#Luther Dickinson

[serpentinesheldonserpentine]

Do you only like old music?

Of course not.

I also enjoy new music that sounds like old music.

[foldback]

North Mississippi Allstars - “Po Black Maddie > Skinny Woman”

Live at the Sinclair, Cambridge, Mass., on Sept. 30, 2022. I almost never take any video during a show, but after the 14th ridiculous solo, I decided I’d get a little bit from my vantage point up in the mezzanine. Mostly, I wanted to continue to spread the word on Luther Dickinson, who is clearly just one of the best dudes in music today. And he has been for years. Play it, Luther. 

[americanahighways]

REVIEW: J.D. Simo & Luther Dickinson “Do The Rump!”

REVIEW: J.D. Simo & Luther Dickinson “Do The Rump!” @jdsimomusic @lutherdickinson #johnapice @americanahighways #blues #americanamusic #americanahighways #musicreviews #writtenbyahuman

J.D. Simo & Luther Dickinson – Do The Rump! This is a bit raw & grinding with its first musical tug on “Street People.” It certainly possesses a lot of pull on the musical leash. Varied songwriters of the indelible genre deliver: Bobby Charles to J.J. Cale, Junior Kimbrough to John Lee Hooker & that’s just the first 4. The cover art doesn’t justify the blend of music that’s high octane, filled…

[krispyweiss]

Pigpen’s Spirit and Songs Fill the Air at Terrapin Clubhouse

Phil Lesh has been thinking lately of Pigpen.

So he invited some Friends - guitarists Luther Dickinson, Stu Allen and Grahame Lesh; drummer Cody Dickinson; keyboardist Holly Bowling; and singer Elliott Peck - to Terrapin Clubhouse to conjure the late Grateful Dead frontman and resident bluesman’s spirit and songs.

The resulting seventh episode of the bassist’s “Clubhouse Sessions” is thus chunky, funky and spirited as rare songs fill the rarified air and Lesh’s young musical pals help the 84-year-old look back to his musical beginnings.

“Operator” kicks things off with Luther Dickinson on the mic and the band cooking up a Dead Mississippi All Stars gumbo of rootsy music both ancient and modern. And while the vocals leave something to be desired, the playing is focused, yet loose; a cover infused with in-the-moment freshness.

Peck steals the show with a staggeringly beautiful interpretation of “The Stranger (Two Souls In Communion).” Packed with emotion and supported by the band, Peck renders the ballad in a new, yet respectful, way and makes the case for adding it to her and/or Midnight North’s repertoire.

Lesh the elder sings “Alligator” and the swampy arrangement suits his baritone quite well. Though no one would ever accuse Lesh of possessing a technically solid singing voice, this showcase is an unexpected treat.

Which leads to “Caution (Do Not Stop on Tracks).” With Luther Dickinson back on the mic and the band both riding and melting down on the titular rails, it’s a fitting cap to a lovely nod to the man born Ron McKernan who “was and is now forever one of the Grateful Dead.”

Read Sound Bites’ previous Clubhouse Sessions coverage here.

8/8/24

[myvinylplaylist]

Samantha Fish: Belle Of The West (2018)

Ruf Records

[musiconspotify]

Luther Dickinson Magic Music For Family Folk (2023) … childhood favorites …

[comas-are-for-sleeping]

i want to build a community like that someday but like.... less queerphobic lmao. more something that i would be proud to be a part of and want to invite my queer christian friends to. the most important thing about it to me is uhhhhhhhhhh not having to have people argue about their entire existence

REAL

[gentle-giant-swag]

HELLO EVERYONE! I SHALL NOW REVEAL THE BRAKCETS

First up

Wait

MOST FUCKABLE GENTLE GIANT

The A bracket (finished)

Battle 1-16

(most submissions in form 1 and most submissions in form b)

Starts Friday the 9th of June. 5pm CET. The brackets will be posted between the 9-10th of June.

