North Mississippi Allstars Duo - The Outlaw Music Series

The Outlaw Music Series Presents:

North Mississippi Allstars Duo

With Special Guest - Alvin Youngblood Hart

Thursday, February 16
Doors Open at 7:00pm
Music Starts at 8:00pm

**Tickets are On-Sale Now!**
Tickets - $25.00 in advance; $28.00 day of the show

To purchase tickets call or stop by the Fifth Third Ballpark Box Office at (616) 784-4131
To purchase tickets online CLICK HERE.

North Mississippi Allstars Duo - In the beginning, a father passed away and a child was born. Luther and Cody Dickinson lost their father, Memphis music legend Jim Dickinson, only months before Luther became one. Jim had always told them, “You need to be playing music together. You are better together than you will ever be apart.” Coincidentally, the Dickinson brothers were not together when Jim passed. At that moment, they were both off on their own, Luther with The Black Crowes and Cody with the Hill Country Revue. So in the spring of 2010, the North Mississippi Allstars reformed and went into the Zebra Ranch, the family’s recording studio where they had spent countless hours together with their dad, to create a record that could help them cope with the loss, and, at the same time, rejoice in his honor. The first line of Jim’s self-written eulogy was, “I refuse to celebrate death.” Luther, Cody and Chris Chew took heed and aimed to celebrate life instead; and the songs for the new record, Keys To The Kingdom (Songs of the South), came pouring out of their souls.

From there, the boys explore varying meditations on mortality, often from the perspective of their father as he is preparing to die. The songs grasp the subject matter with fierce honesty yet never become maudlin. From the Mavis Staples ghost-dance gospel soul of “The Meeting,” in which one struts and swaggers confidently through the pearly gates with head held high, to the Replacements meets Big Star-inspired rock of “How I Wish My Train Would Come,” which speaks of actually desiring to move beyond life’s struggles, to “Hear the Hills,” which depicts the acceptance and letting go experience of the final moments of a life well lived and loved, we find the boys looking for meaning and answers as they work through their pain. Spooner Oldham, Jim’s favorite piano player, lends a hand on these last two songs. Luther chose Oldham to play the “piano from heaven,” and blends it beautifully with a recording of Mississippi bugs conversing on a desolate hot summer night. As the song fades, it sounds like a distant country church house somewhere off in the woods.