The North Mississippi Allstars
bring it all back home on
Up and Rolling
, the band's debut offering for
New West
.
Cody
and
Luther Dickinson
(scions of the late producer
Jim Dickinson
) may have taken their brand of roots rock, dirty-blues crunch, soul, and funk across the globe many times, but they've never forgotten their roots in Mississippi's Hill Country mud. In 1996, Texas photographer
Wyatt McSpadden
visited the
Dickinsons
and took pictures of local hill country musicians
Otha Turner
,
Junior Kimbrough
R.L. Burnside
, and others, along with their musical families. All the musicians and their kin played together at
Kimbrough
's juke joint. Most if not all of the offspring are or have been
NMA
collaborators through the decades. (Singer and fife player
Sharde Thomas
Otha
's granddaughter, continues to lead grandad's
Rising Star Fife & Drum Ensemble
.) The photos went undiscovered for some 20 years, and they are what inspired this "soundtrack." The band enlisted friends for a wonderfully unruly celebration of blood, land, and musical ties.
Jason Isbell
sings lead and plays guitar on a wooly read of
Little Walter Jacobs
' "Mean Old World" with
Duane Betts
adding his own axe.
Mavis Staples
fronts
on a bubbling, funky take of her own family's "What You Gonna Do" (written by
Pops Staples
) with
Rev. Charles Hodges
on Hammond B-3, and a vocal chorus courtesy of
Tierinii
Tikyra Jackson
Cedric Burnside
sings and plays on his uncle
R.L.
's crunchy blues choogler "Out on the Road" and a countrified version of
Thomas A. Dorsey
's gospel standard "Take My Hand Precious Lord."
--
Luther
on guitar and drums, respectively,
Thomas
on vocals and fife,
Carl Dufrene
on bass, and
Sharisse Norman
on vocals -- are a well-seasoned outfit; the quintet and most of their guests have been playing together in various capacities for most of their lives. "Call That Gone" is a filthy, squalling, bottleneck-guitar blues driven by rolling tom-toms with souled-out vocals from
, her fife trading licks with his guitar. The title track is a summery country-blues framed by
's Wurlitzer and sung in three-part harmony. "Peaches" is lusty, groove-and-grind blues funk with
exchanging sung lines with real heat. "Lonesome in My Home" is low-down trance-dance blues penned by
's read is led by
Garry Burnside
's roiling bassline with killer guitar by
that will make you shiver. So will the punchy, funky "Bump That Mother," with
Roosevelt Collier
's wily steel guitar and
's breaking snare march. "Living Free" is good-time, back porch soul with snaky slide guitar, Wurlitzer organ, and sweeping vocals by
Norman
. "Otha's Bye Bye Baby," with long-ago-demo'ed vocals by the man himself, is paired with
's guitar, which adds swamp mud and murk to bring the album full circle.
clears away decades of cobwebs, dust, and wisteria vines from the doorway to the past: It's a family reunion offering that looks to the Hill Country's history and mystery for both its inspiration from the past and guidance to its present. ~ Thom Jurek