North Mississippi Allstars
Schedule
Thu Jun 22 2023 at 08:00 pm
Location
126 Northeast Alberta Street,Portland,97211,US | Portland, OR
Advertisement
An evening with North Mississippi Allstars.Doors at 7:00 | Show at 8:00
All ages are welcome.
Free parking is available in the lot across the street until full.
NORTH MISSISSIPPI ALLSTARS
Nothing runs deeper than family ties. Brothers, sisters, fathers, mothers, sons, and daughters
understand one another at the purest level. When families rally around music, they speak this
oft-unspoken bond aloud and into existence. After 25 years, twelve albums, four GRAMMY®
Award nominations, and sold out shows everywhere, North Mississippi Allstars open up their
world once again on their thirteenth album, Set Sail [New West Records], welcoming other
family (by blood and by the road) into the fold. As legend has it, Luther and Cody Dickinson
started the band in 1996 as a loose collective of like-minded second-generation musicians who
shared a local repertoire and regional style. Over the years, the lineup shifted by design, and
each subsequent record offered up a different combination of collaborators. This time around,
they mined the talents of Jesse Williams on bass and Lamar Williams, JR. on vocals. During the
Allman Betts Band Family Revival, the Dickinsons first linked up with Lamar, son of the Allman
Brothers bassist Lamar Williams, Sr., becoming fast friends and collaborators and eventually
paving the way for Set Sail.
“The chemistry we have with this lineup is powerful,” observes Luther. “We are all
second-generation musicians and share a telepathic, relaxed ease about creating and
performing. I believe music is a form of communion with our loved ones and conjuring this vibe
with members of musical families can be inspirational. Lamar and I are like-minded. I’ve never
had the pleasure of working with a singing partner like Lamar. He has a true-blue quality in his
musicality that will pull you in and break your heart. At the same time, Jesse grew up playing
music with his brothers and his father—as did we. He plays like a sibling. We recorded the
album fresh off the road and captured the energy we had worked up with him. I’m drawn to
musical families, regardless of style. Playing with second- or third-generation players allows us
an easy unspoken musical dialog. It’s not a big thing; it’s just what we do. We never had to figure
out what it means and takes to be a musician. We all inherently know.”
They picked up this wisdom by osmosis. As sons of legendary producer and musician Jim
Dickinson, Luther and Cody have been producing records themselves since they were teenagers.
Separately, the brothers have produced albums by Samantha Fish, R.L. Boyce, Lucero, Amy
Lavere, the Birds of Chicago, Ian Segal, and more. Luther produced two records from Otha
Turner, including Everybody Hollerin’ Goat, which was named one of the ten most important
blues albums of the nineties. Luther and Cody co-produce North Mississippi Allstars records as
the “Dickinson Brothers.”
“We learned an enormous amount from our father,” Luther says, “Cody and I made mistakes,
but we’ve always believed in ourselves, and we had to learn for ourselves. Rock ‘n’ roll is
self-taught. Each generation has to reinvent itself and shed the skin of the elders. On Set Sail, we
feel as if we’ve once again ‘broken the code,’ and know what we want and how to get it.”
Following 2019’s Up and Rolling, which received a GRAMMY® Award nod in the category of
“Best Contemporary Blues Album,” Set Sail continues the band’s tradition of creating roots
music that displays remarkable variety. Luther and Cody Dickinson dig in with the production
and different guitar tones; the record sizzles with hard yet understated groove, grown folk
music. Luther’s wide-ranging guitar style features jazz riffs, psychedelic sounds, and soulful
slide. Drummer and multi-instrumentalist Cody draws on roots music, rock, jazz, rap, and other
styles to create rhythms that propel the band’s sounds and move it forward. Their two aesthetics
combine to create the band’s unique style, “Primitive Modernism,” melding the new and the old,
traditional, and futuristic, crafted lyrics and improvisational music. Speaking of, the first single
and title track “Set Sail Part I” [feat. Lamar Williams, JR.] rides a riff right out of the Southern
Delta into the embrace of a horn section as the vocal interplay simmers on the line, “The water
may rise again, but we shall set sail.”