Side A, 9th of June. 5pm to 8pm cet

Raphael Hamato (rise of the TMNT) vs Totoro (my neighbor Totoro)

Heavy (team fortress 2) vs Big Friendly Giant (BFG)

King Dedede (Kirby) vs Scorpia (She-ra)

Bismuth (Steven universe) vs Susan Murphy (monsters vs aliens)

Fezzik (the princess bride) vs Dick Gumshoe (ace attorney)

Master Chief (halo) vs Bumblebee (bumblebee)

Big Macintosh (my little pony: friendship is magic) vs Massimo Marcovaldo (Luca)

The titan (the owl house) vs Tyson (Percy Jackson)

Side B, 10th of June, 5pm to 8pm CET

Ivan Bruel (miraculous ladybug) vs Asahi Azumane (haikyuu)

Takeo Goda (ore monogatari) vs Caduceus Clay (critical role)

Milly Thompson (tri-gun) vs Sandy (Lego monkie kid)

Jaguar D. Saul vs Jean Bart (one piece)

Komamura (bleach) vs William Ellis (identity v)

Beelzebub (obey me) vs Kazanari Genjuurou (symphogear)

Senri (plus anima) vs Murakumo (rune factory 5)

Holly (super lesbian animal rpg) vs Brutus Feels (Kane and feels)

The B bracket (finished)

Battles 17-32

Characters who have returned from the spring bracket and from fandoms I’ve personally interacted with. So the spring bracket but we blacklisted big man

Date: Tuesday 13/6 to Wednesday 14/6, between 5pm to 8pm CET

Side A (Tuesday)

The iron giant vs Baymax (big hero 6)

Gonta gokuhara (danganronpa) vs Jonathan Joestar (JoJo’s bizarre adventure)

Dj (total drama) vs Yasutora “Chad” Sado (bleach

Muriel (the arcana) vs Jasmine (total drama)

Subject Delta (bioshock) vs aaarrrgghh (trollhunters)

Klaus Von Reinherz (kekkai sensen) vs Asterios (fate grand order)

Hunk (Voltron) vs Gooliope Jellington (monster high)

Dragonite (Pokémon) vs Asgore Dreemurr (undertale)

Side B (Wednesday)

Alphonse Elric vs Major Lewis Armstrong (full metal alchemist)

Urbosa (legend of Zelda) vs Glamrock Freddy (five nights at Freddy’s)

Milla Vodello vs Helmut Fullbear (psychonauts)

Dedue Molinaro vs Raphael Kirsten (fire emblem: three houses)

Winston vs B.O.B (overwatch)

Kanji Tatsumi (persona) vs Common Wubbox (my singing monsters)

Mordecai vs Muarim (fire emblem: gay rights path of radiance/radiant dawn)

Minsc & Boo (baldur’s gate) vs Big the cat (sonic the hedgehog)

C BRACKET (ongoing)

Battles 33-48

Those who fell in between the A and the D bracket. So this one has some pretty chaotic matchups

Date: Sunday the 18th to Monday the 19th, 5pm to 8pm cet

A bracket: Sunday

Nicholas St North (rise of the guardians) vs Grear Danes (irl)

Falkor the good luck dragon (the never ending story) vs Susan Strong (adventure time)

Grandpa Max (Ben 10) vs Cerberus (Greek mythology)

Kiryu Kazuma (yakuza) vs Dr Joshua Strongbear Sweet (Atlantis)

Fatgum (my hero academia) vs Takashi Morinozuka (ouran highschool host club)

Will Powers (ace attorney) vs Luther (Detroit: become human)

The Tick (the tick 1994) vs Evan Buck Buckley (911 on fox)

Riki Nendou (saiki k) vs Hearts Boxcars (homestuck)

Side B (Monday)

Shirahoshi vs Tony Tony Chopper (one piece)

Jetfire/skyfire (transformers) vs Indus Tarbella (epithet erased)

Sisyphus (hades) Vs Grog Strongjaw (critical role)

Hugo the abominable snowman (looney tunes) vs Aone Takanobu (Haikyuu)

Android 16 (dragon ball) vs Tiny (ever after high)

Wrecker (Star Wars: the bad batch) vs K (virtues last reward)

Goldlewis Dickinson vs Potemkin (guilty gear)

