Boogiefied Blues from the Hill Country

Through a contemporary sense of traditionalism and the drive and energy of veteran performers, three young musicians are rising from an area where the hill country of North Mississippi converges into the delta flatlands of the mid-South. The land of rich, fertile plantations spills over to musically equate with the dirt floor juke joints that have spawned the beginnings for such legendary blues musicians as R.L. Burnside and the late Junior Kimbrough. Bassist Chris Chew of the North Mississippi Allstars recognizes their modern day musical propellance through the observance of musical regionalism and the cross-pollination of old and new. "I could say it was something that we interpreted," said Chew. "Something that we got from the older guys, but the other parts, the dynamics and the areas that we put in those songs just came from us and our feel for the music."

Combining the raw, punctuating blues of the hill country with the gritty and soulful indulgences of the Delta, the North Mississippi Allstars layer roots influences into an innocuous yet hard-hitting blend of modern day boogiefied infused blues jams, with slight nuances of both punk rock and Gospel.

While Chew represents the gospel side of the North Mississippi Allstars, the other two-thirds of the group, brothers Cody and Luther Dickinson, spent their childhood immersed in the rock and roll affairs of their father, legendary producer Jim Dickinson. The Dickinson's adolescent experiences would pay off with a serious stab at a musician's lifestyle in a high school punk rock group called D.D.T.

During this same time, Chew was involved in a more traditional approach to high school exhibiting foremost his athletic and scholastic skills six days of the week and squeezing in the bass rifts every Sunday at the local congregation. "We went to school together," recalled Chew, "and we used to jam every now and then but I was always in church playing. We knew each other all those years. Used to talk, but not really talk talk. I was a football and basketball player and into studying while they were just rock and roll kids."

Download NMA's mp3 of "All Night Long" and "Shake Your Money Maker" from 12-2-99

After former D.D.T. bass player Paul Taylor left the band in 1995, the Dickinson brothers joined forces with Chew and the musical merger which formed beckoned all influences to the forefront and the North Mississippi Allstars began. Instead of compromising the different influences into another modern day genre twisted mess, the North Mississippi Allstars took what they had and perfected each note and song to what they knew and respected. "We all had to experiment with the punk rock and the rock and roll and gospel. We all came to bump heads and it all combined and just fit right in," said Chew. "It really wasn't bad once I sat down and said I was not going to change my style. I just want to add my style to it and we can just develop it from there and it has been really going good for what we are doing."

With strong connections in the music industry, the North Mississippi Allstars jumped head first into support slots for established touring bands like Galactic, Gov't Mule, and Medeski, Martin, and Wood - all the while without any adequate album releases. "We were always, it was amazing, getting calls to go on tour," stated Chew with some astonishment, "but we didn't have an album. A lot of guys would tell us 'You all should go on and record the album and do it out your trunk,' as they say. We thought about it, we did think about it, but, you know, once we saw the trouble, it would be more pain than anyone would want to go through." Following through with their gut instinct paid off. "We were glad we waited because we developed all our music, about eighty percent of it, playing on Beale Street for a summer just playing together," said Chew.

Download NMA's mp3 of "Shake 'Em On Down"

After rigorous hours logged on tour, the North Mississippi Allstars struck a deal with an independent label based in Boston, Tone-Cool Records. With the production experience and background gained from countless hours spent in their father's studio, the Dickinsons held down the production duties and the resulting album is their debut, Shake Hands With Shorty. A potent driving tribute to the antiquated style of music that is slowly being turned into souvenir music elsewhere across the country, Shake Hands With Shorty embodies the ambiance of the juke joints from the dusty dirt floors and the moisture coated tallboys of beer, to the live and improvised sound of the slightly off-key guitar. "What we wanted to do was to keep that live type feel," stated Chew. "We didn't want it to be a studio type album. We wanted to catch you and grab you and make you hold on. I think the boys did a good job of catching the live feel like we wanted to do."

With Shake Hands With Shorty capturing the essence of a live North Mississippi Allstars performance, the real deal involves more than just one of five senses. "It is a different style of blues but it is just rocking," assured Chew. "I mean it is something that [you] can really shake. It gets everybody going. Once you get one girl going or one lady shaking you got five guys that want to shake with that girl and before you know it you got the whole crowd going. We've really been working out here lately on getting a hard reach out and grab you set and just hold you tight for about an hour and a half. Not going to let you go for that hour and a half, just gonna keep you amazed or stunned just wondering what they are going to do next. It is really amazing that the people even dig what we do. I could say the hippies really dig what we doing. They love that."

This slick mix of two rockabilly blues based brothers and the gospel layering of a former jock heralds forth a blend of both traditional and regional modern day blues jams that reflects the lives they have lived thus far. "I think that the hill country," contemplated Chew, "and the way we were raised and the old musicians, RL and Junior, you know, that we were brought up around. It was just a matter of time before we got into that element of saying this is really what we want to do."

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