Hill Country Revue: Live at Bonnaroo

Performer: North Mississippi Allstars
Producer: Amos Harvey; Brandon Raines
Distributor: BMG (distributor)

Notes: North Mississippi Allstars: Chris Robinson (vocals, guitar); Jim Dickinson (vocals, Hammond b-3 organ, keyboards); Chris Chew (vocals, bass guitar); R.L. Burnside (vocals); Cody Burnside (rap vocals); Rising Star Fife & Drum Band (various instruments); Garry Burnside (guitar); Jojo Hermann (Hammond b-3 organ, keyboards); Duwayne Burnside (drums). Recorded live at the 2004 Bonnaroo Festival, this North Mississippi Allstars record is a family affair. The concert is an endless parade of both blood relatives and community-related musicians, all of whom hail from the same area of Mississippi. The family lines are represented by the Dickinsons (Allstars Luther and Cody, and their father Jim), the Burnsides (Duwayne, Garry, Cody, and R.L.), and Othar Turner's descendents (Turner's Rising Star Fife & Drum Band made some of the earliest and most compelling music to emerge from the region). There are also a few "extended family" members thrown in for good measure. The set kicks off with a version of Fred McDowell's "Shake 'Em on Down," proving this crew knows their history. Modern blues legend R.L. Burnside guests on a handful of his own tunes, including "Jumper on the Line" and "Snake Drive," while his grandson Cody raps on the hard-driving "Be So Glad." For all of the music's deep blues roots, though, the Allstars play with the technical flash of a rock band, lending sophistication to the proceedings.

Uncut (p.97) - 3 stars out of 5 - "[S]tonking blues-rock..." Down Beat (p.83) - 4 stars out of 5 - "Allstar guitarist Luther Dickinson is positively inspired on 'Skinny Woman' and 'Goin' Home Part Two."

Brothers Cody and Luther Dickinson are the sons of producer/songwriter and all-around Memphis legend Jim Dickinson. Equipped with their father's blues-based sense of eclecticism, during the 1990s the brothers honed their chops playing in punk bands, doing session work for the likes of the Replacements and Billy Lee Riley, and getting hands-on coaching from blues legends like R.L. Burnside. This amazing pedigree has made the North Mississippi Allstars one of the most confidently free-wheeling groups on the jam band circuit, embodying a grittier, tougher sound than other more hippie-inspired bands within the scene's ranks.

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