Yasha Nydoorin (critical role) vs Lily Bowen (fall out)

D BRACKET

Battles 49-64

Aka the one where the contestants sadly got the least amount of votes)

Date: Thursday 22/6th to Friday 23/6th 5pm to 8pm CET

Side A: Thursday

lain chu (dragon hunters) vs Panda (tekken)

Isaroth (genshin impact) vs Bizarro (DC red hood and the outlaws)

Jienji (Inuyasha) vs Jackie Wells (cyberpunk 2077)

Looks to the moon (rain world) vs Jogu (naruto)

Bane Perez (identify V) vs Zinnia (super lesbian animal rpg)

Vulkanon (rune factory 4) vs Argus (Greek mythology)

Mountain (ark knights) vs Taiga Saejima (yakuza)

Abbi (Omori) vs Gorem (bakugan)

SIDE B: Friday

Junko (storm hawks) vs Hajin (monstress)

Gylph (super lesbian animal RPG) vs Bongchun (Bongchun bride)

Fitz Fellow (detective grimoire) vs Bubbles (questionable content)

Dubo (omega strikers) vs Bob the titan (Percy Jackson)

Otto the giant water dog (wondla) vs Kurita Ryoukan (Eyeshield 21)

Mele the Horizons Roar (ishura) vs Gentle Bear (dog island)

The Selfish Giant vs Banjo Lilywhile (the hogfather)

Livio the double fang (trigun) vs Hank McCoy (x-men)

I will make propaganda master posts and if you want to add, just use the ask box or dm me with propaganda for one of the characters who’s going to participate. But that’s all!

May the best gentle giant WIN!

SECOND CHANCE BATTLES FOR ROUND 1

27/6, apricot bracket

Battle 1

Battle 2

Battle 3

Battle 4

29/2, shavedown of the apricot bracket

The battle

1/7, blueberry bracket

Battle 1

Battle 2

Battle 3

Battle 4

3/7, shavedown

The battle

4/7, citron bracket

Battle 1

Battle 2

Battle 3

Battle 4

5/7, shavedown

7/7, durian bracket

Battle 1

Battle 2

Battle 3

Battle 4

8/7, shavedown

The (un)official GGSmod messed up someone’s name post

The crime list

Ask game

[1264doghouse]

Luther Dickinson

[gizmotemusic]

More black runners are being disqualified from competition because of their naturally high testosterone levels.

There are articles elsewhere about how sports rulings facilitate racism (even quoting the Court of Arbitration for Sport saying "discrimination is necessary") and how natural testosterone levels don't even determine one's athletic performance. There are even articles about applying the faulty logic required to disqualify these black sprinters to other athletes to other sports: if we think a "genetic advantage" is worth disqualifying these sprinters over, why not disqualify Michael Phelps from swimming because of his genetic advantages?

I think that last example really illustrates the absurdity of the argument, but I want to take it further. What if we refused to acknowledge other exceptional people because of their genetic advantages? Let's extend that line of thinking:

Robert Pershing Wadlow, with a height of 8 ft 11 in, should be disqualified from having the title of tallest person ever. His height was due to a genetic advantage: an excess of a growth hormone. The so-called "shortest person ever" also had a genetic advantage (dwarfism), so his claim's illegitimate too.

Duke Ellington, Billy Joel, Charli XCX and others should be disqualified from the awards and recognitions they've earned: their synesthesia is just an unfair advantage.

Edgar Allen Poe, Emily Dickinson, Virginia Woolf and others were cheats. Their various mental illnesses influenced their writing; it's not fair to consider them to be on a level playing field with their contemporaries.

These examples are just the tip of the iceberg. Maybe we should disqualify albinos from fashion and acting awards; after all, their appeal is boosted by a genetic factor other people don't have access to. Can Tenzing Norgay really be fairly considered as one of the first people to ascend Mount Everest, since Sherpas are known to have a genetic proclivity for surviving high-altitude environments? Let's disqualify all women from ballet awards, since that profession is largely designed for them, giving them an advantage over men. What if we disqualified Martin Luther King Jr from eligibility for the Nobel Peace Prize, since his blackness uniquely positioned him to fight for civil rights? You know what, just to be safe, we should disqualify anyone with a genetic condition that affects their chosen profession in any way.

