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.
How I Wish My Train Would Come
North Mississippi Allstars Lyrics
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It's a struggle to stay alive.
I keep fighting on 'til we arrive.
I try to believe I will be received,
Lord knows I'm ready to leave.
Deliver me, I'm ready to leave.
Please deliver me.
Carry me back home,
How I wish my train would come.
As you can tell, I'm not from here.
I've got to get the hell away from here,
I bid you a fare thee well.
Dark is the night, Cold is the ground,
No one to call friend can be found,
No one to lend a helping hand can be found
No one gives a damn
How I wish my train would come
And carry me back home,
How I wish my train would come.
The rain pouring down,
From the heavens above
Is cold as a mother's heart
I talk about trouble, it's my only friend'
I can smell the trouble blowin' in the wind.
Only thing I put my faith in
I try to believe, It's hard to believe,
There's a home out there for me,
Please deliver me, I'm ready to leave
Please deliver me, I'm ready to leave
Please deliver me, I'm ready to leave.
How I wish my train would come
And carry me back home,
How I wish my train would come.
(Please deliver me)
And carry me back home,
How I wish my train would come.
(I'm ready to leave)
And carry me, back, home,
How I wish my train would come
(Please deliver me)
And carry me back home,
How I wish my train would come
(I'm ready to leave )
And carry me back home,
How I wish my train would come.
(Please deliver me)
And take me back home
The song "How I Wish My Train Would Come" by North Mississippi Allstars is a poignant expression of a person's deep desire to escape their current struggles and find peace. The opening lines of the song set the tone for the rest of the lyrics, "It's so hard to struggle, it's hard to survive, It's a struggle to stay alive." The singer talks about fighting to stay alive but also being ready to leave. He has faith that there is a home out there for him, but he needs a means to get there, and the train becomes the symbol of hope that he has been waiting for.
The singer feels alienated from his surroundings and seeks to escape them. "As you can tell, I'm not from here, I've got to get the hell away from here." He is alone, with no friends or anyone to lend a helping hand. The rain pouring down is a metaphor for the singer's emotional state, with the coldness of the rain being compared to the hardness of a mother's heart. The only thing he believes in is trouble, and he senses it blowing in the wind. The singer begs for deliverance and hopes for his train to come and take him back home.
The song is a reflection of the human experience, where we all have moments where we feel trapped and hopeless. It highlights the importance of having hope and faith, giving us the strength to carry on. It also reminds us of the significance of having a place to call home where we feel safe and secure.
Line by Line Meaning
It's so hard to struggle, it's hard to survive,
It's a struggle to stay alive.
I keep fighting on 'til we arrive.
Life is tough and challenging, every day is a fight to keep going and stay alive. But I'm not giving up, I'll keep fighting until I reach my destination.
I try to believe I will be received,
Lord knows I'm ready to leave.
Deliver me, I'm ready to leave.
Please deliver me.
I hope that one day I will be accepted and find my place. I'm tired of this life and I'm ready to move on. I'm asking for help, please deliver me from this situation.
How I wish my train would come
Carry me back home,
How I wish my train would come.
I long for a way out of this difficult situation, to go back to a place where I feel safe and at home. I wish a train could take me there.
As you can tell, I'm not from here.
I've got to get the hell away from here,
I bid you a fare thee well.
I don't belong here, I need to leave this place as soon as possible. Goodbye to those who are staying.
Dark is the night, Cold is the ground,
No one to call friend can be found,
No one to lend a helping hand can be found
No one gives a damn
I feel alone and abandoned, the world seems dark and cold. No one is there for me, no one is willing to help. Everyone is indifferent to my struggles.
The rain pouring down,
From the heavens above
Is cold as a mother's heart
I talk about trouble, it's my only friend'
I can smell the trouble blowin' in the wind.
Only thing I put my faith in
The rain is a metaphor for my sorrow and pain, it falls unrelenting like tears from the sky. Trouble is always around me, it's my constant companion. I can sense more trouble coming, but the only thing I have left to rely on is my faith.
I try to believe, It's hard to believe,
There's a home out there for me,
Please deliver me, I'm ready to leave
I try to hold on to hope that there is a place for me somewhere, a place where I belong. But it's hard to keep that faith. I'm still asking for help, I'm ready to move on and start over somewhere else.
And carry me back home,
How I wish my train would come.
(Please deliver me)
And carry me, back, home,
How I wish my train would come
(I'm ready to leave)
Once again, I'm pleading for a way out of this situation. I wish for a train to come and take me back home. I'm ready to leave this place behind and start fresh.
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Written by: Luther Dickinson
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind