By: David Schultz


Nowadays, referring to The Word (amongst a non-devout crowd) signifies the 2001 album as much as it does the veritable all star jamband that recorded it, the two have pretty much merged together. When the logistics work out right, usually around the Christmas/New Year’s season, The Word will gather and usually play selected dates along the East coast, the last coming in 2007. With the tenth anniversary of the recording seasons approaching, The Word returned to Terminal 5 in New York City to lend their voices to the New Year’s Eve celebration occurring a few long blocks away at Times Square.

When Randolph’s star took off and Live At Wetlands became required listening in the early part of the last decade, the jovial pedal steel Wunderkind from New Jersey seemed poised to be the savior of rock and roll. Randolph consistently blew away Bonnaroo and shared the stage with the likes of Eric Clapton, Buddy Guy and Dave Matthews but he never grabbed the brass ring. Of late, he and the Family Band have sporadically popped up on NBA broadcasts, otherwise, Randolph’s recent appearances have been rare indeed. In addition to welcoming in 2010, the Terminal 5 show served to reassure everyone that Randolph hasn’t dropped off the face of the earth.

As you might expect, improvisational jamming ruled the evening, Dickinson, Randolph and Medeski using the songs from The Word as a blueprint from which they branched off repeatedly. Other than Randolph sneaking a snippet or two of his own “I Need More Love” into the final throes of a song, the only notable cover of the night was a light-jazz instrumental take on Stevie Wonder’s “You Haven’t Done Nothing.” Originally plotted out for two sets, they played through the set break, draping three hours of music on the framework of their sole album. Playing through the New Year, Cody Dickinson’s electric washboard solo, which seemed to be heading in the direction of “Psychedelic Sex Machine,” was short-circuited by the arrival of 2010. Making the bottle of champagne in his hand looking a bit like a baby bottle, the mammoth-sized Chris Chew gave a New Orleans flair to the fledgling year, offering the night's rare vocals on "Down By The Riverside" and "When The Saint's Go Marching In."

The Southern tinged gospel soul inspired some marvelous solos, the musical themes being close to the hearts of those involved. It also brought something out of Randolph, who busted out some of his most assertive pedal steel work in some time and offered up a nice reminder that he can be an incredibly engaging performer. It might be unfair to expect Randolph & The Family Band to return to twenty minute rambles like “Ted’s Jam” and “Squeeze” on a nightly basis. With shows like this though, Randolph may be inspired to recapture a bit of the excitement and fervor that captured folks’ imagination in the first place.

IN THE SUMMER OF 2008, we did a feature on the most resonant live performances of all time. JamBase has turned their collective eye towards the same subject, compiling the 10 most important shows of the decade. As you would imagine, it has a bit of a jamband slant to it. It doesn't change the fact that it's hard to argue with any of the choices on the list.

Labels: Medeski Martin and Wood, North Mississippi Allstars, Robert Randolph, The Word

By: David Schultz

Starbucks has publicly responded to the Carly Simon lawsuit. If you read between the lines, they seem to be saying, "you ungrateful washed up 70s relic, how dare you." It will be interesting if Starbucks can support their figures but in the end, coffee megacorporations should stick to selling coffee and leave losing money on the record business to the record business.

The Word - the gospel-loving supergroup made up up Robert Randolph, John Medeski and the North Mississippi Allstars - will be playing a pair of shows at year's end, December 30 at the Theater of Living Arts in Philadelphia, PA and December 31 at Terminal 5 in New York, NY. The Hendrix of the pedal steel has kept a relatively low profile in 2009, making one notable appearance at the NMA's show at the HighLine Ballroom this past spring. The Word's last set of performances took place at the end of 2007 when they hit up the East coast including a gig at the relatively new T5.

Labels: Carly Simon, North Mississippi Allstars, Robert Randolph, The Word

By: David Schultz

The North Mississippi Allstars want to see you shake your ass. For years, it’s been a recurring theme in their music and lead guitarist Luther Dickinson has taken to referring to it in his stage banter with the same frequency that Michael Franti asks “How ya feelin’.” Unless you’re not paying attention, you can’t possibly miss the prime directive that you shake something when you are within the Allstars’ presence. This past week in New York City, Dickinson, his brother Cody and bassist Chris Chew found an audience at the HighLine Ballroom that was quite accepting of their kinetic mandate.

After a lengthy respite, New York City has been the recipient of a relative surfeit of Allstars performances. At the close of 2007, the NMA anchored a reinvigorated original lineup of The Word, serving as the backbone to keyboardist John Medeski’s heart and Robert Randolph’s soul at a sold-out performance at Terminal 5. They return only one month later, as their recently commenced winter tour brings them back to The Big Apple before they can truly be missed. On their fifth studio album, Hernando, the Allstars made a concerted effort to move away from their Mississippi roots and focus more on blues-based classic rock. It’s a style that has always flourished in a concert setting and the new songs, especially heavier ones like “Keep The Devil Down” and “Soldier,” translate well and benefit greatly from the live workout.

Surrounded by a ton of instruments - Chew had a half dozen basses or more off on one side of the stage and Luther’s customary phalanx of guitars sat center stage – the Allstars spread out across the stage and filled the room with their blend of Mississippi Delta derived blues. For the first hour of the show, they drew heavily from Hernando with Luther weaving his solos and slide guitar within the grooves being nicely laid down by Chew and the younger Dickinson. One of the more underrated guitarists, Luther doesn’t seem to receive as much recognition for his guitar work as is his proper due. In March, he will join Chris & Rich Robinson as an official member of The Black Crowes. Although the Crowes’ hardcore fans are already well versed in all things Luther, he should impress a number of new listeners who will be getting their first exposure to the bespectacled guitarist. He’s already developing his Crowes’ look; he has a ways to go before he matches the Crowes’ hirsute lead singer but in letting his hair and beard grow out, Luther looks much scruffier than he has in the past.

The second half of the show took on a different dynamic with the inclusion of guitarist Alvin Youngblood Hart. Hart, who would make a potent WWE tag team with Chew, remained on stage for a healthy portion of the show. Although he brought some exceptional blues chops with him, his presence caused each of the individual Allstars to reign in what would had been working so splendidly in order to give Hart room to play. The quality of the performance didn’t diminish; it just changed.

The end of the set turned into a subtle seminar in classic rock seminar. The little flourishes weren’t trotted out like show ponies. Rather, with the exception of the “Moonlight Mile” tease during the intro to “Deep Blue Sea,” they could have easily escaped notice. Their devastating interpretation of “In My Time Of Dying” bore little resemblance to Led Zeppelin’s well-known version; going back to the song’s origins, Hart’s passionate vocals echoed the style of blues that Zeppelin used as their springboard and ultimately overshadowed. Further keeping things lively, Chew worked the bass line from Band of Gypsys “Who Knows” into “Snake Drive” and Luther teased Parliament’s “P-Funk (Wants To Get Funked Up).”

When they stepped to the forefront, Chew and Cody Dickinson provided some of the night’s more entertaining moments. Possibly the best singer in the band, Chew gave a proper Muddy Waters feel to “I’d Love To Be A Hippy” and his turn on “Lovelight” was much more focused than his attempt to curry favor with Giants fans by discussing their common bond through Ole Miss’ Eli Manning and Hernando’s own Kevin Dockery. Cody, who’s not a bad guitar player in his own right, came out front for a couple songs, taking lead on “Goin’ Home (Part 1).” His true star turn came during the encore. One of the few practitioners of the electrified washboard, Dickinson returned to the stage by himself and tore through “Psychedelic Sex Machine,” the Allstars showpiece for Dickinson’s bizarrely fascinating skill.

At the HighLine, the NMA put on an old fashioned, no-frills rock and roll show reverberating with the echoes of the Seventies, an era known for the plethora of bands that regularly modified the blues to suit their purposes. In the case of the Allstars, they’ve always strived to stay true to the art form; they may update traditional songs but they rarely opt to radically reinvent. The Allstars do it best on “Po Black Maddie/Skinny Woman,” their tribute to R.L. Burnside, one of their early influences. It’s been a staple of their sets for years and is always a highlight of any set they play. The music wasn’t the only way the Allstars stayed true to themselves. After nearly 2 ½ hours of blistering blues, Luther closed the show the only way that seemed natural: he thanked everyone for “coming out and shakin’ your ass on a Tuesday night.”

Labels: North Mississippi Allstars

By: David Schultz

The North Mississippi Allstars - guitarist Luther Dickinson, drummer Cody Dickinson and bassist Chris Chew – have willingly assumed the onus of being keepers of the flame for Mississippi’s blues and folk music. It’s a burden they carry with pride. The Allstars have drifted into country-styled blues during their affiliation with John Hiatt and dabbled in gospel blues with The Word but have rarely strayed far from their Mississippi roots. With Hernando, their fifth studio album, the Allstars attempt to break free from their Hill Country origins and tap into the American blues that has served as the foundation for classic rock.

The threesome doesn’t quite shake free of their signature sound and it’s unlikely they ever will. Hernando has a harder feel to it than their last effort, the relatively sunny Electric Blue Watermelon. If anything, it comes closest to the harder moments of 51 Phantom. Even though they are trying to go in a slightly different direction, Hernando still bears the distinctly North Mississippi Allstars sound with “Shake,” “Come Go With Me” and “Take Yo Time, Rodney” continuing their penchant for working different variations of R.L. Burnside-influenced themes into their work. Hernando may list toward the heavier side of American blues but the Allstars ease in that direction without causing a significant rift with their past.

In moving beyond the Hill Country, they’ve come up with some exceptional songs. Chris Chew lights up “I’d Love To Be A Hippy,” an easy-going, standard blues tune that ideologically updates Muddy Waters’ “Champagne & Reefer,” revealing himself to be an exceptionally talented blues vocalist. “Blow Out” comes right out of the Buddy Holly/Chuck Berry school of timeless rock and Cody Dickinson’s “Mizzip” scoots along on of the Allstars’ patented up-tempo boogie-beats.

The growling “Keep The Devil Down” and “Soldier” contain the same righteous gospel zeal that marks their contributions to The Word. Even if the vocal sections of “Soldier” are somewhat flat, the instrumental portions of the six minute track soar: Luther’s guitar solos with Cody working some intricate drums behind him while Chew walks strutting bass lines are pure Allstars magic. It’s a hallmark of their live shows and Hernando leaves you wanting more of the trio’s fine interplay.

A number of the songs aren’t perfectly suited for Luther’s vocal style. Instead of conveying a confident swagger, his voice descends into one-dimensional exhortations on the more deliberate tunes. Fortunately, no one listens to the Allstars to hear someone sing; they come to hear them play. Blues-inflected rock falls right into Chew and Cody Dickinson’s wheelhouse and the exceptional rhythms underscoring Hernando emerge with repeated listens. As casual fans of the Black Crowes are about to find out, Luther Dickinson is one of the more unheralded axemen practicing the craft. His guitar work, which is judiciously though not sparingly scattered throughout Hernando, flat out sizzles. In letting his inner Hendrix or Keith Richards loose, Dickinson brings different shades of meaning with each solo.

No surprise, Hernando reveals the North Mississippi Allstars to be exemplary students of the American blues. Where their past efforts owe debts of honor to the Delta bluesmen of the past, Hernando serves as a tip of the hat to the blues purveyed by John Lee Hooker, Buddy Guy and Muddy Waters. If classic rock radio dedicated airplay to bands that still practice the craft their station keeps alive, Hernando would have the Allstars in heavy rotation.

Labels: North Mississippi Allstars

In a year when reunions were all the rage, Robert Randolph, John Medeski and the North Mississippi Allstars finished 2007 by putting their own spin on the concept by resurrecting their gospel-blues based project known as The Word. The Police, Genesis and Van Halen were the poster boys for the Year of the Reunion Tour, efficiently targeting fiscally solvent fans with nicely staged concerts firmly rooted in the nostalgia of their glory days. In that sense, The Word’s four night swing through the East coast qualifies as a Bizarro reunion. With only one six-year old album under their belt, fans did not flock to New York City’s Terminal 5 this past Thursday to bask in the abundant riches of yesteryear. Rather, they came to see what new tricks this veritable supergroup of the jam scene was capable of performing.