What we're left with is only the "standard" people: able-bodied cis white men.

You can see how this line of thinking very quickly becomes racist, transphobic, sexist, ableist, and all other sorts of horrendous.

Let's celebrate people for their exceptional attributes instead of punishing them in the name of a level playing field.

[fugengulsen]

James Luther Dickinson - O How She Dances

[americanahighways]

Music Reviews: Bentley's Bandstand July 2024

Music Reviews: Bentley's Bandstand July 2024 #americanamusic #musicreviews #billbentley @americanahighways @davealvinoriginal @jimmiedalegilmore @roryblockdeltablues @georgeducas @theharlemgospeltravelers @lakestreetdive #omarandthehowlers #mightymikeschermer @jdsimomusic @lutherdickinson #stopmakingsense #truebluesbrother

Bentley’s Bandstand July 2024 By Bill Bentley Dave Alvin & Jimmie Dale Gilmore, TEXICALI. These two musical brothers have always had a strong connection. Dave Alvin covered the rock & roll waterfront a little more than Jimmie Dale Gilmore, but Gilmore dug into country a bit deeper than Alvin did coming up. But in the end they were both fanatics for each style, and when they got together it really…

[krispyweiss]

Darkstarathon Ep. 6 Crashes

The thing about experiments is they don’t always pan out. And a bunch of musicians getting together for the first time and trying to conjure groupthink on demand is the very example of experimentation.

For Episode 6 of Phil Lesh’s ongoing “Darkstarathon,” the former Grateful Dead bassist was accompanied by North Mississippi All Stars Luther (guitar) and Cody (drums) Dickinson; guitarists Stu Allen and Grahame Lesh; pianist Holly Bowling; and singer Elliott Peck. And despite the massive combination of talent in the kitchen, their stew was thin and unsatisfying.

More riffing than jamming, more noodling than steering toward a musical finish line, the hourlong session is punctuated by long stretches of wordless sound - not necessarily a bad thing, but boring in this case - interrupted by such vocal train wrecks as “Viola Lee Blues,” “China Doll” and a turgid “Smokestack Lightning.”

“(Turn on Your) Lovelight” and “Deep Elem Blues,” sung by Peck and Luther Dickinson, respectively, are simply amateurish, though Bowling, as has often happened in these Clubhouse Sessions, in again in top form.

Lesh the elder had a good idea in putting this group together. The experiment, unfortunately, didn’t pan out as expected.

Read Sound Bites’ previous “Darkstarathon” coverage here.

8/2/24

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Acts of Hope

Acts of Hope by Rebecca Solnit

“Activism,” Solnit writes, “is not a journey to the corner store; it is a plunge into the dark…. We talk about “what we hope for” in terms of what we hope will come to pass but we could think of it another way, as why we hope. We hope on principle, we hope tactically and strategically, we hope because the future is dark, we hope because it’s a more powerful and more joyful way to live…Politics is a surface in which transformation comes about as much because of pervasive changes in the depths of the collective imagination as because of visible acts, though both are necessary.

And though huge causes sometimes have little effect, tiny ones occasionally have huge consequences…The world gets better. It also gets worse. The time it will take you to address this is exactly equal to your lifetime, and if you’re lucky you don’t know how long that is. The future is dark. Like night. There are probabilities and likelihoods, but there are no guarantees…

Writers understand that action is seldom direct. You write your books. You scatter your seeds…Emily Dickinson, Walt Whitman, Walter Benjamin and Arthur Rimbaud, like Henry David Thoreau, achieved their greatest impact long after their deaths, long after weeds had grown over the graves of the bestsellers of their times. Gandhi’s Thoreau-influenced nonviolence was as important in the American South as it was in India, and what transpired with Martin Luther King’s sophisticated version of it has influenced civil disobedience movements around the world…

