“Shardé Thomas, Amy LaVere and I, we’ve been making records together for years,” Luther Dickinson says, as he traces the origins of his new collective Sisters of the Strawberry Moon and their debut LP, Solstice. “But then I met the Birds of Chicago, and I heard Allison [Russell] play the banjo and the clarinet, and really came to appreciate what JT [Nero] can do with a song. I’d also become friends with Amy Helm and I thought, ‘Hmmm, this is an interesting cast of characters; I think this could be a fun party.’”

That’s the long-and-short of how Dickinson ended up recording with the aforementioned players, as well as the gospel trio The Como Mamas, at his family’s Zebra Ranch Studio in Independence, Miss., during a four-day stint. “I asked each artist to bring two or three tunes that they thought would be fun to play with everybody else,” he recalls. He also enlisted a few guests, including Lillie Mae Rische on fiddle, guitarist Alvin Youngblood Hart and Al Green/Willie Mitchell collaborator Rev. Charles Hodges on Hammond B-3.

“It all just grew organically from there,” Dickinson explains. “Even the name. Our working title for the project was Songbird from the song that Amy brought in. But then this phrase, this band name, kept growing. It eventually became Sisters of the Strawberry Moon Solstice, but we just chopped it off and made Solstice the name of the record so Sisters of the Strawberry Moon could be the band name. I originally didn’t want to have my name on it. To me, it’s more like Luther Dickinson presents Sisters of the Strawberry Moon.”

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Superlover (featuring Birds of Chicago)

That was a brand new song when they brought it to the session. JT [Nero] is one of the greatest songwriters of our generation. He’s sympathetic and empathetic. He’s also topical, but he’s not heavy-handed, and he just hits me where it hurts.

Fly With Me (featuring Shardé Thomas)

That’s a co-production with my brother [Cody]. It’s an older track. Shardé had written it and recorded it with my brother at his studio, and it was a popular version, but I loved the track, so we did a Sisters of the Strawberry Moon remix. We kept Shardé’s drums that she had cut at my brother’s and we redid everything else around it.

Shardé’s such a modern Mississippi magician. She’s Otha Turner’s granddaughter—he passed on the tradition of Mississippi fife and drums, so she’s single-handedly carrying on this legacy of playing a homemade bamboo fife. But she’s got a contemporary influence that she brings to everything. Another thing I love about her interpretation is that she’ll take what most people would interpret as a country song and twist it, giving it a Mississippi R&B-type beat.

Not only all that, but she really connects with the audience. She’s so spunky and confident. She’s got that thing—she’s got it.

Hallelujah (I’m a Dreamer) (featuring Amy LaVere)

That’s a beautiful tune that Amy LaVere brought in, written by David Egan. Amy is hypnotizing. She’s got such a vibe that she makes any song her own. And her grooves too—the way Amy and Shardé play together makes it so easy to record. When Shardé plays that Mississippi R&B rhythm and Amy locks the groove down with that doghouse upright bass, they’re a very solid rhythm section.

One other thing about Amy on this session is that she really came in prepared. She was ready to play every one of these songs, and that enabled us to save not only the first take, but even some of the performances that were the run-throughs. So when Allison spilled her heart and soul out into those early versions, the fact that Amy had it together and could hold the song down and get a golden performance from the jump really brought the session to life and made it special.

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Like a Songbird That Has Fallen (featuring Amy Helm)

Amy Helm is such a powerful player and I love working with her. As a second-generation rock-and-roller myself, I just feel such a kinship to Amy. It’s funny because she didn’t grow up in the South but has the instincts of a Southern musician.

I was super excited not only to work with Amy, but also to bring her down to Mississippi, because I’ve been at her family’s place—Levon’s place—multiple times. I worked there for two weeks with him, three weeks with The Black Crowes, so I knew that it would have a similar vibe—but also offer something different because it’s in rural Mississippi.

This record sat on the shelf for a couple of years, just trying to find the right time for everybody to get it together. But the thing about it is that, already, it has been a success because, after we got together, there’s been so much more music birthed from these relationships. Birds of Chicago sang on Amy Helm’s last record, and they asked me to help co-produce their last record. So even without it being released, it has led to more music.

