[rating=7.00]
The music on Luther’ Dickinson’s Rock and Roll Blues is every bit as earthy and organic as its cover art would suggest- a guitar planted in an expanse of verdant countryside. Teeming with the spontaneity of the moment, the album is a series of pithy vignettes extracted from every phase of this not-so-young man’s life, back before he formed the North Mississippi Allstars carrying on through his current state as a family man and musician working regularly on a diverse roster of projects.
A collaborative endeavor like The South Memphis String Band or his extended participation in The Black Crowes, Luther is ably accompanied by members of The Wandering, Amy LaVere (bass, vocals) and Sharde Thomas (drums, fife,vocals) while NMAS opening act and accompanist Lightning Malcolm alternates in those latter two roles as well. “Mojo Mojo” sounds like it has gone on forever and could keep going even longer, something of a cross between a parade march and a blues shuffle evoking Dickinson’s memories, all of which becomes haunting as Thomas toodles the fife to frame the track.
As much as its abbreviated playing time of thirty-five minutes might suggest otherwise, it’s a mistake to dismiss Rock and Roll Blues as lightweight, if only through the presence of the broad perspective of “Some Ol’ Day” and “Karmic Debt;” Dickinson moves beyond the song with his solo on the former, as befits its forward-thinking tone, while the circular structure of the words on the latter matches its instrumental arrangement, not to mention the theme of the lyrics.
A quick glint of Luther’s lead guitar comes and goes there as it does on “Blood ‘n Guts,” where a slightly more dramatic tone contrasts the tongue-in-cheek tone of “Yard Man,” the refrain of which resides in the ripe tradition of salty blues. Like “Vandalize,” “Bar Band” hearkens to days of struggle as a musiclover more than willing and able to put his passion to work. Dickinson’s casual vocal delivery precludes a trite phrase like ‘code of the road’ from sounding hollow as it usually does, (he uncovers the nugget of truth in the title of “Stone’s Throw” too), but that’s in keeping with a record where a fundamentally off-the-cuff approach creates an inviting, rather than off-putting, informality.
Its subdued acoustic textures markedly different than the cauterizing electricity of The North Mississippi Allstars’ World Boogie is Coming, Rock and Roll Blues nevertheless vividly demonstrates the maturation process of the committed but fun-loving musician that is Luther Dickinson, wholly and completely of a piece with previous solo endeavors such as Onward and Upward as well as Hambone’s Meditations.
