North Mississippi Allstars announce the release of their new career-defining record, World Boogie Is Coming, on September 3. This is the seventh studio record for the band recently crowned “Americana music luminaries” by National Public Radio. They produced it themselves at their own Zebra Ranch Studios in Hernando, MS, aside from a day in the studio with Robert Plant (and his harmonica) at Memphis’ legendary Royal Studios. The Dickinson Brothers did it with the help of long-time friends Duwayne and Garry Burnside, Kenny Brown, Alvin Youngblood, Sharde Thomas (Otha Turner’s granddaughter), Chris Chew, Steve Selvidge, Lightnin Malcolm, Plant and others. World Boogie Is Coming is the record that perfectly ties it all together, fusing all the elements that have made the Allstars special while pushing the band’s sound further into the future than ever before.
Luther Dickinson says, “It all started when Seasick Steve told me: ‘You are the one, you are the link, you have to keep it primitive and take it to the people.'” He continues, “I feel like I owe it the elders who taught me the traditional music in which I operate to let the music evolve and allow outside modern influences into the tradition to keep it alive and healthy. I realized that I had not been holding up my end of the deal. Since I am virtually devoid of modern influences, I turned to my brother Cody, who is my opposite in taste and style and loves modern music and production. Allowing Cody to produce the tracking sessions allowed me to sing and play wild and with abandon. Our contrasting styles are the heart of NMA.”
World Boogie Is Coming solidifies the Allstars’ ground while simultaneously removing the ceiling, as it not only pushes the band into sonic unknowns, but also firmly establishes a new multi-media declaration.
Says Luther, “This is not just a record but an ongoing film project. It is a soundtrack to Cody’s films. Cody has discovered a love of filmmaking and knows that in this day and age you need multi media. He set out to use our landscape of modern day Mississippi and roadwork experiences to share with the audience a vision, a dreamscape of our world. We wanted the World Boogie Is Coming package to have as much visual content as possible, with the record itself being sonically cinematic, a montage of medleys similar to our live shows — the recording fell together beautifully with that intent. We set ambient microphones up around the whole studio — footsteps, rain, wind, talking, bugs and birds all played their part. Archival tapes of Otha and R.L. fell right into the pocket as soon as we transferred them, laughing, joking and jamming with their kids –transcending time and space, life and death.”
“‘World boogie is coming’ was my father’s favorite valediction,” says Cody. “Naming this record after his closing phrase seemed like a great way to honor him and his memory. World boogie is coming is also a rallying cry. And the cry is this: It’s time to boogie!”
This record represents two years of our collective lives,” he continues. “Luther, myself and our crew touring the world and doing what we do best: Bringing our music straight to the people. World Boogie Is Coming documents that journey and narrative. The story tells itself. We set out to make a definitive and decisive record. It turned into the experience of a lifetime; our magnum opus. It is cinematic by design and infectious by nature, so sit back, relax and enjoy. Let’s get large and have a good time.”