When The Word first assembled in 2000-2001, Robert Randolph was a little known pedal steel guitarist who had been toiling away in the churches of New Jersey. Even though he’d hardly played outside his own chapel, Medeski and the North Mississippi Allstars – Luther Dickinson, Cody Dickinson and Chris Chew – were impressed with Randolph’s considerable skills and recruited him to provide the “sacred steel” for their gospel tinged project. Using traditional gospel as their focal point, the quintet imposed their considerably eclectic chops on the music and created an eminently accessible collection of gospel-inflected songs that appealed to the devout with the same fervor as it did to the lapsed.

The Word introduced Robert Randolph to the world; six years later, he’s the most recognizable member of the troupe and for these recent shows he’s been acting as the de facto leader of the band. Despite the improvisational firepower on stage, The Word stayed relatively loyal to the central musical themes. That’s not to say they put on a rigidly formatted show. To a man, they all played loosely. When Randolph piqued everyone’s curiosity with a throwaway riff from The Ohio Players’ “Love Rollercoaster,” it just took one look back at Medeski and Luther Dickinson for a seemingly impromptu cover to occur.

A show featuring the five musicians of The Word would be an easy sell in its own right; that they had a body of communal music to work from helped considerably. With Cody Dickinson’s drumming giving a feral bluesy kick to the gospel melodies, The Word played together as if they do it daily. Over the course of the night they updated the songs from their sole self-titled release, offering up groove-heavy renditions of “Joyful Sounds” and “Without God” and soulful offerings of “At The Cross” and “I’ll Fly Away.” They augmented the set with a nice smattering of covers: if they didn’t quite hit the appropriate pounding funk of Stevie Wonder’s “You Haven’t Done Nothin’,” they nailed the requisite heavy groove on their quick detour through The White Stripes’ “Seven Nation Army.” They saved their best cover of the evening for the encore, extending the inspirational motif to embrace Marvin Gaye’s “Inner City Blues.”

The show focused on the music and kept theatrics at a minimum. For most of the night, Chris Chew reclined comfortably against the equipment cases next to Cody Dickinson’s drum kit and the ever-excitable Randolph remained primarily rooted to his pedal steel. The two sets consisted almost exclusively of instrumental music. Chew provided the only vocals of the night during a brief New Orleans style run through “Down By The Riverside” and “When The Saints Go Marching In.” Luther Dickinson would occasionally stroll up to Randolph and engage him in a little give-or-take and Randolph sporadically gave a challenging glance over at Medeski before trading a couple riffs but otherwise the most notable solo was turned in by Cody Dickinson. At the close of “Waiting On My Wings,” Randolph took over on the drums and Dickinson went to town on his decidedly non-ecclesiastical electrified washboard.

For close to three hours, Randolph, Medeski and the NMA turned a set of songs derived from gospel and other inspirational sources into an enthusiastic jam session. Without question, if The Word were the house band at any local house of worship, attendance would go through the roof.

The Word wasn’t the only Randolph affiliated show in the Big Apple that night. On the other side of town, Jason Crosby of Randolph’s Family Band was holding court at the Ace of Clubs. Crosby’s show made for a nice after-hours affair for those intrepid enough to travel across town from Terminal 5. Crosby had his crowd moving with his brand of fusion jazz, danceable funk as well as a couple covers that included a pleasantly tuneful version of The Korgis’ “Everybody’s Got To Learn Sometime.”

Crosby will rejoin Randolph & The Family Band in March at this year’s Langerado Festival in Big Cypress, Florida. After a night at Levon Helm’s Woodstock home/studio for one of his Midnight Rambles, Medeski along with Billy Martin and Chris Wood will embark on a late February run of shows before likewise heading down to Langerado where they’ll play with Jon Scofield. The North Mississippi Allstars won’t be at Langerado, but they will be busy. Before lending his skills to the Black Crowes in March, Luther and the Allstars will head out on a comprehensive U.S. tour to coincide with the January 22 release of Hernando.

