grassroots band. I mean, we play a lot of shows and we don’t sell a whole lot of records or anything. But we play a whole lot of shows, and it (Grammy nomination) just helps man … helps the Legend! (laughs) The Myth! The Lies!
What’s a lesson you wish you’d learned earlier in life … about music, about life, about anything?
Cody-Too much is never enough. That’s what I’m telling you. That’s
one to grow on.
Luther-I’d just have to say … Take your time, take your time.
What do you hope happens in the next six months for the All Stars?
Luther-Our third record comes out in April, and we’re real excited about that. We put a lot of heart and soul into it. We’ve got a lot of hope for it, and we’re real proud of it. So come April, we’ll be hitting the road again and hopefully not stopping for the rest of the year. We’re looking forward to getting back out there and seeing everybody.
Take a picture tour of the North Mississippi All Stars in Tuscaloosa
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