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North Mississippi All-Stars @ Brandy House/Northside Tavern Review and Northside Tavern photos In the late 1960's the flower children were swinging and swaying to the light-and-bubbly sounds of The Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane when, suddenly, a couple of bands called Cream and The Jimi Hendrix Experience came along and changed things forever. If it's true history repeats itself, the Dead-ish, gently loping sounds of the current jam scene was bound to be invaded by something heavier and more testosterone-filled. It's happened. The North Mississippi All-Stars first came to my attention through an article in Gig magazine. Based on that article I got the impression this was a gospel-influenced blues band that paid homage to the founders of the form much the same as any other blues band, except maybe they were a little better at it. I was surprised to hear that they would be making an appearance on Z-93's The Dunhams radio show as part of a live taping at the Brandy House. Sitting in the parking lot listening to the show get underway I became even more interested when they were described as being along the lines of Cream and Led Zeppelin. Hmm...nothing too traditional about those bands, much less gospel. Considering Led Zeppelin is one of my all-time favorites, I was definitely stoked to hear the Stars. Their sound is something that grows on you as you listen. According to the drummer, Cody Dickinson, "We play trance music. We play this groove and eventually the people grind and start shaking 'em on down." Dickinson obviously has a good grip on just what his band does. Their groove begins and about ten or fifteen minutes later you realize that it's snuck up behind you, tapped you on the shoulder, asked you to dance, you've said "yes," and you were completely unaware of the whole process. As a matter of fact, try this out for crazy: President of Punk Henry Rollins counts himself as an All-Stars fan! The North Mississippi All-Stars sound like they don't practice, and I mean that in a good way. Like a great stand-up comedian you get the feeling that every sparkling set-up and punchline is being invented right in front of you in real time. The Stars have two different bass players, one a fella named Chris Chew who sometimes misses shows so he can get back to his Mississippi church to get "the Word," and another named Gary Burnside. Tonight the rhythm section was Burnside and Dickinson. The rhythm section moves like a pair of boxers, clenching tight, separating, jabbing, clenching again. They remind you very much of other great rhythm sections like Cream's Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker, or even Black Sabbath's Bill Ward and Geezer Butler (hey, listen to "Fairies Wear Boots" and you'll know what I mean). You could put these two guys on stage by themselves and have hours of good music before you even got Luther Dickinson's guitar and vocals involved. I looked around for their CD and T-shirt booth and saw none. I asked Jeff Dunham where I could get a CD of the band, and he said, "They don't have one! They've been out there just doing it!" Good news, though -- a CD is on the way called Shake Hands with Mr. Shorty, available from Tone Cool Records. Six days later Luther and Cody Dickinson played at the Northside Tavern with JoJo Hammond of Widespread Panic and several other notables who I don't have space to note here. Just let it be said that this show was way-the-hell overpacked, and to tell you the truth I was quite miserable, with a non-stop convoy of guys bumping into me on the way to the toilet saying, "`Scuse me, dude...`scuse me, dude." There was one hefty mama who should have been made to stand in one spot because every time she so much as stirred there was a huge surge in the crowd. She made 40 trips to the bathroom right by me, of course. None of this has a thing to do with the All-Stars, however. Hearing The North Mississippi All-Stars makes you curious what The South Mississippi All-Stars must sound like. Check out their Web site at www.nmsallstars.com. |