Rating:
Genre:
Rock
Release Date: 10/12/2004
The North Mississippi Allstars were invited to play the 2004
Bonnaroo festival, but instead of just bringing the band itself, they brought along all kinds of friends and family and dubbed it the North Mississippi Hill Country Revue.
North Mississippi appears to be an incestuous musical community (just take a look at the players on
R.L. Burnside's and
Junior Kimbrough's albums), and this show comes off as a giant, joyous family affair. There are the Dickinsons:
Luther and
Cody along with their legendary father
Jim, and three generations of Burnsides with
R.L., sons
Duwayne and
Garry, and grandson
Cody (
R.L.'s wife was there too). In addition,
Othar Turner's
Rising Star Fife & Drum Band is being carried on by
Othar's grandsons, and bassist
Chris Chew and
JoJo Hermann would have to be considered members of the extended family, having played with all those folks. The
North Mississippi Allstars brand of
roots rock and Mississippi
blues seems tailor-made for a festival like this, and the good times shine through the great music. It's a loose, rambling set that occasionally drags a bit during introductions and audience interaction, but when the band gets down to playing, some real magic happens. They can play just about anything convincingly, from greasy Mississippi
blues like
"Snake River Drive" to sounding like
the Band on
Ry Cooder's
"Boomer's Story," even making music from just an electrified washboard (wah-wah washboard) and cigar box guitar (no fooling!).
Luther's slide can't help but remind one of
Duane Allman, even when he's slipping
Dr. John quotes into
"Down in Mississippi." They know their history too, dipping into the
Mississippi Sheiks songbook while performing with
the Rising Star Fife & Drum Band (
"Station Blues" aka
"Sittin' on Top of the World" goes back to 1930 or so). There are high points throughout the album, but they really hit their stride on the last three tunes or so. No flash, no egos, and no pretension, just genuine American music played from the heart.
~Sean Westergaard, All Music Guide
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