Labels: Medeski Martin and Wood, North Mississippi Allstars, Robert Randolph, The Word

[Ed. Note: Earvolution's artist development and production side of the business has a few tricks up its sleeve for 2008 as well; new Pawnshop Roses coming soon and expect a major announcement involving the marrying of new media technology with one of the most revered brands in American music history.]

Labels: Amy Winehouse, Britney Spears, Drive By Truckers, Led Zeppelin, Lenny Kravitz, Licorice, North Mississippi Allstars, The Black Crowes, The Hold Steady, U-Melt

By: David Schultz

When The Black Crowes famously reunited for a week's worth of shows at New York City's Hammerstein Ballroom, they selected a fine slate of artists to accompany them, including the North Mississippi AllStars. In addition to joining The Crowes for an encore of Elmore James' "Shake Your Money Maker" during that March 2005 run, the AllStars' lead guitarist Luther Dickinson (and his bandmates) rang in 2006 with the Robinson brothers at their New Year's concert at Madison Square Garden. As both bands are steeped in the southern tradition of the blues, it can't come as any surprise that they hit it off both on and off stage. No strangers to the joys and miseries of playing in a band with their brother, the Crowes' Rich Robinson and the AllStars' Luther Dickinson left their respective siblings at home to team up for an evening as Circle Sound.

While Circle Sound publicized their Friday night show at the Bowery Ballroom as featuring Robinson and Dickinson, it came with a heavy Black Crowes vibe. Current Crowes band members, keyboardist Rob Clores and bassist Sven Pipien, who is cultivating the Chris Robinson homeless hippie look, as well as former Crowes drummer Bill Dobrow rounded out the band. Aswirl with promises and rumors of special guests, expectations over surprise appearances ran amok and the presence of 2007 Hall Of Fame inductee and resident New Yorker Patti Smith sated all but the most unreasonable appetites for something exceptional.

Any hopes that Circle Sound would feature multiple guitar battles between The Crowe and The AllStar were quickly dashed. Robinson made no effort to match Dickinson's exemplary skills, providing rhythm guitars and complementary riffs instead of an old-fashioned duel. With his thick glasses and unkempt locks, Dickinson looks more like a librarian than a skilled bluesman. Bringing his customary phalanx of guitars, Dickinson switched axes every couple of numbers, notably breaking out a mandolin for a triptych of songs including Ry Cooder's "Boomer's Story," a song often covered by Chris Robinson when he sits in with Dickinson and the AllStars. Brother Rich seemed content to let Dickinson handle the leads, only once breaking out the slide guitar for a countryish version of Bob Dylan's "I'll Be Your Baby Tonight." For the encore, the two guitarists attempted some guitar theatrics on "Sunday Night Buttermilk Waltz," an acoustic, Led-Zep style outtake from Amorica. Dickinson seemed to throw off Robinson at the start of the song by switching guitars and the two seemed to play at odds with each other until the end when they finally meshed.

With the exception of a take on the AllStars' "Bang Bang Lulu" and the acoustic beginning to the encore, Circle Sound pretty much avoided NMA or Black Crowes fare, using their Bowery gig as an opportunity to have some fun. Becoming the night's most skilled cover band, Dickinson and Robinson breathed life into some wisely chosen classic rock covers, some old-school blues and a few Robinson originals. The band's best moments were on gritty blues tunes like "Spoonful," "Mean Old World" and a pair of Johnny Winter tunes. They dove heartily into the slinky off-kilter beat of The Rolling Stones' "I Just Wanna See His Face" and they expertly Crazy Horsed their opener, "Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere."

Robinson and Dickinson shared lead vocals throughout the set: Robinson fronting during tunes from his 2004 album Paper; Dickinson handling the swampier blues and classic rock covers. However, Patti Smith's voice resonated the most. Near the end of the set, the politically outspoken singer mesmerized the crowd with a rendition of "Smoke Signals." While Smith may be physically showing her age, her voice and stage presence remain as captivating as ever.

