photo by Wyatt McSpadden

North Mississippi Allstars will return with their new studio album, Up and Rolling, Oct. 4, marking the band’s debut on New West Records, and today we premiere the video for the title track from the effort.

“Up and Rolling” is an easy flowing tune anchored by a clean, straightforward riff from Luther Dickinson’s guitar and similarly consistent beat from brother and drummer Cody Dickinson (plus new bassist Carl Dufrene, formerly of Anders Osborne’s band), with Luther and vocalist Sharisse Norman crooning over the top about “Mississippi hippies tripping LSD.”

“The video for ‘Up and Rolling’ was shot on location at our family’s recording studio compound and Otha Turner’s driveway. [Director] J.B. Lawrence got a mean case of poison ivy. I escaped with a mere 30 or so chigger bites,” Luther tells Relix. “You can see the Mississippi heat in the haze of our film. The camera shut down from overheating at one point. ‘Up and Rolling’ is about good times and despite the heat we genuinely enjoyed ourselves, goofing around, dancing to the tune blasting out of our Ford van. The nighttime dancing in head light shoot ran J.B.’s car battery down but our van’s faithful jumper cables saved the day and we went our separate ways, hot, exhausted, and only beginning to itch.”

NMA’s Up and Rolling album was inspired by the unearthing of a collection of photos taken by Texas photographer Wyatt McSpadden in 1996, when he came up to the Dickinson’s Mississippi stomping grounds to take photos of local musicians and ended up being shown around by the young brothers, whose lives have been steeped in the musical traditions of the area from the work and connections of their father, iconic producer Jim Dickinson.

“The video was inspired by the lyrics from the album: ‘We go out juking on Sunday night dancing in shadow of dirty head lights’ and ‘…extension cords out the window of RL’s single wide singing thru a Peavey, sounding good outside…’ It’s an inside joke amongst Mississippi guitar players that you know you’ve been playing a good down home party when you have to wipe the dirt off your guitar cables after a set. RL Burnside used to invite us to play his wife’s birthday party alongside his family band. We would run extension cords out into the driveway and set up in the dirt. RL would request we play his songs and sit in front of us, pointing and laughing at us in his lawn chair.”

Watch the video for “Up and Rolling” below, and pre-order the album—which features guests like Mavis Staples, Jason Isbell, Cedric Burnside (RL’s grandson, Duane Betts and Shardé Thomas (Otha Turner’s granddaughter)—here.

North Mississippi Allstars play tonight at the Open Highway Music Festival in St. Louis. See their full schedule here.

Up and Rolling Tracklist:
1. Call That Gone
2. Up and Rolling
3. What You Gonna Do? (feat. Mavis Staples) 
4. Drunk Outdoors
5. Peaches
6. Mean Old World (feat. Jason Isbell and Duane Betts) 
7. Out on the Road (feat. Cedric Burnside)
8. Lonesome in My Home
9. Bump that Mother
10. Living Free 
11. Take My Hand, Precious Lord (feat. Cedric Burnside) 
12. Otha’s Bye Bye Baby (feat. Otha Turner)