Category: Artists We Like

Cody and Luther Dickinson, sons of the late Jim Dickinson, have opened up their musical Mississippi home to the rest of us with their brilliant Blues Boogie L.P. Up and Rolling.

Their debut record for New West, working for a semi-major label hasn’t slowed these Cats one bit, and while the production does seem a bit more glossy and less ramshackle than their previous affairs, the result is no less appealing and their boogie till the break of dawn spirit flag is still waiving proudly.

Calling on a gaggle of talented friends to lend a hand in the making of this record in their family studio in the hill country of Mississippi, there is never a dull moment, and every track has a live feel to it especially on their reading of Little Walter Johnson’s “Mean Old World” featuring Duane Betts and Jason Isbell on guitar with Isbell also handling lead vocal duties.

Mavis Staples complements the band perfectly on her own Staples Singers cover of “What You Gonna Do,” and keeping up the family tradition, Cedric Burnside choogles up the joint on his uncle R.L.’s tune “Out on the Road.”

The core group, Luther and Cody Dickinson, Thomas A. Dorsey, Carl Dufrene, and Sharisse Norman are a well seasoned outfit that has played together for many years and the many guests that appear here have jammed with the band all over the Mississippi Delta in one form or another. The fits like a glove partnerships on this record should serve to push this record to the front of many year end best-of lists, genre be damned.