American history is dialectical. What is best about it is called forth by what is worst. The abolitionists and the underground railroad, the feminist movement and the civil rights movement, the environmental and human rights movements were all called into being by threats and atrocities. There’s plenty of what’s worst afoot nowadays. But we need a progressive activism that is not one of reaction but of initiation, one in which people of good will everywhere set the agenda…We need a movement that doesn’t just respond to the evils of the present but calls forth the possibilities of the future. We need a revolution of hope…

This is earth. It will never be heaven. There will always be cruelty, always be violence, always be destruction. There is tremendous devastation now. In the time it takes you to read this, acres of rainforest will vanish, a species will go extinct, women will be raped, men shot, and far too many children will die of easily preventable causes. We cannot eliminate all devastation for all time, but we can reduce it, outlaw it, undermine its source and foundation: these are victories…If we could throw out the old definitions, we could recognize where the new alliances lie; and those alliances — of small farmers, of factory workers, of environmentalists, of the poor, of the indigenous, of the just, of the farseeing — could be extraordinarily powerful against the forces of corporate profit and institutional violence…”

—-from the article “Acts of Hope” by Rebecca Solnit.

[alive on all channels]

[sinceileftyoublog]

Shemekia Copeland Interview: Break It Down to the Basics

Photo by Dave Specter

BY JORDAN MAINZER

A couple weeks ago, in speaking with Shemekia Copeland over the phone, I called her out. Though her new album Blame It On Eve, out Friday via Alligator Records, is her purported attempt to make an album that's a "break from the news" instead of "breaking news," she still sings about doomscroll-worthy topics. She admitted it right away. "I can't help myself," she said. "There was no way I couldn't talk about women's rights on this record." The album's very title refers to society's tendency to put the woman at fault, one that, of course, has biblical precedent. Copeland always has a way of selling you without hitting you over the head. "Hurricanes and tropical twisters / Always gettin' named after some sisters," she sings on the title track, "But the worst winds come from DC / Stealin' rights from you and me." Even alongside Jim Hoke's skronking saxophone and Luther Dickinson's screaming guitars, it's Copeland's wail that rises above.

Copeland calls herself "an idea person" who works with a stellar team of songwriters. Like most lyricists do, she jots down song ideas when they come into her head, and flushing the songs out with her team happens organically. "It's like getting a dress tailor made to fit you," she said. Blame It On Eve is her most balanced record yet. There are autobiographical songs (the blues stomp "Tough Mother"), paeans to interracial love ("Cadillac Blue"), gospel-rock jams ("Tell The Devil"), educational treatises ("Tee Tot Payne"), and even a couple covers, including her father Johnny's "Down on Bended Knee". Copeland turned to longtime collaborator Will Kimbrough to produce the record and play various instruments on it, and the core band of Kimbrough, bassist Lex Price, and drummer Pete Abbott treats Copeland's words with appropriate gravity. Kimbrough's mournful, echoing licks mirror Copeland's pained expressions on "Only Miss You All the Time". And the band's rock and roll strut gives levity to an otherwise serious song "Broken High Heels", where Copeland cleverly compares our collective attitude towards climate change to "Dancing in a graveyard in broken high heels."

Indeed, Copeland's songs that one might call "political" aren't really that--they're just about issues that affect everyday life. "Anything uncomfortable, people want to call it political," Copeland said. On "Is There Anybody Up There?" a duet with Alejandro Escovedo, the narrator starts to doubt that God is listening when looking at the ills of the world, like our broken immigration system, before realizing that his very doubts make him a sinner, too: "If they crucified poor Jesus, think what they'll do to me!" "Tee Tot Payne" is, of course, about the Black man who taught Hank Williams the blues. Copeland views the song as part of the larger conversation going on about Black influence on country music, and an important opportunity to engage with Black history. "Rhiannon Giddens wrote an amazing essay about the banjo and how it wasn't originally an instrument used amongst white bluegrass artists as much as it was used within Black culture," Copeland said. "They're trying to get rid of history, so for my last records, I try to put something educational in there."

