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.
Snake Drive
North Mississippi Allstars Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
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.
How I wish my train would come;
How I wish my train would come.
As you can tell, I'm not from here.
got to get the hell away from here,
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;
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 lyrics of "Snake Drive" by North Mississippi Allstars convey a deep sense of desperation and yearning to escape from a difficult situation. The first stanza sets up the theme of struggling to survive, but still pushing forward with hope. The second stanza intensifies this feeling of isolation and despair, with the singer expressing a desire to leave and find a place where they belong. The chorus repeats the same phrase, "How I wish my train would come; Carry me back home", emphasizing the desire to be rescued from their current circumstances.
The third stanza is particularly poignant, with the singer talking about how trouble is their only friend, and how they can sense it coming. They desperately cling to the idea that there might be a better life out there for them, and beg for someone, anyone to deliver them from their current situation. The repetition of "please deliver me" underscores the urgency of this desire.
The overall effect of the lyrics is to create a powerful emotional landscape that draws the listener in and makes them feel the singer's sense of isolation and desperation. The image of waiting for a train to come and rescue them is a powerful metaphor for the longing for a better life, and the desire to escape difficult circumstances.
Line by Line Meaning
It's so hard to struggle, it's hard to survive,
Surviving is extremely difficult and struggling through daily life is a constant challenge.
It's a struggle to stay alive.
Even surviving can feel like a constant battle, full of hardship and difficulty.
I keep fighting on 'til we arrive.
In spite of the difficulty, the singer continues to fight and persevere until they reach their destination.
I try to believe I will be received,
The artist hopes that they will be welcomed and accepted wherever they're headed.
Lord knows I'm ready to leave.
The artist is ready to leave their current situation.
Deliver me, I'm ready to leave.
The singer is calling out for help to be rescued from their current circumstances.
Please deliver me.
The singer's plea for help and rescue is intensified.
How I wish my train would come;
The artist wishes for a fast, reliable means of escape, such as a train.
Carry me back home,
The artist wants to be taken back to a place of safety and comfort.
As you can tell, I'm not from here.
The artist is an outsider in their current location.
got to get the hell away from here,
The singer wants to leave their current situation as quickly as possible.
bid you a fare thee well.
The artist says goodbye to those they are leaving behind.
Dark is the night, Cold is the ground,
The environment is unforgiving and inhospitable.
No one to call friend can be found,
The singer feels alone and isolated, with no one to trust or rely on.
No one to lend a helping hand can be found
The singer feels unsupported and abandoned, unable to find anyone to give them aid and assistance.
No one gives a damn
The artist feels unimportant and unnoticed, with everyone ignoring their struggles.
The rain pouring down, from the heavens above;
The weather reflects the artist's state of mind, with the constant rain adding to their feelings of gloom and despair.
Is cold as a mother's heart…
The rain is icy and unpleasant, creating a sense of dread and foreboding.
I talk about trouble, it's my only friend'
The singer feels like trouble is their constant companion, the only thing that they can rely on to be there.
I can smell the trouble blowin' in the wind.
The artist senses that even more hardship is on the way, with no relief in sight.
Only thing I put my faith in…
The artist has very little to rely on, but the one thing that they believe in is their own determination.
I try to believe, It's hard to believe,
It's difficult for the artist to hold onto hope in the face of so much adversity.
there's a home out there for me,
The singer believes that there's a better place for them somewhere, and they just need to find it.
please deliver me, I'm ready to leave
The artist reiterates their plea for help and salvation from their current situation.
And take me back home...
The singer is desperate to be rescued and returned to a place of safety and comfort.
Contributed by Isabelle J. Suggest a correction in the comments below.