Luther Dickinson is a blues and rock guitarist and vocalist from Memphis, Tennessee. Born in 1973, he is the lead guitarist and singer with North Mississippi Allstars and has also been lead guitarist in The Black Crowes since 2007.

He comes from a musical family. His father, Jim Dickinson, is a producer and studio musician who works with artists including Aretha Franklin, Bob Dylan, Los Lobos, Delaney & Bonnie, the Rolling Stones, Ry Cooder, Big Star, Toots Hibbert and Mudhoney. Dickinson makes his recording debut at 14, adding guitar parts to the Replacements’ Pleased to Meet Me, which his father produces.

After his family moves to Mississippi, Dickinson and his relatives become regulars at juke joints where musicians such as R.L. Burnside and Junior Kimbrough perform. He plays regularly with Othar Turner, one of the last major figures in the Mississippi fife-and-drum tradition, and helps produce and compile Turner’s Everybody's Hollerin' Goat in 1998.

North Mississippi Allstars and related projects

Before forming North Mississippi Allstars, Dickinson and his brother Cody play in Jim Dickinson & the Can't Hardly Playboys, then in the funk-influenced punk band DDT with bassist Paul Taylor. DDT also performs acoustic blues as Gutbucket and releases a 7-inch single on Shangri-La Records. In 1996, Luther, Cody and bassist Chris Chew form North Mississippi Allstars. Their debut album, Shake Hands with Shorty, appears in 2000 and earns a Grammy nomination for Best Contemporary Blues Album.

North Mississippi Allstars build a reputation as a strong live act, while Dickinson also does session work with the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Willy DeVille and Lucero. In 2001, the group joins John Medeski and Robert Randolph in the Word and releases a self-titled album. Dickinson later works again with John Hiatt, playing on Same Old Man after Hiatt brings North Mississippi Allstars on tour for Master of Disaster.

Work with other bands and recordings

In 2005, Dickinson and his brother record as Spencer Dickinson with Jon Spencer, releasing The Man Who Lives for Love. In 2008 he joins the Black Crowes, first appearing on Warpaint. He also releases a live album and a studio album with the band in 2009.

After the death of his father in 2009, Dickinson leads a tribute recording at the family’s Mississippi studio. The sessions become Onward and Upward, issued under the name Luther Dickinson & the Sons of Mudboy. In 2010 he appears on the debut album by the South Memphis String Band, a roots music group that also includes Jimbo Mathus and Alvin Youngblood Hart.

In 2012, Dickinson releases his first solo album, Hambone's Meditations, a set of acoustic instrumentals. In the same period he also releases a second South Memphis String Band album, Old Times There..., and plays on Go On Now, You Can't Stay Here, the debut of the Wandering, featuring Valerie June, Amy LaVere, Sharde Thomas and Shannon McNally.

Style and background

Dickinson is known for combining Mississippi hill country blues with punk and roots-rock influences. His work ranges from acoustic blues sets to electric band projects, and he is described as an innovative modern blues guitarist with a strong respect for the genre’s history.