The reliable unpredictability of a North Mississippi Allstars performance is a great joy. It’s the hallmark of this endearing ensemble led by siblings, Luther and Cody Dickinson, now celebrating 30 years of stirring up the Hill Country stew. So, when the brotherly duo—joined on this run by bassist-guitarist-drummer Marcus Machado—hit the stage of the vaunted old mill, it was anyone’s guess what would happen, and everyone’s guarantee it would be musically mesmerizing.

There is a plan or, let’s say, an ethos behind an evening with NMA. It starts with the Dickinson duo, of course, and the musicians they welcome into this collective. On this Thursday night at the Narrows, their chosen collaborator was Machado, with his vast array of talents that augmented the group’s loaded blues and grooves. Add in a heap of respect and admiration for the rooted sounds of the North Mississippi Hill Country; of juke joints, and backyard parties, and goat roasts. And what you get is some of the most richly and personally connected music in the land.

It’s in the blood of the brothers, passed down from big daddy Jim, and fueling an artistic liberty that honors as it progresses; extending the generational traditions and redrawing the boundaries. “Stay All Night” kicked out the first of numerous jams across the 140-minute show, with guitarist Luther, drummer Cody, and bassist Machado locked instantly into a hypnotizing, yet free to fly pattern. Then, just several songs in, the three shifted into the trademark NMA switcheroo mode.

Cody moved to keyboard, offering a surprising take of Little Feat’s “China White.” He’d return to the keys, intermittently, a couple times more across the set, knocking out “K.C. Jones (On the Road Again),” and doubling on electrified washboard for a frenetic, rap-infused “Ball at the Taj Mahal” nearing the night’s end. Behind the drums, Cody was excellent, as usual, counterpunching every riff soaring off brother Luther’s fretboard, or Machado’s searing strings.

With swaying ease, Luther twirled out benign cyclones of notes, getting dark and fuzzy on “Shake (Yo Mama)” or tripping on mushroom tea as the trio went “Up and Rolling.” Inventive and spontaneous, Luther’s guitar-work created form in airy, kaleidoscopic, reverberating waves of psychedelia or in hard-edged, recurring foundations that owe knowing debts to Jimi Hendrix and the delta. His vocals, he delivered as exigent, direct, and in the pocket.

As for Machado, also a Jimi disciple and of all things electric blues, he alternated comfortably between bedrock bass, steady timekeeper, and six-string showcases quoting Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan- on “Castles Made of Sand” and “Testify,” respectively.

For the finale, Luther sang of a mean old world when you live it by yourself. Almost by musical definition, North Mississippi Allstars proves the power of the collective to make it a bit more kind. Sharing the weight, sharing the light, giving the world a bit more boogie.