Kathy (featuring Birds of Chicago)

“Kathy” is another song where Allison sang her heart out. It’s just blood and guts on there. It’s a really sweet but sad song. I think it’s a personal song. I haven’t asked Allison about it, but it obviously means a lot to her.

This version wasn’t even the first take; it was the run-through. Her vocal performance was so deep that we had to go back and preserve the run-through to use that performance.

It also was one of two songs that I brought to Royal Studios for Rev. Charles Hodges to put his B-3 on. When he heard the song, he said, “Wow, that singer, she’s really special.”

Hold to His Hand (featuring The Como Mamas)

This is the pinnacle of North Mississippi Hill Country gospel. The Como Mamas are from the church that Fred McDowell played at—the church that Otha Turner went to, the church that Rev. John Wilkins [Robert Wilkins’ son] preached at. This is the North Mississippi musical gospel center and The Como Mamas grew up there. They knew Fred McDowell and they keep Hill Country gospel alive.

My original intention was to use the band to back them up, but The Como Mamas fill the room. We just quit playing because their voices are so evocative and chilling.

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The Night Is Still Young (featuring Amy LaVere)

“The Night Is Still Young” is a sultry Amy LaVere original. And when we had Will’s ethereal guitar, with Allison’s clarinet, I was like, “Wooo!” Amy LaVere, she’s the queen of Midtown Mississippi romance. Like Ben Nichols from Lucero—he’s also got this geography of Midtown Miss. At least that’s my point of reference—I know exactly what they’re singing about. Plus, it’s universal; anybody can relate it to their neighborhood.

Sing to Me (featuring Amy Helm)

Amy showed up first for the session, and we were recording this take when the Birds of Chicago walked in. Amy really responded to Shardé’s drumming. Shardé brought the magic again and inspired the whole room.

With most of the songs I produce, I like to get everybody in the room together and capture a good vocal take and leave it alone. But this song was really inspirational to me, and I just kept layering on guitars. I kept saying, “Ooh, I hear a melody here” or “Let’s put a slide guitar here.” I played some electric bass on it and then Rev. Charles Hodges played B-3 on it, so it was really an inspiring song for me.

We Made It (featuring Shardé Thomas)

Shardé wrote this on a keyboard and it’s her anthem. My friend Lightnin’ Malcolm played the juke-joint drums on there, and it’s Shardé’s little jam. I know it became Amy LaVere’s ringtone. Alvin Youngblood Hart was there that day and he played some super funky guitar. I love playing with Alvin because we have very complementary styles.

I also want to point out that everything I do is rooted in my community of Mississippi musicians and my dad’s community and my peers’ community. Regional music is very important to me and the elders were so kind to me; so many people helped me along the way. I think roots music is like a craft or a tradition or a skill that’s passed down hand-to-hand, and the community is a big part; it has to be. In the big picture of fine art, American roots music is really a young art form if you think about it, compared to classical music or ballet or whatever. American roots music needs to be protected and we have to help each other, look out for each other and keep it going.

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Cricket (at Night I Can Fly) (featuring Amy LaVere)

Oh, man, another classic Amy LaVere song. She’s just got this Walt Disney quality to her. She wrote that song sitting in the car, looking up at a streetlight and watching crickets fly. My daughters love this song. It’s such a sweet little tune.

Til It’s Gone (featuring Birds of Chicago)

As I understand it, this is the first JT song that Allison ever sang, in the beginning of their relationship, and man what a relationship they have. Allison is such an evocative, emotional singer, and then, when she busts out the clarinet, you’re like, “What?”

My friend, the great musician Jim Spate, played a bass clarinet, so we had a bass clarinet and clarinet on there. It was fun playing it with that orchestration.

Search Me (featuring The Como Mamas)

The Como Mamas just sound timeless—a cappella, gospel voices. It’s like, “Is it modern or is it a hundred years old?”

Part of what was so fun about this was getting everybody together and just letting it happen naturally. The only agenda we had was: “Don’t let anybody tell anybody else what to do.” If there was a knot to untangle, then let the artists handle it themselves. We wanted to let the music, the production and the arrangements happen organically. I think you can feel the freedom in there.

This article originally appears in the April/May 2019 issue of Relix. For more features, interviews, album reviews and more, subscribe here.