One of two sons fathered by the late Memphis music maven Jim Dickinson, Cody has often taken a markedly different path in his musical expeditions than brother Luther (who usually hews closer to his roots). After multiple collaborations in supporting roles–on behalf of artists ranging from Robert Plant to Gina Sicilia to Lucero–the younger Dickinson sibling has taken great pains to outline his musical influences, past and present, on Homemade.
Yet Cody’s singlemindedness is not obsessive but instead healthily comprehensive. Perhaps that’s because he completed the tracking sessions while also handling his responsibilities as a father of two toddlers, the evolution of which lifestyle he recounts in “Walk Right In.” Consequently, a marked warmth emanates from the musicianship on tracks like “Goodbye Albuquerque, Tuesday Night”–where one-year-old daughter Mavis sings–this pliable sensation in place of the stiff, mechanical feel that is the bane of overdubbing.
Not surprisingly, the opening title cut isn’t all that far removed from Cody’s work with Luther in the North Mississippi All-Stars. An upbeat, modified shuffle carries Cody’s easygoing vocal, during which he mentions multiple Southern touchpoints that had immediate and abiding influence(s) on him.
Such references are as clear as the varying textures, including slide guitar and percussion, percolating through “Big City.” Recorded in his home studio, Dickinson handles all aspects of the project: songwriting, playing and singing, engineering, and production. In doing so, he renders even more impressive the upbeat, inclusive nature of elaborately arranged tracks like “Blackout Curtains.”
Echoes of The Band there are not accidental, but neither are they contrived. Cody Dickinson has processed his formative fundamentals in much the same way as that iconic band. Likewise, it’s certainly no stretch to hear selections from Homemade’s ten numbers populating the repertoire of NMA during their future concerts.
And that’s even apart from Junior Kimbrough’s “All Night Long.” Long a live staple (and a track on the Allstars’ studio debut), the number not surprisingly sounds at once authentic and contemporary, and it resides comfortably next to the full-force Hendrixian overtones of “Easy,” both of which would sparkle in the Dickinson group’s setlists.
Notwithstanding the alternately upbeat and solemn expression of gospel-inflected spirituality on “Can’t Feel At Home,” no profound philosophy emanates from any of these ten tracks, or much stylistic innovation, for that matter. But that hardly denies the easygoing, conversational delivery of the words to something like “As Fast As It Comes;” the truth lying within these three to four-minute tracks is that of the earnest, well-schooled musician that is Cody Dickinson.
He may have always professed to be so respectful a figure on previous efforts like 2016’s Leeway For The Freeway. Still, it’s a verity he reaffirms with nary an iota of self-consciousness on Homemade. This is the work of a man who revels in his vocation, and joyfully so.
