ally, Luther (guitar, vocals) and Cody (drums, vocals) formed the North Mississippi Allstars and pioneered their own brand of blues-in- fused rock and roll. Swedish born Anders Osborne ran away
from home at 16 and eventually settled down in New Orleans and has called The Big Easy his home since 1985. Between the potency of his richly detailed songwriting, his intensely emotional, soulful vocals and his piercing, ex- pert guitar work, New Orleans’ Anders Os- borne is a true musical treasure. He is among the most original and visionary musicians writing and performing today. Guitar Player calls him “The Poet Laureate of Louisiana’s fertile roots music scene.” New Orleans’ Gambit Weekly recently honored Osborne as “The Entertainer of the Year.” OffBeat named him “The Crescent City’s Best Guitarist” for the third year in a row, and “The Best Song- writer” for the second straight year. Osborne also won “Song of the Year” for his composi- tion, “Louisiana Gold.” Teaming up together has been something they’ve been talking about doing for quite some time but with each band’s hectic schedule it just didn’t seem like it could jive up…until now. I have seen N.M.A. on more than one occa-
sion and thought that I would be prepared for what I was about to witness that cold winter night in Ardmore, but without having had the pleasure of seeing Anders Osborne live I couldn’t begin to imagine just how beautiful a mash-up this project would actually be. Then they laid it down for all the brothers and sis- ters there that evening! From the moment Luther Dickinson and Anders Osborne hit the stage together until almost 3 hours later, these boys took the hands of everyone there to guide us through a musical journey filled with train rides, meeting places, swamps, Hurricane Katrina and more. N.M.O. played a combination of N.M.A and Anders Osborne’s catalog with a healthy dose of new music
coming from the North Mississippi Osborne album Freedom & Dreams. This was a night that left everyone longing
for their southern roots whether they were natural or adopted like Anders’ are. The Ard- more Music Hall was turned into a Missis- sippi juke joint in Hill Country for part of the night and for the other part it became a typi- cal hot, steamy night on Frenchman Street in New Orleans. You felt the presence of the old bluesmen that inspired and left marks on the boys in the band with a hint New Orleans funk & second lines. By the end of a night of dancing, swaying and feeling the blues in my soul I felt refreshed, revived and had a new outlook on life. After the show I said to Luther Dickinson
that I felt like I had just worshiped at “The Church of the Blues.” He smiled, put his hand on my head and said without missing a beat as he pulled his hand away then said “You’re healed girl, you’ve been healed!”
-Mars Blomgren
Special thanks to Liz Fox for answering the 2 AM message to edit. Thanks to Dino Perrucci for his use of his photos.
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