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.
Never In All My Days
North Mississippi Allstars Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I wanna say to you
It's just the one thing, Mama
Never in all my days, never in all my days
Never in all my days have I loved a woman so hard to please
One last thing, Darlin'
I wanna ask of you
It's just the one thing, Baby
Why you wanna be that way? Why you wanna be that way?
Never in all my days have I loved a woman so hard to please
One last thing, Honey
Before we move on
Try comin' back to Daddy
When you're full grown
Never in all my days, never in all my days
Never in all my days have I loved a woman so hard to please
The North Mississippi Allstars' song "Never In All My Days" is a soulful blues-rock ballad that speaks to the difficulty of loving a woman who is hard to please. The repetition of the phrase "it's just the one thing" suggests that the singer's message is straightforward and uncomplicated - he only wants to express one thing. He asks his lover why she wants to be difficult and impossible to please, which speaks to the frustration and weariness of a relationship where one person feels like they are constantly trying to earn the other's approval.
The singer's plea to "come back to daddy" when she's "full grown" suggests a paternalistic attitude that reinforces traditional gender roles where men are supposed to be the protectors and providers. However, the use of the phrase "full grown" suggests that this lover is not yet fully mature and perhaps not ready for a serious relationship. The repetition of the phrase "never in all my days" emphasizes the exceptional nature of this woman's challenging behavior, which makes the singer's love for her all the more intense.
Line by Line Meaning
It's just the one thing, Baby
I have only one thing that I want to say to you, my beloved.
It's just the one thing, Mama
I have a single message for you, dear mother.
Never in all my days, never in all my days
Throughout my life, without exception,
Never in all my days have I loved a woman so hard to please
I have never experienced such difficulty in satisfying a woman I love.
One last thing, Darlin'
Before we end our conversation, sweetheart,
I wanna ask of you
I have a query that I'd like to pose on you.
Why you wanna be that way? Why you wanna be that way?
Why do you behave in such an unpredictable manner? Why are you making it so hard for me to please you?
One last thing, Honey
I have a final thing to say, my sweetie.
Before we move on
Prior to our next steps,
Try comin' back to Daddy
Consider returning to me, your father figure,
When you're full grown
Once you've reached maturity and gained some life experience.
Never in all my days, never in all my days
Throughout my life, without exception,
Never in all my days have I loved a woman so hard to please
I have never experienced such difficulty in satisfying a woman I love.
Writer(s): Luther Dickinson
Contributed by Eva R. Suggest a correction in the comments below.