RR: You grew up learning music from your father, and from where you were born and raised, and through your geographical ability to have access to American music. But you’ve recently opened up for Robert Plant who came upon American music in quite a different manner all together.
LD: Oh, man. He’s a total gentleman, a professional, and he works very hard. He’s always pushing himself and the band to go in new directions. They rehearse all the time, and he is not complacent at all. I think he really craves a musical adventure. He tells this story from the stage. Every year there was this amazing blues tour of the UK and Europe, and the Germans made this great film of it. Every year, all the heavy blues guys like Son House, Bukka White, Howlin’ Wolf, and Fred McDowell would all go overseas and tour. Robert said he would see these concerts every year for a period of time, and it really made sense to me because you wonder how did that generation of young British musicians have such a mainline into American roots music to which to draw from to create some of the most classic rock ‘n’ roll that is still timeless.
I think the British guys, because of those tours, had a more one-on-one, man-to-man exposure to the blues greats than the American people did. That really helped. You think about it—you’ve got Peter Green, Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, and the list goes on and on, and I think these kids grew up with almost a closer relationship to these artists than the American kids. I knew for a fact that my dad grew up in Memphis and loved all those blues guys, but because of the segregation, his relationship was almost more mysterious. It wasn’t until later that those artists were more accessible to him, and at that point, it was mainly the acoustic guys.
RR: And yet Plant picked up on yet another form of American music.
LD: I’m glad you brought that up. Blues-influenced rock ‘n’ roll was the basis for [Plant’s] early work, but what he told me, personally, was that it wasn’t until much later in life that he got turned onto American country music. For whatever reason, he did not hear that. And that’s why he loves Buddy Miller so much [Plant’s Band of Joy guitarist]. Buddy knows all that stuff by heart. Buddy’s a living, breathing traditional guy of Americana music. He really enjoys working with Buddy and his friends because they grew up with American country music and he didn’t.
RR: When you first opened up for Plant and the Band of Joy, you played with your brother, Cody, as the NMA Duo. Why did you play as a duo, without Chris Chew on bass, and are you playing as a duo when you open up for Plant in April?
LD: Yes, sir. It was funny. It was just a cycle of coincidences. Cody and I—our early tours in ’98 and ’99 were always as a duo because it was all we could afford. Even before that and after that some, we’re brothers; we always played as a duo. In May ’09, when Chris was playing with Hill Country [Revue], he told both of us that “look, after JazzFest and some gigs in May, I gotta go make some money,” so he went to go drive buses, which he’s done off and on his whole life. He was a professional truck driver before he joined the band. So, from that point on, any gigs that would come up, Cody and I would just play as a duo: “man, this is fun.” We love playing with Chris, but the duo is fun, too.
We opened the first three Robert Plant and the Band of Joy American shows as a duo, and they loved it and they hired us back. I think, in a way, it’s more appropriate because our interpretations are wide open as a duo. We can play basically the same set—really rootsy and traditional, or super aggressive and punk rock. I don’t know; it’s just something that we can do as brothers. I think as a trio we’d be too loud for the Band of Joy. I think the duo is really the perfect match.
We’re on the road with Chris right now, and we’re going to work with him off and on throughout the year. You know, being a professional touring musician, you have to keep changing it up, man, so it’s a good way for us to do fresh things. We honestly recorded the record with just the two of us. That’s how we were able to do it so fast because Cody’s so good and we’re so telepathic that we were just sitting right there next to each, just eye to eye, and just nailed it because he played it so well.
RR: You have a new record out with personal meaning and you just started your tour. What can we expect from the North Mississippi Allstars setlists in 2011?
LD: On this first leg that we’re on, for the first time, we’re doing “An Evening With.” There’s no opening act. There are not two proper sets. In what would be the opening band set, the first hour, we’re just doing experimental things. I’ll do four or five songs solo, Cody will join me, and he has an experimental one-man band that he’s been working with, and then, Chris comes out and we play some songs as a trio, but Cody’s playing guitar or keyboards. We kind of save the traditional power trio for the proper set. I’ve really been enjoying doing those first sets, man. I’ve never had the guts to play solo before, but I really enjoy it.
RR: What about the series of in-store performances this month?
LD: Those will be either the duo, or just myself. We’ll see how Cody feels. Chris, he does the majority of the driving, so we let him rest. The songs on this record are of the fashion that I can play ‘em. I didn’t want to record any songs that couldn’t be distilled
down to acoustic guitar. We have in the past. Our last record, Hernando, was like power trio rock, but when it came time (laughs) to play it on acoustic guitar, there wasn’t much happened, you know what I’m sayin’? It’s just part of the timelessness I was reaching for. It all had to be able to go down to the smallest common denominator.
RR: You’ve got some Black Crowes dates in Europe, too.
LD: Yeah, I’m looking forward to that. This is a natural closure of the hiatus tour. I was saying, “We’ve gotta go over there just for bragging rights. We’re playing so good, we’ve got to go over there and show them where it’s at.” (laughs)
RR: Indeed. Is it fair to say that you are at a point where a chapter has ended in your life, and another chapter is beginning? Do you feel that way as an artist, too?
LD: It feels like a new beginning, really. It does. It feels more like our first album cycle than anything has since. Maybe taking the time off is part of that. Also, it seems like we are grown men now, we’ve been through a lot, and we have a better handle on what we’re supposed to be doing. It feels really good.
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