Cover photo © 2025 Marilyn Stringer
Luther Dickinson is a talented songwriter who is so skilled on the guitar that in 2007, Rolling Stone Magazine labeled him as a “New Guitar God”. He is also the kind of musician who is involved in so many fascinating projects that it makes one wonder how it’s even physically possible. Although best known for his work with the five-time Grammy nominated and Blues Music Award-winning group, The North Mississippi Allstars (with his brother, Cody), or as the former guitarist with the Black Crowes, Luther has also been in “super group” acoustic bands, a country blues band with four women, tours with the Allman Betts Family Revival, has recorded a sacred steel music album, has released a children’s album, has played on the jam cruises, hosted a website providing on-demand guitar tutorials, and most recently partnered with JD Simo for an album and tour. He also designs guitars. Blues Blast Magazine had the opportunity to catch up with Luther Dickinson recently to learn more about these varied interests.
Luther is the son of musician, songwriter and music producer Jim Dickinson, so was exposed to an impressive array of musical talent from a very early age. However, he reports that playing music did not come naturally to him, and he had to work hard to become accomplished. Knowing that people don’t often stick with a path that does not come easy to them, he was asked what motivated him to keep practicing.
“The thing is I don’t remember ever not knowing that I was going to be a guitar player. I am a big believer in manifestation and visualizing, even as a kid, and I could just see it. I was going to play guitar. I wasn’t a natural, like my brother was, but I just kept practicing. I still practice all the time. I did naturally have a creative process, though. There is a natural creative process that I can apply to anything, whether it’s producing someone else’s record, writing songs, doing set lists, or even doing dishes. I was fortunate to have that, and it’s helpful. It’s funny, my dad discouraged me in my youth. As a musician, he was brutally honest, and he said, ‘you’re going to have to practice because you really can’t play at all’. But then I started writing songs and he responded to that. He saw something in my songwriting and that is when he started encouraging us and teaching us and recording us. That’s when he finally started a family band and taught us his repertoire, as he was a song collector and a music historian. He taught us how to work with a band leader and a keyboard player, which was a very valuable lesson. He would help teach me about song structure and taught me not to be precious about the idea that originally sparked the song, because sometimes that’s the part that gets chopped out later. He taught me to be fluid and open to interpretation. I still go by what he taught me when I craft my songs, so even though he is gone it is like we’re still in collaboration.”
Growing up with access to so many outstanding musicians led to a multitude of influences and lessons learned. But Luther was able to identify two role models that stood out as the most significant.
“Definitely my dad. He was not only a musician but a songwriter and a producer and he worked on films. And he just had cool taste. His record collection was a fantastic curation of cool music. Then I would say Otha Turner was the second. He played the bamboo cane fife, but in a very funky, African, very free manner. He represents all the Hill Country elders and took me to meet Junior Kimbrough for the first time. His style was what separates Hill Country Blues from other types. To me, it is all about the rhythm and the melody, and the harmony is simplified, which makes it sound more modern. The lack of harmony adds to the trance-like quality of the sound. When Otha heard me play guitar, he couldn’t believe it because I had been studying Fred McDowell, and he hadn’t heard anybody play that style since his friend had passed away. I was a teenager when I met Otha, and we would sit and I would play, and he would sing. I had this little video recorder back then. He would improvise the lyrics. I spent more time with Otha than any other musician. He was 94 when he passed. “
In 2000, Luther collaborated with Robert Randolph, “Ray Ray” Holloman, John Medeski, Chris Chew and his brother, Cody to form “The Word”. This instrumental sacred steel/gospel blues jam band recorded an album and also briefly toured.
“The Word was so much fun. You know, sometimes you get an album that changes your life. The first sacred steel compilation was put out by Arhoolie Records, and I got ahold of that in 1996, and it literally changed my life. I didn’t know about sacred steel records—nobody did back then. It led to us becoming friends with Robert Randolph and we started talking about doing a project together. I love musicians and if we have a connection we will start plotting and scheming. My favorite music is just the artifact of the friendship, of the hang. And Robert is the most loveliest super-human! He is “extra human”—a wonderful person!”
In 2012 Luther organized a collective of female musicians from Memphis and Northern Mississippi to form a group they called “The Wandering”. He played guitar, mandolin and banjolin on the recording, and was joined by Shannon McNally, Amy Lavere, Valerie June and Sharde Thomas, who is the granddaughter of his mentor, Otha Turner.
