The Allstars' first release, Shake Hands With Shorty, was nominated for a Grammy Award for "Best Contemporary Blues Album". Since then, 51 Phantom and Electric Blue Watermelon have received nominations in that same category. The group also won a Blues Music Award for "Best New Artist Debut" in 2001.
The band has been the backing band for John Hiatt, including appearing on the album "Master of Disaster".
All the members of the Allstars have also teamed up with Robert Randolph and John Medeski to form The Word.
In November 2007, Luther Dickinson joined The Black Crowes as lead guitarist, and has appeared on their albums Warpaint (2008), Before the Frost...Until the Freeze (2009) and Croweology (2010). Luther Dickinson currently devotes his time to both the Black Crowes and the North Mississippi Allstars. Cody Dickinson has also started a side project, Hill Country Revue, featuring Daniel Coburn, Kirk Smithhart, Doc Samba and Ed Cleveland. They are sometimes joined by Luther Dickinson and members of the Burnside family. They have released two albums, Make A Move (2009) and Zebra Ranch (2010),
The mid-90s were a special time for modern Mississippi country blues. RL Burnside, Jr. Kimbrough, Otha Turner and their musical families were at their peak; touring the world, making classic records and doing the all-night boogie at Jr's Juke Joint and Otha's BBQ Goat picnics -- the music and the culture rich as the black Mississippi dirt. Brothers Luther and Cody Dickinson soaked up the music of their father, Jim Dickinson, and absorbed the North Mississippi Blues legacy while playing and shaking it down at the juke joints with their blues ancestors. Luther (guitar and vocals) and Cody (drums and vocals) joined up with bassist Chris Chew to form the core of their own band, The North Mississippi Allstars. Through the filter of generations of Mississippi Blues men, the Allstars pioneered their own blues-infused rock and roll and continue to do so.
The band hit the road with the release of their first record, Shake Hands With Shorty, Grammy-nominated for “Best Contemporary Blues Album.” Bringing their hill country blues-infused rock & roll to stages all over the country and the world (including multiple tours in Europe and Asia), the Allstars quickly gained a loyal fan base, and to date have released six full-length albums. The bands’s third record, Phantom Record also received a Grammy nod.
Electric Blue Watermelon, their third album to receive a Grammy nomination, embodies the Allstars’ own sound. It reflects the band’s old times and lives growing up in their musical community in North Mississippi. “The record holds to the folk tradition of oral history,” as Luther Dickinson puts it. “Electric Blue Watermelon celebrates the lives and legends of men who are folk heroes in my community. If the traditions are passed down and kept alive, they can’t help but mutate and change.” Electric Blue Watermelon is certainly a departure from the blues tradition, but it is a record that reaches in the future and back into the past. It’s loud psychedelic southern folk rock blues.
Bad Bad Pain
North Mississippi Allstars Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I just didn't realize, hard to explain
I'm tellin' all you people cannot see what the blues goin' on inside of me
I rub oil on, thought it would ease my pain
As time went by, things weren't the same
I'm telling all you people (open your eyes) cannot see (realize) what the blues goin' on inside of me
(inside of me)
I'm telling all you people (open your eyes) cannot see (realize) what the blues goin' on inside of me
The North Mississippi Allstars’ song “Bad Bad Pain” portrays the pain and torment that the artist endured while coming up. The lyrics are imbued with raw emotion and speak of the blues that the artist experienced internally, which was not visible to the outside world. The artist expresses that their pain was difficult to explain, and they could not make sense of it themselves. The song speaks of how the artist tried to ease the pain they felt initially by rubbing oil on themselves, but that this did not alleviate their suffering in the long run.
The artist speaks to the listeners, urging them to open their eyes and realize that the blues within the artist are significant and genuine, even if they are not apparent on the surface. The song is a testament to the emotional turmoil of a human being and speaks to the struggles that we all go through in life. The lyrics touch on the idea that the real pain that we experience may not be visible to anyone else, but it is nevertheless real and significant to each person individually.
Line by Line Meaning
When I was comin' up, had a bad, bad pain
During my early years, I experienced a terrible, terrible discomfort
I just didn't realize, hard to explain
I couldn't comprehend the nature of this pain, and it's challenging to articulate
I'm tellin' all you people cannot see what the blues goin' on inside of me
I'm conveying to everyone who can't observe the agony that's tormenting me internally
I rub oil on, thought it would ease my pain
To alleviate my distress, I applied ointment, believing it would help
As time went by, things weren't the same
Subsequently, as time passed, the situation didn't remain the same
I'm telling all you people (open your eyes) cannot see (realize) what the blues goin' on inside of me (inside of me)
Once again, I urge those who can't see and understand the hurt I'm experiencing internally to realize it
Contributed by Samuel N. Suggest a correction in the comments below.