Memphis on Their Mind

Over the years, the renowned Ardent Studios in Memphis, Tenn., has been the recording home to many musicians since its establishment 38 years ago by John Fry.

The studio's early projects laid down such hits as "Soul Man" and "I'll Take You There" for Staxx Records. Over the years, the studio has become the recording ground for bands like Booker T and the MGs, Led Zeppelin, the Allman Brothers Band, Big Star, R.E.M. and solo musicians such as Bob Dylan, Al Green, Steve Earle, B.B. King, Waylon Jennings, Stevie Ray Vaughn and James Taylor.

For Cody and Luther Dickinson, members of the North Mississippi Allstars, spending time in Ardent Studios was just another day of hanging out with their old man at work. It was in this creative space where the well-known and local producer Jim Dickinson documented some of his milestone sessions with groups as varied and diverse as Spin Doctors, the Re-placements and Spiritualized.

"Recording studios can be a sterile environment especially compared to a rock 'n' roll club with a bunch of drunkards and cigarette smoke," said North Mississippi Allstars drummer Cody Dickinson. "So, I think some musicians go into a studio and think they are at the dentist office, but that was never really the case with me. I'm just as comfortable if not more comfortable than I am, say, on stage. I don't walk in with any sort of culture shock, I guess you could say. Not only are we comfortable in the studio but we understand the process of making a record."

Jim would drive to the studios with his children in tow where the Dickinson brothers witnessed hundreds of sessions. It was during this time that music stirred their little minds and souls, and the boys began to dream about being in a band. Cody notes California studio session drummer Jim Keltner (John Lennon, Arlo Guthrie, Mick Jagger, John Lee Hooker, Roy Orbison, Pink Floyd, Eric Clapton, Brian Wilson, Neil Diamond and Elvis Costello, just to name a few) as one of his biggest influences.

"As a kid, I remember the first time I realized I had an instinct for music," recalled Cody. "I was riding with my dad in the car and I was about 4 or 5 years old. I asked him, 'Dad, you know how you can be listening to a song and you know what's going to happen next? What if you're wrong?' He said, 'You get fired.' I always thought that was a great answer."

As teen-agers, the boys (Cody on drums, and Luther on vocals and guitar) formed a punk trio called DDT with Paul Taylor, and toured as opening acts for the Replacements, Jakob Dylan and Ice-T.

"As a drummer, I learned to really progress it takes a lot of practice and focus," said Cody. "Anyone can sit behind a kit, bash out a drum beat and have a blast, it's a fun instrument to play. I was about 18 when I started practicing three to four hours a day and I noticed my progress. Any parent out there, who is worried about their kids playing music, has the wrong idea. When my friends were out there bashing mailboxes, stealing from the fireworks stand or whatever, I was at home practicing and here I am, I've made a career out of it.

"For me, keeping tempo is the most challenging. For me, when I listen to a band, if the drummer hasn't put in their time practicing, I can tell. There are things that you can't hide, not that that's a bad thing. Take Meg White from the White Stripes. She's brilliant, every gig she plays it sounds like it's the first time she's played the drums. I'm not taking away from that sort of innocent approach but for the most part, I would rather hear someone who has practiced."

Gutbucket was the acoustic adaptation of the Dickinson brothers that focused more on their musical heritage as Southerners. For one particular gig, the brothers performed as guest players with solo musician and bassist Chris Chew at his high school homecoming dance. Many different styles merged that fateful night and out of it came the North Mississippi Allstars.

"We are a jamband and I wear that label with pride because basically what that means, in my opinion, is bands that can play," said Cody. "We don't go out there because we look good or because we have a hit single, and people don't come to our shows to watch us shake our ass. People come to hear music and I think that if a jamband doesn't come with it, then (fans) don't give a damn about you.

"For example, The Strokes go out on stage and play a 45-minute set whereas we go out and play for two hours."
In 1996, the band played its first gig with several famed southern musicians like blues great R.L. Burnside. From then on, Burnside, along with other old-school players of the past, shaped and cultivated the band's passion for the musical styles born out of the South. It was what influenced the band's studio works "Shake Hands with Shorty" in 2000 and "51 Phantom" in 2001. Both albums garnered Grammy nominations. The band completed 2003's "Polaris," a work that showcases Cody's talents as a drummer, and his first crack at songwriting as the writer of several tunes and a co-collaborator with his brother.

Oasis guitarist Noel Gallagher heard one of the early demos of "One to Grow On" and sang on the track that made its way onto the album. The brothers first met Gallagher in 2001 while on tour in London where Gallagher and his Oasis band mates caught a few of the Allstars shows. Cody returned to London six months later for vacation and Gallagher invited him over to the studio where Oasis was recording, which became an experience that later became inspiration for a song on "Polaris." Coincidentally, the band recorded the album at Ardent Studios. Its yet-to-be-released work is due out in February 2005.

"In the past, we've done all of our CDs when we were off tour like a weekend here and a weekend there, but we just finished our most recent studio album called 'Electric Blue Watermelon' and we took a month off our touring to do it," said Cody. "It's a real cohesive piece of work and it's hard to make a real cohesive record with us not so much in terms of the stylistic differences. It has more to do with sporadic time frame. I think this new one is hands down our best one, I'm real excited about it."

With four studio projects under its belt, the Allstars also decided to put out a live album and what better stage than one from the Bonnaroo Music Festival in Tennessee. The recently released "Hill Country Revue" is a snapshot from the three-day festival over the summer. Among the musicians playing with the Allstars are Burnside and Black Crowes singer Chris Robinson.

"Actually the hardest song to play was 'Boomer's Story' because I play guitar and sing on it, and I usually play the drums," remembered Cody. "I also had to sing with Chris Robinson so my knees were buckling. I was nervous as hell."

North Mississippi Allstars' new live disc, "Hill Country Revue," is out now.