Opening act Langhorne Slim also provided some nice variety. Playing a revved up acoustic guitar like Ray Lamontagne on steroids, the gullible in the crowd could have been convinced that Slim was a disguised Jack White.

Circle Sound's Bowery Ballroom show was one for the band, who seemed to truly enjoy the freedom of taking a night off from their usual catalog to play a set of their favorite tunes. Far from an indulgent night, Dickinson, Robinson, the rest of Circle Sound, Smith and Slim exceeded all expectations, producing a fast-paced night of quality blues and rock and roll.

[PHOTO CREDIT TO VANARK - Check out more of his fine work HERE.]

Labels: Circle Sound, Langhorne Slim, Luther Dickinson, North Mississippi Allstars, Patti Smith, Rich Robinson, The Black Crowes

The North Mississippi Allstars kick off their winter tour tonight at West Hollywood's House of Blues.

The Allstars will then head south for the remainder of the tour, making a February 3rd through the 6th detour to play international waters as part of the Dave Matthews and Friends Caribbean Cruise Getaway.

The Cruise features the NMAs, Ozomatli, Mofro, Bob Weir and RatDog, G. Love, Toots and the Mayhals, Soulive, Mike Doughty's Band, Micheal Tolcher, DJ Logic, ALO, John Brown's Body, Motion Potion, Grace Potter & the Nocturnals and Brett Dennen.

Labels: North Mississippi Allstars

Umphrey's McGee and North Mississippi Allstars at Bowrey Ballroom
By: David Schultz

For almost a decade, Umphrey's McGee has cultivated a grass roots following borne from favorable word-of-mouth about the strength of their live shows. The band's seemingly endless tour brought them to New York's Irving Plaza for a pair of weekend performances. Overlapping with Umphrey's, the North Mississippi Allstars, led by guitar wizard Luther Dickinson, took over the lower east side's Bowery Ballroom for a two night run of their own. Far from being the difference between north and south, the two shows were further distinguished by the competency of the bands involved: where the Allstars have comfortably found their sound and work hard at excelling at their blues-based southern sound, Umphrey's attempts to be a jack of all trades, mastering quite few.

Umphrey's exudes an overly earnest attitude on stage. However, the sincerity doesn't originate from their appreciation of the fans nor their joy for the music they're playing; rather Umphrey's radiates a natural genuineness over how great they imagine themselves to be. If they finessed this, honing the irony inherent with such an attitude, they could easily become the jamband version of KISS. Unfortunately, the irony appears completely inadvertent. Nattily dressed in collared shirts and jeans, Umphrey's displays a confident demeanor on stage, all while indulging themselves with every song. Their young and rabid fan base, which has expertly mastered the backwards baseball hat look, does not seem to mind and make no effort to conceal their uninhibited joy at being at an Umphrey's show. Compared to some fans reaction to the band's rendition of "The Bottom Half," lottery winners seem subdued.

Umphrey's love of the synthesized sounds of the eighties comes through in their music in an offbeat manner. Where the Killers distill the best out of that genre, Umphrey's gravitates towards the worst. The band takes their leads from their two guitarists Jake Cinninger and Brendan Bayliss with keyboardist Andy Cummins contributing heavily towards their groove. Drummer Kris Myers adeptly and admirably gives a sturdy backbone to this incredibly schizophrenic band, which will go from heavy prog-rock to electronica to heavy metal to easy-going guitar melodies, sometimes all during the same song. On one hand they should be applauded for bringing different elements to their music, but a lot of the different genres they mix together don’t blend well together and come across as forced. Umphrey's succeeds most when they stay with the laid-back guitar-heavy sound that mark their best songs. This night, the group hit their stride best when they focused on loose guitar based rock like their second set opener "All In Time." When they veer into techno-jumbles like "Robot World" or grind out heavy metal 80's metal like "Nopener," they cross the line between experimental and antagonistic. In other hands, Umphrey' cover of "Wild Side," could be campy fun but they tackled the tune with a curious sincerity that removed all guilty pleasure to be obtained from the Crue "classic." Similarly misplaced, their flirtation with reggae yielded unto them the same rewards as Al Capone's vault.