“Right after my dad passed, we had a tribute show, which was great. For example, John Hiatt came, and I was touched by how many wonderful female artists came to it. In my dad’s book (I’m Just Dead, I’m Not Gone), there were passages that talked about how female musicians appreciated that he was a gentleman who would protect them from the predator types in the industry. I had grown up in kind of a rock-n-roll ‘boys club’, but then I had two daughters, and my first daughter was born right after dad passed. She responded immediately to female voices and that changed my listening habits. Also, seeing those cool, great singers just opened my mind to the possibility. I followed it up in 2019 with the album Solstice which I did with Amy Helm, Allison Russell, the Como Mamas, Amy LaVere and Sharde Thomas.”
Very few lucky fans were able to witness a supergroup in 2017 called “Southern Soul Assembly”. That band consisted of Luther, J.J. Grey, Marc Broussard and Anders Osborne. However, they only toured for approximately one month.
“I didn’t conceive that one, but I was happy to do it. It was just a group of friends put together by the agents, although I think JJ was behind it. We were all friends already, so it was a very natural combination. It’s the strategy of touring, working musicians to find different strategies, so you don’t wear out your brand.”
In 2024, Luther joined up with JD Simo to tour and they also recorded an album called Do the Rump!. He explained how this came to be.
”JD and I were already friends, and we weren’t even trying to make a record, it’s just that JD records everything. JD keeps lyrics on his iPad and we were just improvising the music. He’s such a great singer. He grew up around Chicago and the feeling he pulls from is so real and so deep. He’s so soulful. He really moves me. And he’s a sweetheart—a soulful musician and just a beautiful cat. I grew up playing in duos and trios, but I had always avoided playing with other guitar players. Now, in this new phase of my life I find I am enjoying playing with other guitar players. It is kind of sad I didn’t meet him earlier, but it’s never too late.”
Luther is no longer hosting the Guitar Xpress tutorials, although he misses them sometimes because he loves teaching. He also made some changes to the guitars that he plays most often.
“We designed two different signature guitars with Gibson, but that was a long time ago. My friends and I have been designing and making guitars, and we are making more fender style guitars, with the bolt on necks. We call them Vibratone Guitars. We’ve put together multiple ‘partscasters’ that I’ve played and sold and designed our own model ‘Rufus’ and built them from scratch. They are more road-worthy and sturdy. And I love DR strings. I’ve been playing lighter and lighter, I’m using .09’s now. I like high action with light strings. I have a really light touch. I play soft. Billy Gibbons plays light and BB King played light, so I’m not the only one.”
Interspersed between all of those intriguing projects over the last 25 years have been shows by the North Mississippi Allstars, a group inspired by their father and their neighbors, the Burnsides. The touring lineup of NMA has changed at various times over the years, sometimes including artists such as Cedric and Garry Burnside, Berry Oakley Jr, or Chris Chew. They have described their “recipe” for their sound as “Mississippi Hill Country with Sacred Steel crossbred with our stoner/punk/low-rent psychedelic jams,” resulting in what they refer to as “Modern Mississippi Music”.
“We are about to release a new album, a celebration of the 25th anniversary of the release of our first album. That was called Shake Hands with Shorty, so this one is called Still Shakin’. Joey Williams from the Blind Boys of Alabama is featured, along with “Ray Ray” Holloman, Duwayne Burnside, Robert Kimbrough and Graham Lesh. We definitely have the community represented.”
A preview of that album revealed that audiences will definitely not be disappointed. The excellent musicianship that is expected from every show or album by the North Mississippi Allstars is accentuated even more by the contributions of their impressive guest artists. Luther has written that, to him, “music is an act of communion with the elders that transcends time and space”, and this recording manages to capture that vibe. Two tracks stand out as even more exceptional than the rest. One is a very funky version of “Don’t Let the Devil Ride” (featuring Joey Williams), and the second is an important song lamenting the backsliding of human rights that is occurring in our society, “Pray for Peace” (also featuring Joey Williams). The lyrics of that song note “I think my grandmother would be broken-hearted seeing her children’s children right back where they started…I wish we could be color blind…we gotta pray for peace.”
Luther noted that the North Mississippi Allstar’s 25th anniversary is extremely meaningful to him.
“I’m so filled with gratitude to keep scuffling by and living my dream. I’m grateful to anyone who supports us in any way. I appreciate every person.”
To find out more about this intriguing musician, purchase his albums and to find out where you might catch him in a live show, visit www.lutherdickinson.com
