The name alone is a tipoff: either these guys are goofing around, or they have nothing to prove. Correct answer: Both. The New Moon Jelly Roll Freedom Rockers came together in 2007 when brothers Luther and Cody Dickinson sat down with dad Jim Dickinson to jam with Jimbo Mathus, Charlie Musselwhite and Alvin Youngblood Hart at Jim Dickinson’s Zebra Ranch recording studio. Those sessions became the joyous, fun-filled blues sessions that only good friends with a lot of good music behind them could produce.
Those multi-generational sessions were recorded live over several days, and achieved with the six men sitting in a circle, taking turns singing and improvising—no front man, no set list, no script, just music they all knew and loved in their bones. Stellar tunes, talent in spades, spontaneity and respect, the four horsemen of great recording sessions, NMJRFR had it all.
Sadly, pianist, producer studio owner and all-around musical stylist Jim Dickinson passed away less than two years later, and the recordings were backburnered for a decade, until Stony Plain founder Holger Peterson heard about the recordings and convinced Luther Dickinson to release them.
Grammy-winning guitarist Alvin Youngblood Hart reviewed a bit of history for Elmore: “I first worked with Jim Dickinson on a record of mine called Start with the Soul in 1999.
“I covered a Doug Sahm [Sir Douglas Quintet] tune, ‘Lawd I’m Just a Country Boy in This Great Big Freaky City,’ on the record, which of course led to some mutual admiration conversations about Doug, who we had both crossed paths with. In fact, when we started the record, Doug was still among the living and I had hoped he would hear the cover. Sadly, Doug passed away before the record was released.
“Forward to the New Moon sessions. I think we were just kickin’ around some song ideas….what to play, when the light bulb went on. I had done another one of Doug Sahm’s, ‘She’s About a Mover,’* live, sitting in with North Mississippi Allstars over the years, so Luther must have brought it up, because his memory is better than mine for that kind of stuff. I know we were foolin’ around with Jim’s Farfisa organ, trying to get it to work…coax one more tune out of it…and VOILA!”
The New Moon Jelly Roll Freedom Rockers are: Luther Dickinson (guitar, vocals), Cody Dickinson (drums) (who head up the North Mississippi Allstars, nominated for a 2021 Grammy). the late Jim Dickinson, record producer and musician (piano, vocals, guitar), Grammy-winner Charlie Musselwhite (harmonica), Grammy-winner and former Squirrel Nut Zippers leader Jimbo Mathus (guitar, vocals) and Alvin Youngblood Hart (guitar, vocals)
Learn more about the NMJRFR HERE
Learn more about Alvin Youngblood Hart HERE
*Original lyric was “She’s a body mover,” about a gal dancing in front of the stage.
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