That all being said, Umphrey's fans eat their live shows up, savoring each solo and song like they were being served crack covered corn flakes. The shame of the matter is that Umphrey's McGee is an incredibly tight band that exuberantly encourages each other while demonstrating a solid familiarity with their long time band mates. Oftentimes, Bayliss and Cinninger will get in each other's face adding a little confrontational energy to the mix. Unlike Phish, a band that pushed each other in unfamiliar directions, stretching and expanding their skills, Umphrey's lead each other down familiar roads and into comfortable territory, reveling in their grandeur all the while.

Umphrey's indulge themselves onstage, offering fare that borders on the ridiculous. Launching the show on a humorous note, the band hit the stage to the strains of the legendary Vince DiCola’s training montage music from Rocky IV, running the joke thin when they let the song play too long. Completely beating the horse dead, they repeated the stunt for the second set. Another first set misfire involved the introduction of Ugochi, a Chicago-area female singer, as if her appearance would inspire the same awe as an Aretha Franklin appearance to sing lead on the Bill Withers tune "Ain't No Sunshine." Umphrey's seemed flat throughout the smoky, torch song and the selection, which sounded outside of her natural range, seemed a poor match for Ugochi as well

Riding that fine line between clever and stupid: the encore drifted into Spinal Tap territory. 80's icon Huey Lewis joined the band for the second time in as many nights for a cover of The Band's "The Weight." The unlikely combination of Lewis and Umphrey's was not without precedent, the two having collaborated at the 2005 Jammy Awards ceremony this past April. Although joining together on the Band classic just months ago, Lewis appeared to have forgotten the words and he made no effort to conceal his cribbing of lyrics, holding them out in front of him while he sang. Backing the square hipster, Umphrey's seemed content and in the right groove, graciously allowing Lewis space for a couple harmonica solos. Embarrassingly, Lewis conducted an impromptu huddle with Cinninger, Bayliss and bassist Ryan Stasik, where Lewis seemed to teach the Umphrey's boys how to play a blues progression on his harmonica. The sight of Lewis, a better musician than his reputation would lead you to believe, instructing a relatively established band on the basics of the blues scored high on the unintentional comedy scale. To Umphrey's credit, they picked up on the tune quickly enough, ably backing Lewis through a blues tune they were obviously unfamiliar with.

With the crowd progressing towards the door and the house lights lit, Umphrey's felt the need to return to the stage for a second encore, despite the absence of the prodding that should normally accompany such an act. Conveying undeserved hubris, the band blasted the annoying strains of the Notre Dame fight song through the loudspeakers before concluding the evening with an extended version of "Hurt Bird Bath."

In contrast, the North Mississippi Allstars' Friday night performance at the Bowery Ballroom, also the second of two, showed a band confidently finding their sound. Possessing ten times the talent and a tenth of the ego as Umphrey's McGee, bespectacled guitarist Luther Dickinson lent his considerable guitar skills to the Allstars 21st century brand of old-style southern blues. The Allstars, comprised of Luther, his brother and drummer Cody and professional wrestling sized bassist Chris Chew, impressively moved from New Orleans-style zydeco to swamp rock to gospel-tinged blues. Although Luther Dickinson remains the band's draw, each of the Allstars is given time fronting the band. Cody came from behind the drums to lead the band on the electric washboard masterpiece "Psychedelic Sex Machine," and made the most bizarre of instruments seem revolutionary. Playfully waving and winking to the crowd, Chew brings a contagious sense of fun to the show and his vocals on the night's "Turn On Your Lovelight" themed encore bordered on the exhortations of a Southern preacher. Despite bouncing between genres like their Notre Dame jamband brethren, the Allstars exhibited more cohesiveness and a more defined sense of purpose.

