<back - NORTH MISSISSIPPI ALLSTARS - The Dickinson brothers grew up in music. Their father, Jim Dickinson, is one of the most respected producers to come out of Memphis. When they were barely old enough to travel, he would haul them up to Ardent Studios, where some of his landmark sessions had taken place, to watch him lay down tracks. "We must have seen a hundred sessions," Cody remembers, "the cream of the crop in Memphis. We saw our dad work with the Replacements and Spiritualized. I was so small at the time that it was like going into a spaceship to see all this stuff." Cody and Luther Dickinson started playing music at a young age. They started recording as teenagers, on dates with the Replacements, New Gospel Choir, Mojo Nixon and others. From 1996, opening for RL Burnside the NMAllstars connected with the traditions that had nourished their part of the country.

Although the regional scene is essential to their roots as musicians, the NMAllstars have always been about much more than just the Blues. A major step in the sound came in when the trio welcomed Duwayne Burnside, as a full member. As the group enriched its sound with a more contemporary feel, new directions opened up for them.  For their latest recording 'Polaris' they recorded it all at Ardent Studios, in the same room where Cody and Luther had watched their father work his magic. The band felt liberated recording at Ardent with their full stage equipment at full volume. Luther and Cody found the perfect complement to their producing abilities, and they reached a new level of working with their father. "It was great, because he was hanging out with us the day we were working on All Along. As we were trying to nail the guitar sound, he went wandering off and came back with this old amp, put it in front of us, and said, 'That's the Big Star sound, right there, boy'  "This was supposed to be our most 'out' album," Luther says. "In the end, we took everything we can do - Hill, Country, Blues, Gospel, and used it to nail down a whole new kind of Southern Rock. This is the best stuff we've ever done, because we were definitely not scared of taking chances". MP3 - ALL NIGHT LONG | SHAKE EM ON DOWN |