Sunday morning represents the waning moments of the 2011 Folk Alliance International Conference, I have been monitoring friends posts on Facebook, and honestly, it's so hard not to have been there! Sounds like everyone had a great time. And what could be bad? Memphis, Tennessee is just north of Mississippi, and of course, all over the south music holds steady. The legacy informs the present day, and breeds joy. Plus, Memphis is such a welcoming city; the hotel folks are incredibly accommodating, the restaurants are there to please. There is an ease to the place, it's as if the 'feel-good' blows in the breeze off the river, in the spring time, anyway. The temperature has been in the 60s there this week. Ahhh, it has been such a hard winter, could the season be turning the corner?
The North Mississippi Allstars have delivered a remarkable album in homage to their dad. It's called Keys to the Kingdom - A Tribute to Jim Dickinson, with special guests: Ry Cooder, Spooner Oldham, Mavis Staples, Alvin Youngblood Hart, Gordie Johnson, and Jack Ashford. Dickinson brothers Luther and Cody along with Chris Chew dug down deep for these songs. It helped heal them from the loss of the larger-than-life presence that Jim Dickinson was. There is a very cool two part video on the making of the album.
Today's music video is the song, "The Meeting," with Mavis Staples joining in. BTW, congrats to Mavis for the Americana GRAMMY® win last week!
- Jessie Scott
