North Mississippi Allstars

Precocious is a word rarely used to describe hard-driving, in-your-face blues-rock bands, unless the act in question is the North Mississippi Allstars. Yet with three studio albums and two Grammy nods behind them, young blues brothers Luther and Cody Dickinson are no longer new kids on the block. With Duwayne Burnside, son of famed bluesman R.L. Burnside, joining the lineup alongside the Dickinsons and the band’s bassist, Chris Chew, the Allstars have finally completed their transition from aspiring up-and-comers to established veterans. It’s also a move that draws the band right in line with the double-lead guitar sound of Southern rock contemporaries such as the Allman Brothers and the Black Crowes. Though guitarist Luther and drummer Cody were weaned on the blues, a result of their father and producer Jim Dickinson’s former association with Sun Studios and his lifetime’s worth of knowledge of the Memphis music scene, the young brothers have come to incorporate their punk, funk, roots and rock influences into nearly everything they do. Though the resulting mojo of such daring concoctions has seemed a little haphazard in the past — call it growing pains — the Allstars’ unique stew finds its full flavor on their latest release, Polaris.