North Mississippi All Stars

Shake Hands with Shorty (Tone-Cool)
by Craig Regala

Boogie blues rooted in the country blues of the South/mid-South. If they can get to the tunes, they could pop out a “Brothers and Sisters” for this millennium. If there’s a section of the H.O.A.R.D.E. audience that swings towards G. Love’s boho boogie, they’d certainly have no trouble grabbing this. Unlike some of the HOARDsters, these guys stay within the tradition while pushing at it, whereas a band like Phish uses the blues/rock/country boogie as a part of what they do. These guys live in it, cuz hell, there’s a lotta room there. The tunes might be all covers (some sure are), but it doesn’t really matter cuz they’re just the framework. I mean, these guys do more with a “cover” in an original way than most “punk” bands working within their ever-splintering genre do with there “own” material. For anyone who ever dug the Dead’s American Beauty or Working Man’s Dead and wanted to take a step back into the woods towards the still. Tour ’em with the Jon Spencer Blues Traveler Band as well as the Fat Possum stable (they have a couple Burnside boys on here and do their Dads?, Uncles? arrangement of “Goin’ Down South”) and everything’ll be good.
(6 Abbot Road Annex Wellesley Hills, MA 02481)