Album review: North Mississippi Allstars, 'Keys to the Kingdom'
3.5 stars (out of 4)
Producer-musician Jim Dickinson was a gentlemanly maverick who served as the unofficial historian and advocate for the most deeply imbedded strands of Southern music. His death in 2009 was a huge blow, not least of which to his family, which includes his sons Luther and Cody Dickinson. They’re the core members with bassist Chris Chew of the North Mississippi Allstars, who have been recording blues-steeped rock, soul and gospel for more than a decade.
The death of the Dickinson patriarch and the birth three months later of Luther Dickinson’s child inform the trio’s best album since its 2000 debut, “Shake Hands With Shorty.”
“Keys to the Kingdom” (Songs of the South) moves from anger (“This A’Way,” “Jumpercable Blues”) to acceptance (“How I Wish My Train Would Come,” “Hear the Hills”). Along the way there are potent collaborations with Mavis Staples on the gospel testifying of “The Meeting” and Ry Cooder on the sobering conviction of “Ain’t No Grave.” The album wraps with rollicking, randy takes on mortality (“New Orleans Walkin’ Dead,” “Jellyrollin’ All Over Heaven”) and a haunting coda by Jim Dickinson’s favorite piano player, Spooner Oldham.
The Allstars play with unassuming ardor, letting the rawness seep through the edges of the arrangements. Drummer Cody Dickinson in particular delivers exactly what each song needs, nothing less, and keeps things swinging. It’s the kind of unsentimental yet passionate tribute a musical legend and family cornerstone would surely appreciate.
greg@gregkot.com