As traditional as is the music Copeland makes, her view on making records and performing is pretty consistent with that of today's world. She's the first artist I've ever interviewed to admit that the sequencing of her albums isn't crucial. That is, she doesn't care whether listeners listen to the album's songs in order as much as they pay attention to what's in each song. "In all honesty, I don't believe sequencing is that important because people don't listen to records that way. I still do, but people don't listen to records in sequence. People pop it into their device and listen to it the way they want to," Copeland said. She then offered a caveat. "But it's important to me that they hear all the songs. They all fit on the record in some shape or form." That's Copeland, the idea person, thinking big picture, knowing that the collection of songs makes a whole, but each individual track tells a unique story. It's perhaps why her approach to playing live is so effective. Sequencing a set is important to Copeland, but it's less about planning and more about doing some of her own listening. "I don't really do setlists. I try to feel out the audience. I have some idea what we're gonna do, but I change it up," she said.

At the end of the day, Copeland has an innate sense for what makes songs tick. As she and her team write and practice, they start to think about who else could feature on the song, always without overloading it. It's how they ended up with Jerry Douglas contributing lap steel on "Cadillac Blue", Dashawn Hickman providing Sacred Steel guitar on "Tell the Devil", and Cara Fox playing cello on "Belle Sorciere", on whose chorus Copeland sings in French. Copeland's song-making prowess, though, is never more so evidenced by her version of Ron Miller's "Heaven Help Us All", recorded most famously by Stevie Wonder and Ray Charles. The album closer, it features Kimbrough on organ and Lisa Oliver Gray and Odessa Settles providing impassioned backing vocals. Copeland had first heard the Charles version, which appeared on his 1972 album A Message from the People and featured Gladys Knight. "It [has] a lot of background vocals and horns. It was done in a very big, produced way," Copeland said. "I thought I wanted to break it down to the basics." She's not a minimalist, but when you listen to Copeland's albums or performances, or even talk to her on the phone, every word and moment is essential. She can't help it.

Tour dates:

8/30: Peoria Blues & Heritage Music Festival 2024, Peoria, IL 8/31: Fishers Blues Festival, Fishers, IN 9/1: Rhythm & Roots 2024, Charlestown, RI 9/5: Bell's Brewery, Kalamazoo, MI 9/6: The Ark, Ann Arbor, MI 9/7: Wheatland Music Festival, Remus, MI 9/17: Americanafest Showcase at 3rd & Lindsley, Nashville, TN 9/20: Fanatics Pub, Lima, NY, United States 9/21: Pittsburgh International Jazz Festival, Pittsburgh, PA 9/22: Center for the Arts of Homer, Homer, NY 9/27: Rochester Opera House, Rochester, NH 9/28: Spire Center for Performing Arts, Plymouth, MA 10/10: One Longfellow Square, Portland, ME 10/12: StageOne at FTC, Fairfield, CT 10/13: Ardmore Music Hall, Ardmore, PA 10/17: Daryl's House, Pawling, NY 10/18: Elkton Music Hall, Elkton, MD 10/19: Rams Head On Stage, Annapolis, MD 10/20: The Tin Pan, Richmond, VA 11/14: Music Box Supper Club, Cleveland, OH 11/15: The Acorn, Three Oaks, MI 11/16: City Winery Chicago, Chicago, IL 11/17: City Winery St. Louis, St. Louis, MO 11/22: Lizzie Rose Music Room, Tuckerton, NJ 11/23: Barre Opera House, Barre, VT 11/24: City Winery Boston, Boston, MA 11/30: SFJAZZ Center, San Francisco, CA 12/6: Sam's Burger Joint, San Antonio, TX 12/7: The Kessler Theater, Dallas, TX 12/8: Houston Blues Society Holiday Bash at Rockefeller's, Houston, TX 1/19: One Longfellow Square, Portland, ME 2/7: Zellerbach Theatre at The Annenberg Center, Philadelphia, PA 2/16: Vero Beach Blues Festival, Vero Beach, FL 2/22: Soka Performing Arts Center, Aliso Viejo, CA 2/23: Poway Center for the Performing Arts, Poway, CA 4/4: Lied Center of Kansas, Lawrence, KS 4/7: McCain Auditorium, Manhattan, KS 4/12: Bitterroot Performing Arts Council, Hamilton, MT