Photo: Bob Bayne

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The North Mississippi Allstars drummer steps out with a new, deeply personal solo album, Homemade.

Fertile Ground for Songwriting

“Goodbye Albuquerque, Tuesday Night” is the song that really crystallized the whole Homemade concept for me. I was a new father and husband and celebrating that, while at the same time trying to figure out life on the road and making a living as a touring musician. I was traveling and the verse “So long Cleveland Sunday evening/ Goodbye Albuquerque Tuesday night” came out. I just thought, “This song is about missing my family and my priorities shifting.” That’s when I realized that there was a very deep well here and some fertile ground for songwriting. I knew it was gonna be a full album, that I could write 10 songs that tell my story. I started writing in 2019, when I was traveling a lot with the North Mississippi Allstars, and then COVID happened. With the lockdown and everything, I just started using my time to write.

I was inspired by my wife and watching her become a mother—we had our first baby, Mavis, in 2020, and then we had our son Ozzy in 2022. Just spending that time with her gave me a lot to write about. I really started digging in four years ago and then, working with Strong Place Music and having a label that believed in me and was pushing me, validated that creativity. So I got inspired to do a second round of writing. That’s when I finished it—when it was a complete thought.

Cody Homemade

I recently released an album of all instrumental music, Electric Washboard Is Coming—crazy, electronic music. I considered releasing that under a different name because it was so experimental by nature. But Homemade is so personal that going out under my name was the perfect fit. I like to call it “Cody Homemade,” man. Having kids while I was making the album really informed the creative process. One morning, when I was watching the kids. I was singing the lead vocal for “Goodbye Albuquerque, Tuesday Night” and Mavis, who had just turned 2, jumped on my lap and started singing. She grabbed the mic and she started saying, “Da da da” and singing different parts. I was blown away because it was in time, totally compositional and key to the song’s context. When it came time to mix it, I left her vocals in, so they’re on the vocal track. What you hear is exactly how it happened. There was no rehearsal and there were no overdubs.

So Homemade is deep, and it takes on some heavy emotions, but it’s also a lot of fun and lighthearted. It’s just about love and happiness, man. We’ve been splitting our time between just outside of Little Rock, Ark., where my wife’s family is, and South Haven, Miss., where my studio is and where I recorded the album. It’s really challenging being a touring musician and being away from this loving family, so I’m really figuring that out. But the dynamic is working. They get to come on tour with me sometimes, and they really enjoy that.

All in Good Fun

It was a crazy and amazing experience playing all the instruments on the record myself. I wrote all the music on the album, and that streamlined the process. It really makes the songwriting and the actual act of recording the record so quick, fast and painless. It’s almost like the technical side of the production process gets me out of my head just enough where I can capture a really good performance—or at least what I think is an inspired performance— on whatever instrument I may be playing.

But, when I was writing this music, I also had gigs in mind. I imagined myself onstage playing these songs, and I visualized if they would translate onstage. At the same time, Homemade is a very personal album, and it’s definitely telling life stories. I played my first show with the band in New York at Hill Country, and I had a killer group—Jager Soss on drums, Will Bart, who leads Johnny’s in the Basement, on bass and this incredible guitarist, Aubrey McCrady, from Mississippi. And Peter Levin played keys with us that night. There’s a lot of musical adventures on the album, and we go on some deep journeys.

There’s a lot of straight-ahead blues songs on the album and some psychedelic rock, but I also really stretch it out conceptually. It starts autobiographical and then explores growing up, becoming an adult, becoming a father and all these things, before coming back around. So it is ironic that being home with my family inspired this album, and now I’m gonna turn around and tour behind it. But it’s beautiful. I have such a tight bond with them. It’s all in good fun.

Drummer’s Choice

The one musician I called in for my album was Tikyra Jackson from Southern Avenue, and she was incredible to work with, man. I had been in my own world for so long and felt like I had hit a wall with my vocals. But as soon as I started working with Tikyra, she just pushed my singing to another level. She helped get some vocal performances out of me that, otherwise, I never could have gotten. So I’m thankful for her agreeing to sing with me on this album. She’s on “Can’t Feel at Home” and “Walk Right In.”

And she’s also a drummer, so it’s the two drummers in the band getting together and making our own record. I think that’s super important. I love playing the supporting role. But it’s really nice to express myself as a full artist in this way because I love all instruments equally. They all serve a different purpose for me, creatively. They inform each other—my bass playing is deeply rooted in the way I play drums. When I play guitar, it’s more of a vocal instrument for me—getting to explore melodies is so exciting. But I make a living playing drums with the North Mississippi Allstars, Duane Betts and many other incredible artists, and I also love that.

