Testimony from Luther Dickinson
Still Shakin’ is a celebration of our life-changing first album, Shake Hands with Shorty, which we released 25 years ago, and a love letter of appreciation to everyone who supported us and kept us in the game all these years. Touring this album cycle into 2026 will mark thirty years since we started North Mississippi Allstars, and we couldn’t resist being commemorating both of those anniversaries. Rather than focus on the old material, we decided to record new music in the spirit of our debut.
My brother Cody and I started the Allstars in 1996 as a loose collective of musicians from our North Mississippi home. We were inspired by our father, Jim Dickinson, as well as by our neighbors and musical elders: RL Burnside, Junior Kimbrough, Otha Turner, and Fred McDowell. Our first national tour was backing RL on the Ass Pocket of Whiskey tour in 1997, selling out shows in the US and Canada. Kenny Brown hired us and showed us the ropes. That experience blew my mind. Cody and I have been on the road ever since.
When we started the Allstars, we played Mississippi music as straight and traditional as we could, but it evolved. While we were playing a residency on Beale Street in 1998, we realized we could incorporate our previous style of psych-rock improvisation and create our own sound. The idea of using folk and blues melodies and lyrics as vehicles for interpretation and improvisation made a lot of sense to us. We recorded our debut while we were still intoxicated from growing up and hanging out at Otha’s G.O.A.T. picnics and spending Sunday nights at Junior’s juke joint. We were under the influence of the Sacred Steel music, and those first two collections literally changed our lives.
We recorded Shake Hands with Shorty and many of our other albums at our family studio, Zebra Ranch, in Independence, Mississippi. For me music is an act of communion with the elders that transcends time and space, which makes Zebra Ranch—as Jimi Hendrix would have called it—an electric church. So that’s where we had to make Still Shakin’. We had to get some of that vibe. That’s where I wrote the initial riffs that became the album’s title track. It wasn’t planned, but one morning I woke up and realized it was the 15th anniversary of our dad’s passing. That inspired me to record the instrumental “Monomyth” on his baby grand piano.
Our albums have always been more a snapshot of where and who we are than an indication of where we are headed. The musicians in the current Allstars lineup served as motivation to record Still Shakin’. Joey and Ray Ray and special guest Kashiah Hunter elevate the band to new heights while still grounding us, and together we settled back into a new version of our old dynamic. This lineup wouldn’t exist without the kindness and community-building of Robert Randolph, who introduced us to Joey and Ray Ray. They in turn introduced us to Kashiah.
We offer the album to the memory of Phil Lesh, another great mentor and a huge influence on the Allstars. Playing with him and second-generation soul brother Grahame Lesh in Phil and Friends was another life-changing music experience. We didn’t grow up playing Dead songs, but Phil and Grahame taught us by hand the songs but also the philosophies and intentions behind the music. Grahame’s bass playing on Still Shakin’ reassures me that the Lesh tradition lives on.
Ultimately, Still Shakin’ is Modern Mississippi Music filtered through our musical instincts today. It has a lighthearted spirit of gratitude and joy and isn’t weighed down by concept or agenda. If you stay engaged, music will always be fascinating to you and your playing will always evolve. We also believe that the North Mississippi well never runs dry. There is always a song that I’ve never considered playing that comes into my life and has to be considered. And these musicians never fail to shine. They always have inspired contributions to make and serve up the proper portions of hometown funk. Even though we spend a lot of time on the road, our hearts are always back home: “It don’t matter what dirt is on my boots, I’m in a Mississippi frame of mind.”
