Robert Randolph, John Medeski and the North Mississippi Allstars (Luther Dickinson, Cody Dickinson and Chris Chew) will be hitting the road in support of their new album Soul Food – their first recording after 14 years out on May 5th from Vanguard Records. The initial dates announced begin April 17th at the Wanee Festival in Live Oak, FL and include two dates in New Orleans – April 26th at the Joy Theater and April 30th at Jazzfest plus additional high profile festival appearances. See list of dates below with more to be announced soon.
Soul Food reflects the band’s geography, beginning in a New York studio and finishing in Memphis at the home of Hi Records (a studio untouched since 1969, where Al Green recorded all his hits, where Mark Ronson recorded “Uptown Funk!”). In New York, they each brought material to the table—Cody brought “New Word Order,” inspired by listening to Dr. Martin Luther King’s “Free at Last” speech; he took the chord changes Dr. King evoked and the rhythm of his delivery and developed the song. John brought “Swamp Road,” inspired by New Orleans pianist James Booker and previously rendered on an obscure session John did with DJ Logic. Robert brought “Chocolate Cowboy,” which Cody drives with the sanctified church beat that gets the congregation popping out of their seats and doing the sacred equivalent of the punk rock pogo.
Tour Dates:
2015-04-17 Live Oak FL – Wanee Festival
2015-04-26 New Orleans, LA – Joy Theater
2015-04-30 New Orleans, LA – Jazzfest
2015-05-14 Gulf Shores, AL – Hangout Festival
2015-07-09 Summit Point, WV – All Good Music Festival
2015-07-17 Louisville, KY – Forecastle
