Luther Dickinson is the definition of casual at least when he’s chatting about his various and sundry musical projects. But his nonchalant air belies a fastidious passion that evinces itself in his musicianship and his approach to his diverse work.
At the time of this interview, Luther had just completed a handful of dates with The Word, the collaboration between himself and the rest of The North Mississippi Allstars, John Medeski and Robert Randolph. Exhuming this endeavor from 2001 happened with little notice or preparation in the wake of Dickinson’s participation in the recording of the forthcoming Black Crowes album, Warpaint, their first studio set in seven years,
In the course of that project Luther was asked to become an official member of The Black Crowes under some mysterious circumstances he preferred not to expound upon-and will be touring with the group when they hit the road this late winter/ spring.
Those shows come right on the heels of dates in support of The North Mississippi All Stars’ new album Hernando. Recorded comfortably in the Zebra Ranch studio operated by Luther’s and brother Cody’s father Jim Dickinson (producer, The Replacements, Rolling Stones, Ry Cooder), Hernando temporarily postponed the release of a documentary on NMAS covering their history as a band. This archival title is now due to come out later in 2008 on their own Songs of the South record label.
It’s a pleasure to see the North Mississippi All Stars in large part because they enjoy playing so much themselves especially in the presence of an appreciative audience like the one in Vermont at Higher Ground where the concert DVD Keep On Marchin’ was captured. But Luther Dickinson radiates a quiet joy all his own when you speak to him, his self-effacing air equaled only by a generosity of spirit that prompted him to call Doug Collette before the Glide interviewer could phone him at the appointed time…
I wanted to step back a little bit and talk about how the gigs with The Word went. Were you and the band happy with how things worked out?
We really were. It’s hard to compare for a heavily, improvisationally based “jamband” … we did rehearse but it’s hard to communicate the feeling of being ready for anything.
How did the gigs come together? Who called who in the middle of the night?
That’s a funny thing…and to be honest, I can’t track it down (laughs). It may have come from Robert’s camp but may have happened because we share management. Wherever it came from, it’s a great idea.
Anybody who’s seen and heard you guys based on the first recording and first gigs probably knew it [the reunion of The Word] was inevitable, but couldn’t wait to have it happen again.
Hopefully it’s one of those things we can do here and there through the years.
How did you become involved with The Black Crowes?
We just became friends on the road over the years. Many years ago we played together with them—it was us, them and Dylan: that was a cool show! —and that was the first time we met them. In ’05 and ’06 we opened up for them at Madison Square Garden.
Let me back up a little bit: in ’04 Chris came down to Tipitina’s and sat in with us and then we did a sit in at Bonnaroo in ’04 when we did the Hill Country Review, so we knew we were having a good time, we knew we had common ground. Then at MSG, I got talking to Rich and got his number and we stayed in touch and became friends.
And then around Thanksgiving, the late part of ’06, I had some free time, so Rich and I started working on a side-project for fun called ‘Circle Sound’ so we did two gigs in New York City, just playing covers, just having fun, because we both had down time and we enjoyed playing with each other. I think that (collaboration) definitely helped lead to it (The Crowes).
And the he called me up and said “Hey man…you wanna come make this record with us?” and I said “Hell yeah!”
So his invitation to you was to play on the entire record? Not just play on a couple tracks and we’ll see where it goes?
I never dug in too deep – I didn’t want to push it, just taking it day by day and doing the best I can.
It must’ve been quite an experience
This is what it comes down to: funny if you look at their new press release, it’s like “Warpaint—rockin’, gospel, country and blues”…yeah, that’s right up my alley! We speak the same language, kind of an American, rootsy, and Southern rock stuff.
I was listening to the new album, Hernando, yesterday and really enjoying it. It sounds like it came together in the snap of fingers. It all sounds so natural and of one piece. How much did that have to do with recording in your own studio and how quick did you get it done?
That definitely has a lot to do with it. And our own studio lends an atmosphere that, maybe it’s intangible, but it’s important to me. The last two records we made at Ardent Studios in Memphis and they sound great, but I just like that personal touch. And we’ve been crafting a sound there so many years and I know down there I can push the envelope. Like this record I wanted to be LOUD and RAW.
I saw you open for the Allman Brothers Band in New Hampshire and that show you played was so very different from the ones I’d seen before, like Higher Ground in ‘05 – a lot more open-ended, a lot more improvisation. Was that something deliberate because you were opening for the Allman Brothers audience or is that just the way the shows are progressing?
It’s more like (the latter). The Higher Ground show is a really good representation of that ’05 tour and where we were at– at that time. Working on that DVD, I spent way too many hours on that, so that made me want to push further and move on from that place: this is very well-documented, let’s step back, this is done, let’s do something else.
And you know I always write the set, day-to-day on the vibe. You never can tell, you know, on the soundcheck, I get a little feel for it and when the doors open up, I might still be working on the set….I can’t give you a perfect reason for that—it’s just life on the road.
What I found really impressive about that show was the inclusion of a couple of cover songs, one of which was Jimi Hendrix’s “Hear My Train a Comin’,” but also the interpretation you did of Dylan’s “Masters of War.”
Did we do that that day?…
Yeah and I just recently got the Mississippi Folk Music acoustic album and saw it was on there
Cool…it’s so sad but true that that song is so timeless, you know?