The NMA excel when Luther leads the band. From the first riffs of the opening medley of "Shimmy She Wobble" and "Station Blues," through their set closing medley of R.L. Burnside's "Po Black Maddie" and "Skinny Woman," the trio raises their game when Luther lays down tight but free-flowing guitar solos over Cody's whip crack drumming and Chew's laid-back, funky bass. Their Burnside medley, already the highlight of any NMA show, must be dearer to them since Burnside's passing and should become their "Free Bird."

After seeing the Allstars live, you can't help but think that this exceptional trio will get even better with time. The same cannot be said for Umphrey's McGee, who have been around for years and seem quite satisfied with the level of their performance. Without the willingness to adapt or hone their sound into something coherent, Umphrey's chances of rising above the grass-roots level of success they've achieved seem extraordinarily unlikely. As for the Allstars, like Luther sings on "Station Blues," they should be "sitting on top of the world."

Labels: North Mississippi Allstars, Umphrey's McGee

by David Schultz

Webster Hall, one of the hipper night clubs in New York City, in their effort to expand their audience beyond the denizens of the dance floor, played host to a unique mix of the old and the new when John Hiatt shared his stage with the North Mississippi Allstars. The unique choice of venue was apropos to the unique mix present on stage. Where else to showcase a musician's-musician like Hiatt backed by one of the South's up and coming bands but at one of New York's larger night clubs?

The pairing of Indiana's Hiatt and Mississippi's Allstars is not as random as it may appear. Hiatt's new album Master of Disaster, was produced by legendary Memphis producer Jim Dickinson who enlisted his sons Luther and Cody, members of the Allstars, to contribute their talents to the album. The NMA, whose membership varies and grows with each performance, often rising to as many as a dozen members, were present this night in their core configuration with guitar wizard Luther Dickinson, Cody Dickinson on drums and Chris Chew on bass.

Seated along the front of the stage, Luther, with a phalanx of guitars, and the Allstars opened the show with a brief acoustic set. With Cody abandoning the drums for a guitar and Chew comfortably resting his ample bulk in a chair that resembled a love seat, the Allstars played a tight set highlighted by their set closer, an extended rendition of Po Black Maddie.

For all the musicianship brought to the stage by Chew and the Dickinson's, they were equaled by John Hiatt. Hiatt, a veteran performer, brings a strong presence to the stage and is as comfortable alone with a piano as he is fronting a band with guitar in hand. Although the set list was exclusively Hiatt's, this was definitely a collaborative performance with the Allstars receiving equal billing on the marquee. Luther Dickinson, who will occasionally lend his considerable slide guitar talents to bands like moe. and Robert Randolph, was given ample opportunity to solo and added a spark that is oftentimes missing from Hiatt's recorded material.

This is a tour in support of a new release and Hiatt devoted a good portion of the show to delivering his pleasant but pedestrian new tunes. One notable exception was Ain't Ever Goin' Back where Hiatt and Dickinson greatly improved on the studio version by transforming the countrified song about moving past a bad relationship into a fierce blues anthem.

Despite the new album, Hiatt's back catalogue was not neglected. The Allstars, with their fresher ears and younger attitude, greatly improved Hiatt standards like Riding With The King, Cry Love and especially the show closing Slow Turning. The band greedily dove into Hiatt's more upbeat songs, clearly enjoying the slinky The Tiki Bar Is Open and relishing in the bouncy Memphis In The Meantime, but on the slower ones were left without much to do.

For the entirety of his 2 hour set, Hiatt was loose and clearly enjoying himself. He is keenly aware of his status as an aging rocker and finds humor in the added girth and lack of hipness inherent with his graceful aging. Before closing the show with Bring The Family's Thing Called Love, he thanked Bonnie Raitt, who had a much more successful run with the song, for putting his kids through college

Before closing the show with an extended Slow Turning, Hiatt returned to the stage alone for his encore staple Have A Little Faith In Me. Accompanying himself on the electric piano, Hiatt showed that he didn't need the younger rockers behind him to captivate and enthrall his audience.

Labels: North Mississippi Allstars