Recently on a Friday evening that saw a dry sunset in the Southeast, an occurrence not so common these past few weeks, Glide gave yours truly an assignment.
This humble correspondent was blessed with the rare opportunity to pose as a journalist while firing questions at an all time favorite. Delivering from the hip with a fans perspective is refreshing. An interview that doesn’t require research or pretense is essentially a casual conversation, right? Just I taped this one. And it was with The North Mississippi Allstars- a Grammy nominated, 3-time Bonnaroo fixture that crafts what Rolling Stone has called, “manic cotton field psychedelia.”
Stepping onto the tour bus after watching them meticulously sound check in preparation for their weekend stand at the Georgia Theatre in Athens, it never felt like work.
Talk about DuWayne’s departure and how it affects the NMAS dynamic.
Luther Dickinson: Sure. Well you know we started the group in ’96, and then Duwayne joined the group, gosh I don’t remember what year it was maybe like ninety…right after the tour for Phantom– he was with us for like two and a half years, and then last year right before we went off to Europe he decided he wanted to stay home with his family and open up this blues club, Burnside Blues Café, in Holley Springs [Mississippi] and we went on to Europe and had a great time man playing as a trio. We had played as a trio for years before you know, so it was cool…Got back and got ready to do the Bonnaroo, and that was really fun because not only Duwayne, but his brother Gary and cousin Cody and dad R.L. and we brought our dad- I don’t know it was just really fun…
With Duwayne’s absence was there a conscious effort to put together a tour package that would present a lot of “guest spot” opportunities- in effort to maybe fill the void?
LD: No, no we already had it booked- yeah we had been working on it for a long time. It was [brother] Cody’s idea- a while back, a long time ago. Duwayne was great for guest spots cause he was such a great singer, and his songs were so cool…You know it took me a little while to get my confidence back because of the trio, just myself…
I would imagine a lot of the burden falls on you, not having that extra set of strings, and a sidekick so to speak?
LD: Yeah, but we’d done it for years. You know when we first started touring together, the Allstars, we were a duo…just me and Cody and that’s fucking hard work there…that was back in ’98.
2003’s Polaris was released to mixed reviews and naturally you’ve always publicly defended it and supported it. Yet, at recent shows fewer Polaris tunes are showing up on set lists, and there have been subsequent releases (including the Bonnaroo 2004 live set, billed as the Hill Country Revue) that mark a return to the boogie rather than further pop exploration? What’s up?
LD: Polaris is uh…right after we finished Polaris– for me personally, Otha Turner passed away, and some other friends, family…I don’t know, for me that was kinda’ the turning point- and I just started writing more songs, some for them. That was two, almost two years ago. We just do what comes natural to us. Polaris is just what came natural at the time…
You say it’s what comes natural, but at the same time you’ve said before that Polaris was conceived a long time ago- that it had been in the works so to speak.
LD: We just knew it would be our most experimental [record]
Ed. note: At this point in the interview I’m joined on the tour bus couch by drummer, and washboard virtuoso Cody Dickinson.
You and your brother have been in many bands together- through genres and name changes. With Polaris, was there ever the notion to release some of the material as a side project as opposed to a NMAS effort?
LD: No, Polaris was a conscious effort to include everybody’s creativity. That’s why it’s such a diverse- schizophrenic record. Everybody had totally different styles. As opposed to a side project…
Cody Dickinson: [Interrupts] You know, the thing that really freaked people out about Polaris were my songs, and I wrote three songs on there, and they’re pop songs- and that’s just the music I was writing at the time. And there was a definite, conscious, you know what, ‘Fuck it- this is my band’ and I’m gonna put these songs on the record- you know? If that answers your question?
And that does, and that’s why I’m so happy that you’re here…
CD: You know the good that happened though? On the new record I wrote a blues song, and it’s not contrived- it’s not forced or anything- you know what I mean? It’s called “Stayed up All Night”
On the Hill Country Revue?
CD: No, it’s gonna be on Electric Blue Watermelon– we just finished a studio album.
LD: It’ll be out in February…
The Allstars have stayed incredibly busy- in the studio, on the road, recording an Assassins record with Jo Jo Herman, touring relentlessly with Dirty Dozen Brass band- even recording a soundtrack for an animated project from Nickelodeon. Deservedly so, the brothers wind down. We proceeded to puff and pass from a Granny Smith green apple that had been hollowed out just right- a skill Cody advised me he had picked up from Herman himself. The conversation begins to flow easier, less interview, more giddy-fan Q&A.;
With the exception of this tour package, you typically hit the festival circuit pretty hard- or when you roll through towns you get a local opener- like Old Union, or The Tom Collins. As you traverse the country who has caught your ear?
CD: Rose Hill Drive, Boulder Colorado…
LD: Rooooose Hiiiiillll Driiiive…
CD: Those boys rock! You better watch out…They’re opening up for Van Halen right now.
Oh yeah?
CD: They’re bad.
Cody, How many washboards do you travel with? Do you have a sponsor? How many have you destroyed?
CD: (Laughing) Well, I’ve destroyed two on stage- on purpose…I’ve destroyed probably two or three more by accident, and one more got destroyed the other night in the trailer. It got utterly destroyed- I couldn’t have done that. That was just traveling with it. No I don’t have a sponsor- but Sunnyland are definitely the best ones- they have the coolest logo.
Have you ever washed your clothes with a washboard?
CD: Nah man, just girl’s panties.
Thank you for the best rock star quote of 2004! Talk a little bit about your association with the new Under the Influence Skynyrd tribute album. How did you decide on “Whiskey Rock a Roller?”
LD: It was Cody’s thing…
CD: That’s easy. I was on tour, and came home- satellite TV, I think it was VH-1 showing Freebird: The Movie. It just floored me. I totally missed Lynyrd Skynyrd, I just never got into it. I was more into the Allman Brothers, or whatever. It’s just full of live footage of the original line-up, and the movie ends with the plane crash. And man, I was just like ‘Oh my God’ I was stunned by that movie. So I went back and found it- and it was hard to find- and I watched it over and over- and that was my favorite song. So I was like, ‘We should play this song’ and while we were on tour with Galactic, and Galactic said ‘Yeah man we just got asked to do this Skynyrd tribute’ and I was jealous- player hating- I really, really loved Skynyrd at the time. Then we got asked to do it
The conversation took several turns, abandoning the script, answers would beget more questions and I learned of the brother’s fondness for the Aquarium Rescue Unit, and the Georgia Theatre- and the importance of having a guy like Chris Chew in the band- not just for his bombastic bass prowess.
Y’all play a lot of venues in little towns, in front of what are undoubtedly some surly crowds. Has anyone ever challenged Chew?
LD: Nope, but he has actually had to step in as a security guard from time to time…You’d have to be a fucking fool to mess with Chris.
That’s why I asked. I wanna know about the fools in America. As for big bassist, is Chris bigger than Dave Schools.
LD: I don’t know let me ask. [He heads to the back of the bus and slides the privacy partition. A moment later I hear a ‘Hell yeah’] Hell yeah he’s bigger than Schools.
CD: He’s definitely taller.