That’s why I thought it was so appropriate last year for you to play that and still keep playing it because you’re absolutely right.
I first got into that song when I was about thirteen or something like that. I’ve been thinking about it a lot of years and we just started playing it again. I’m definitely not the writer to write timely or timeless protest music, but there’s such a great well to draw upon and The All Stars definitely do a lot of traditional songs and that’s right in there.
That’s one of the great things I hear in listening to the Hernando, is that so much of it sounds like its traditional music, but it’s given a twist so that it’s not just copying anything. It’s the same elements of the blues from a different perspective. The little boogie that Cody sings “Mizzip” and the slow blues “I Would Love to be a Hippy” is different for you guys to do, but it’s still of a piece with the real heavy (stuff) that’s at the beginning and the end of the record.
Yeah it’s a very collaborative record and I’m real proud of that. Like a lot of the riffs we wrote together, Chris basically came up with at soundchecks. We ended up taking those ideas and putting them together and finish the tunes.
We demo’d up like twenty some odd songs and then Jim (Dickinson, Cody and Luther’s father) picked the ones he thought would be the best, most concise record. And it’s cool because we wrote and recorded some love songs, some prettier songs and funkier songs, but he picked the rockers and I was glad.
With this record I wanted to make a modern classic blues-rock record. We listened to a lot of early ZZ Top and Black Sabbath, Zeppelin and AC/DC: When I grew up, before I got into Black Flag. That’s what I grew up on and that led to other things. But that was the era, that was the type of record I wanted to make. Sonically there were parameters I set up I thought would stay true to that and it was all recorded live as fast as it could.
It’s taken us a while: We’ve always had live things on our records, but at this juncture we were really able to harness the beast and let it ride.
That’s a definite sense of what I got seeing you guys last summer: you had never been more in synch with each other and you could afford to play a lot more loose than before, almost as if you had equal confidence between the three of you to not worry about doing anything wrong, trusting that most things were going to go right.
Yeah that’s exactly right. And you know that comes from something that helped me working on an eleven-year retrospective that’ll come out the middle of later this year. Working on that I listened to a tortuous amount of live tapes and really learned some lessons about myself and working with the band. The main one is “Don’t try to lead the band.” Pay attention to what’s going on and go with the flow. And man that has helped me so much. Sometimes it’s so hard and the other guys have got to do it too—we all have to be on the same page—it really works better than having a train wreck. It’s freeing in a way.
Well you’re going to be bringing some of that element to The Black Crowes. They seem to be a little more structured than you guys are. I suppose you’re going to have some discussions about what tunes you’re going to be able to stretch out on and which tunes you want to keep tight?
I think studying a lot of their live recordings, I got a good feel for it. They’ve got some great tunes. One of the special things about playing with those guys: I’ve been a fan of their songs for a looong time. And also I enjoy working with great singers, whether it be John Hiatt or Mavis Staples, I really like the world-class singer.
You are going to be right in your element; I don’t know who’s going to be smiling more broadly onstage, you or the Robinson Brothers.
Well, wait and see (laughs). It’s funny: they’ve got some great areas to open up on, you know, but I’m not going to force anything. That’s the key and I learned this and it applies to everything no matter who you’re working with—Robert Randolph, John Medeski, John Hiatt, Mavis Staples—you gotta help everybody else sound good. You’re not just out there for yourself. You gotta make everybody shine, accompany the voice and the song and be sympathetic to the other musicians. I think that sensibility over the years has helped me get a lot of work.
I was going to ask you about John Hiatt, having enjoyed the acoustic CD. When you did some tours with him, you and Cody did acoustic sets, and I wondered if you had any thoughts of doing acoustic sets as part of The All Stars show?
We may do that. We’ve always been flirting with this idea and we definitely may experiment with that on this tour. It’s kinda hard technically and sonically because I’m really picky about the way acoustic stuff sounds. I hate plugging ‘em in, they sound so terrible and in the normal club or theater you have to plug ‘em in to get over.
But we did that tour with Charlie (Musselwhite) and Mavis (Staples) late last year and man it was so much fun: beautiful performing arts centers and every night we just miked up three guitars and did it like old folk style. It was so refreshing. I think it would be a great break in the set and you know what else, we’ll have Alvin Youngblood Hart with us on this tour and he’ll be opening up solo
I wanted to ask you about the anthology, because I was looking forward to it coming out last year, was kind of disappointed when it didn’t, but then I found out it’s probably because the studio album’s coming out
Yeah, we ended up leapfrogging those the way the timing worked out. And part of the Hernando record is that it’s a stand-alone record in my mind. It’s not drawing upon or singin’ about the old times in the hill country. As much as I love and cherish those times, to me this is like a mature rock and roll record on face value. And the retrospective’s got some cool material on it and some rare songs and great guests and performances: when I put it together at first, I had a huge group of songs: it had a lot more psychedelic songs and originals and I said, “Wait a minute! I am writing our history here. What is it exactly I want to say about this band and all its years on the road?”
So I went back and re-picked the songs and tried to make it the baddest little psychedelic blues band out there. I think the retrospective will give a nice big picture and give it all up, but I didn’t want that to get in the way of the Hernando record coming from an open-minded place.
Doug Collette is a regular contributor and columnist for Glide, roles similar to those he also performs on a regular basis for the on-line resource All About Jazz as well as the print and web versions of State of Mind music magazine.
