Just crazy about how all the North Mississippi Allstars carry on, a near-capacity crowd at the Crystal Bay Casino bumped, shimmied and shook for more than 3 hours on Friday night.
“We’re having so much fun; we are so happy to be back,” Luther Dickinson said early on.
Like all the touring bands during the pandemic have been away. North Mississippi Allstars last Crown Room appearance was three years to the month ago, just before bassist Carl Dufrene died.
The new lineup is a quartet with bassist Jesse Williams and singer Lamar Williams Jr., son of the Allman Brothers bass player in the early 1970s.
“We are all second-generation musicians and share a telepathic, relaxed ease about creating and performing,” Dickinson said.
The Crown Room audience will attest to that.
Dickinson and Williams Jr. opened the show with four songs, starting with “You Got to Move,” written by Hill Country Blues pioneer Mississippi Fred McDowell.
“We’ll be back in a flash with more of that trash,” Dickinson said. Minutes later brother Cody Dickinson came onstage and played a drum solo before his bandmates joined. He didn’t stop swinging the sticks for more than two hours when the band took a short break before returning for an encore song.
The full-band set of 2 hours, 35 minutes, included songs from the bands entire career and approximately 20 albums, including R.L. Burnside’s “Skinny Woman” from NMA’s debut record to a handful from the upcoming “Set Sail,” which will be released April 1. No fooling.
-Tim Parsons
3 Responses
Looks like a killer show, and very cool to see Crystal Bay back in action. Great photos.
Al Davis agrees.
Love listening to these guys. Saw them some years ago the Byron Bay Bluesfest and fell in luv immediately. They bring on the bounce and very very talented artists.