Duane’s got his band, and they’re locked in, but sometimes he calls me just to sub. It’s always a blast whenever he calls. He is one of my best friends, and I love playing music with his band, Palmetto Motel, and Johnny Stachela. I do The Allman Betts Family Revival during the holiday season, and it’s incredible getting to play the Allman Brothers catalog with Duane and Devon, learning the music straight from the source. I study with him intensely. I met Duane through Cisco Adler out in California years ago.

There are some people that might think a Cody Dickinson album is gonna be drum heavy, but the drums are just a vehicle for the songs. This is a chance for me to express my songwriting. The North Mississippi Allstars have such a specific thing we do, and over the years, Luther and I have really been able to dial that in. So we use our outside projects as an opportunity to try something else out so we can keep the band pure and stay focused. This is a chance for me to express all kinds of creativity. The ability to make this album is really just a massive, huge gift and this invitation for creativity.

Friends & Family

I cut my teeth playing punk-rock clubs in Memphis and playing all kinds of music. And then my brother and I discovered this incredible Hill Country Blues scene right in our neighborhood. We were able to learn with these incredible musicians and blues singers, like R.L. Burnside and Junior Kimbrough. I became friends with Garry Burnside and Duwayne Burnside, who later joined the band, and studying with those guys was amazing. At the same time, I was really young, so I had a point of view that I wanted to do my own thing and make it my own. Now, I realize there’s a certain responsibility that comes with age to preserve the traditions that we come from. That’s become more important as I’ve gotten older, and I understand that side of it better than when I was young. Luther and I are having fun while we are playing, but we also take what we do really seriously in terms of being able to keep these traditions alive to the best of our abilities.

“Homemade Blues” tells a story about growing up in Tate County. It’s very literal and descriptive; I talk about Sunday night, down Highway 4. That’s where we would go watch Garry Burnside play, and that’s where Junior Kimbrough’s club was. When I talk about the pool table, I’m being as descriptive as I can be in that song, just telling the story literally. And there’s a fun double entendre between homemade brew and homemade blues. It’s about the music, but it is also about the booze, man. They definitely went hand in hand—there was a lot of clear moonshine liquor being enjoyed. [Laughs.]

And there’s also the Turners— Otha Turner, Shardé Thomas and the Rising Stars Fife and Drum Band. They’re dear friends and incredibly supportive. In fact, we played together at Jazz Fest just this year. I went down to their picnics and watched the way Othar would lead the march through the crowd with his fife and command the crowd. So I am trying to preserve all that in these songs and share it as much as possible.

Future Endeavors

I’m a co-creator of the Take Me to the River film series. It’s an award-winning project that has grown into a nonprofit education initiative. It’s also a touring entity. We have two films and we’re currently in production on the third one. The director, Martin Shore, myself and a team of incredible producers—including Boo Mitchell from Royal Studios in Memphis—our mission is to educate by bringing generations of artists together, playing genre-bending music, creating collaborations and documenting that process. I’ve learned so much from Martin. Basically, I come in early in the project and help put together the production teams—I gather the team that’s gonna book the sessions and make all the music happen. It’s been incredible. We’ve recorded and performed with everyone from Snoop Dogg to Mavis Staples and Booker T. The newest film is about London, and it’s a very expansive project. I love music videos—I would say they are my passion. So this is a combination of all the arts that interest me and excite me. When I can bring them together like that, it’s hard—documentary film work in general is challenging— but also very gratifying.

North Mississippi Allstars are also currently recording new music. The band is still going strong. Next year, we are celebrating the 25th anniversary of our first album, Shake Hands with Shorty. And we are recording all-new songs in the spirit of Shake Hands with Shorty. Instead of just rereleasing the same album, we’re tapping into the energy. And I have to say, man, it’s my favorite stuff we’ve done so far. We’re deep in the process, and I’m almost done with the drums—I’m super happy.

Right now, we have two bass players that we love working with—Joey Williams from The Blind Boys of Alabama and Rayfied Holloman, who we met through Robert Randolph and The Word. Ray Ray also plays with Ne-Yo, who is blowing up, doing arenas. So he’s super busy, but we love playing together. Whenever he’s available, we have him out. It’s a revolving door, and we either have Ray or Joey—or sometimes we have both of them, which is the A-team. That’s the way a lot of the new album was recorded, too. It’s almost quartet style.