“‘Set Sail’ really set the tone,” Cody goes on. “It could be taken literally or figuratively.
Philosophically, it’s about the way the waters literally do rise. We’re talking about climate
change in a literal sense, but it’s also symbolic in a social sense. It won’t be the first time.”
“See The Moon” [feat. Lamar Williams, Jr. & Sharisse Norman] hinges on a head-nodding bass
line as Sharisse’s harmonies uplift a downright spellbinding performance from Lamar
underlined by Luther’s unpredictable guitar phrasing. The most familial moments on the record
happen when Luther’s daughters Lucia and Isla sing together on “Authentic” and “Didn’t We
Have A Time,” marking a full circle moment in poetic fashion. Delicate instrumentation wraps
around plaintive and powerful lyrics laced with nostalgia on the lullaby-style chorus. “It’s one of
my favorite songs,” smiles Cody, who has recently become a father himself. “Hearing my nieces
on it was a high point. It was really meaningful, deep, and beautifully sad, but also hopeful.”
Strings and horns give way to the smoky blues of “Never Want To Be Kissed” [feat. William
Bell], illuminating yet another side of the sound. Luther notes, “Most of these songs have been
floating around in my lyric books, waiting for their time to come. ‘Rabbit Foot’ and ‘Outside’
were inspired by conversations I remember having with Otha Turner and R.L. Burnside. We
leaned into our other greatest influences: folk, soul, and psychedelic rock, but everything we play
feels like North Mississippi. The recording also benefited from a new creative process I learned
from a book, Q on Producing, that Cody sent me. I read about Quincy Jones’s philosophy of
never recording a vocalist reading a lyric sheet. Up and Rolling was recorded with the band in
the room. The genesis of Set Sail was the nylon string guitar and the vocals, and letting the
memorized lyrics shape the song structure or lack thereof. This led to a whole new
phonetics-based editing process that I’d never used before. Some of the lyrics were improvised
and created on the mic, capturing the moment of creation.”
Building the songs from the guitar and BPM on Set Sail enabled Luther and Cody to experiment
with their drum and guitar sounds in a leisurely way they hadn’t afforded themselves since their
debut album, Shake Hands with Shorty (1999). In the studio, Cody mixed the songs again and
again, working tirelessly but never losing perspective. Cody’s grooves and Luther’s songwriting
furnish the album’s foundations.
Luther admits, “Recently, I had my mind blown by Rick Rubin saying that fitting lyrics into the
puzzle of structure can compromise the message. Indeed, rules are made to be broken. I’m glad
these songs came to fruition at this time because I was able to express my stance on life and love.
The fear of having my children grown up and asking me why I didn’t speak up for what I
believed in has driven me and helped mature my songwriting and solidify my stance. Having
kids made me get my story straight.”
The Dickinson brothers have recorded and toured with Mavis Staples, Charlie Musslewhite,
John Hiatt, Robert Plant and Patty Griffin, G Love, Jon Spencer, the Tedeschi Trucks Band, Los
Lobos, and the Black Crowes. Meanwhile, their seminal debut, Shake hands with Shorty (2000),
earned the band the first of four GRAMMY® nominations, and changed the Dickinson brothers’
lives forever.
Luther adds, “Quincy says, ‘Music gives back what you put into it.’ We have dedicated our lives
to music, and it’s given us a fantastic journey that’s still only beginning.
In 1997, R.L. Burnside hired me and took me on the road. R.L., Kenny Brown, and Cedric
Burnside taught me how to tour nationally after years of touring locally. The Shake Hands with
Shorty tour in 2000 took Cody and I around the world and changed our lives. We never really
slowed down.”
They forge ahead always as a family, first and foremost. “North Mississippi Allstars means
family,” Cody concludes. “I get the joy of working with my brother. Our families keep growing
too. There’s a sense of history. The older I get, the more I realize how important it is to record
this music, so younger kids can hear it. I just want to make sure we pass it on. It’s a huge honor
to be a part of this tradition.”
Advertisement
Where is it happening?
126 Northeast Alberta Street,Portland,97211,US, United StatesEvent Location & Nearby Stays:
Tickets
USD 30.00 to USD 35.00