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When The North Mississippi Allstars’ Luther Dickinson began working with The Black Crowes, his partners, brother Cody and bassist Chris Chew, formed Hill Country Revue, whose music is a composite of the raw early sound of The Allstars and the riff-heavy style of Lynyrd Skynyrd,
As proffered on the noisy "Alice Mae," the quintet preserves the earthy ambience of their shows. The pedestrian lyrics of the self-referential original, though, are hard to miss, but "Dirty Shirt" is more effective, largely because the guitar work of Luther Dickinson is more eloquent as is the fretwork of Hill Country’s own Kirk Smithhart.
Acoustic guitars bring depth to the latter tune too, demonstrating Hill Country Revue’s immersion in the roots of the blues and rock from which they forge their style. Produced by Cody Dickinson and directed by father Jim Dickinson, HCR’s debut studio album exhibits influences that also include the gospel affirmation of "You Can Make It," where the singing guitar refrain echoes Dickey Betts’ country styling a la "Jessica."
Steeping themselves in the lore of the South in tunes such as "Georgia Women" and “Growing Up in Mississippi" can render the group too provincial for their own good, that is, until the guitars enter to engage in crosstalk. Fortunately, most songs on Make a Move owe more to the blues than English hard rock, so music lovers north or south of the Mason-Dixon line, or on either coast should get their fair share of thrills, if not any epiphanies, from Hill Country Revue
