Review: North Mississippi Allstars ‘Still Shakin’’

Review: North Mississippi Allstars ‘Still Shakin’

By Hal Horowitz

There have been numerous changes in music and culture since the North Mississippi Allstars released their debut, ‘Shake Hands with Shorty,’ back in May of 2000. At that time, four years after forming, most of the world was using dial-up, Apple’s iPhone was still seven years away, Netflix was sending DVDs through the mail, and neither Wikipedia nor YouTube existed.

But the Mississippi Allstars’ music—a raw, occasionally punky, rip-snorting combination of Delta blues, rockabilly, country, gospel, and even funk—hasn’t altered much since that Grammy nominated title appeared on the now defunct Tone-Cool label. The band, led by multi-instrumentalist brothers Luther and Cody Dickinson, has gone through various changes in supporting personnel. But their approach through eleven more studio sets and a handful of live ones, has adhered to that original template.

A quarter century later, they are proudly still at it, on the road as headliners and back in the studio for their 12th release, the self-referencing ‘Still Shakin’.’ Despite sticking to the same basic blueprint, there is nothing rote about NMAS’ attack. Push play and strap in as they take Robert Johnson’s “Preachin’ Blues” for a spin. Cody punches out a rambunctious double-timed beat, Luther goes falsetto for his vocals before kicking into a zippy, staccato guitar solo and the band breathlessly chugs along like a runaway train barely hanging onto the tracks. It sets a high bar for the remaining ten songs, which these guys have no problem meeting.

As if to put an exclamation point on this reference to their roots, they cover tunes from initial mentors like R.L. Burnside (“Poor Boy” gets updated with a synth bass and Burnside’s son Duwayne on vocals and guitar) and Junior Kimbrough (a swamped up “Stay All Night” with Junior’s son Robert and a wonderfully wobbly slide guitar).

A funky/chunky, down-home take on Mississippi Fred McDowell’s “Write Me a Few Lines” is another updated classic. The title of Furry Lewis’ “Casey Jones” changes to “K.C. Jones (Pt. ll)” and smokes into Grateful Dead territory with assistance from Widespread Panic’s Jojo Hermann (a Mississippi homey) and the Dead’s Phil Lesh’ son Grahame handling bass with the skill of his late dad.

For the dreamier, at times psychedelic, vibe of Kimbrough’s “My Mind is Ramblin” the Allstars invite Sharisse and Shontelle Norman to infuse a woman’s touch to the otherwise all-dude lineup. The band gets socio-political on the original “Pray for Peace,” a galloping gospel seemingly meant to be sung by Sunday church parishioners.

Continuing that religious feeling is an updated traditional, “Don’t Let the Devil Ride,” that froths with a funk backbeat. Guest vocalist Joey Williams warns us that “If you let that devil ride/he’ll surely want to drive,” combining gospel and R&B with a casual yet caustic groove. The closing cover of Furry Lewis’ “John Henry,” a sad tale of the titular steel worker who dies on the job, gets a militaristic beat from Cody’s drums, which start slow, speeding up as they mesh with Luther’s slide guitar. “I want a cool drink of water ‘fore I die” he sings as the album slithers to an end on this classic country blues.

The Allstars once described themselves as “Modern Mississippi Music” and 25 years later that still applies. They are ‘Still Shakin’ a raucous, rootsy sound that never goes out of style.

Watch “Still Shakin'”