Song Premiere: Luther Dickinson Covers Blues Standards From Grateful Dead's Catalog, Shares Blind Lemon Jefferson's “One Kind Favor" Ft. Datrian Johnson

Song Premiere: Luther Dickinson Covers Blues Standards From Grateful Dead’s Catalog, Shares Blind Lemon Jefferson’s “One Kind Favor” Ft. Datrian Johnson

Hana Gustafson on July 31, 2025

Photo by Camilla Calnan

Luther Dickinson (North Mississippi Allstars) premieres his take on the Blind Lemon Jefferson song, “One Kind Favor,” with Relix. The track is a part of the 10-time Grammy-nominated artist’s nine-song selection of traditional blues numbers, pulled from the Grateful Dead’s catalog, and boldly reimagined for the October 17, 2025, release of Dead Blues Vol. 1, via Strolling Bones Records.

Today’s release highlights the rhythmic pulse of the bassline, which adds a vocabulary of tones that stretches the gamut from rich and full to sparse and intentional, filling the gaps between the powerful pulse of the drums and the added flair of the Memphis horn players. Most profound, Dickinson remains true to his Mississippi Delta blues spirit while allowing experimentation to create a trail through the cosmos, eliciting spacey synths that strike another zone of instrumentation for the enduring creative.

“This song is built on bass lines I’ve been working on for decades and my newfound love of synthesizers. I never knew that synths were capable of being as expressive as a slide guitar and can be approached in a similar fashion. My Memphis friends, Mem_Mods (Steve Selvidge and Paul Taylor/New Memphis Colorways) alongside Memphis horn players, Marc Franklin and Art Edmaiston, added so much to this track,” Dickinson said.

Dead Blues Vol. 1 is informed by Dickinson and his brother’s 2013 invitation to take part in the Phil & Friends collective, providing first-hand experience playing with the late bassist. Like the San Francisco ensemble, Dickinson evokes a similar sense of individuality, reimagining beloved covers and resurrecting new nodes of expression that remain true to the backbone, while dressing the meat in new and exciting ways.

“I honestly hadn’t spent much time with the Dead’s music growing up,” Dickinson confesses, “but when Phil invited Cody and I to play with him, we jumped at the opportunity.” The brother spent time studying and building a wall of Dead knowledge, brick after brick. “The more we performed together, the more I realized how many great old blues songs the Dead had played in their time, which led to the Dead Blues concept.”

Across the collection, Dickinson presents adaptations of once-covered blue standards from the Dead songbook and generates renditions of material released initially by Blind Lemon Jefferson, Bo Diddley, the Mississippi Sheiks, Willie Dixon, and more. “Phil changed my life. He welcomed me into his crew, taught me his repertoire, shared his improvisational approaches, and introduced me to a whole new community of musicians. This record reflects Phil’s wild musical spirit and approach to re-interpretation.”

Today’s single highlights the vocal work of special guest contributor, Datrian Johnson, who livens the listening experience with a soul-searching urgency to keep the grave clean and maintained. “When John Medeski introduced me to Datrian Johnson, I had this revelation that he could sing the lyrics from the Dead blues catalog on top of my instrumentals. He’s one of the most moving vocalists I’ve ever worked with on stage, and recording with him was just so effortless. He understood exactly what I was trying to do, and brought this record to a whole new level,” Dickinson says of his collaborator.

Elsewhere on the album, Dickinson pulls in assistance from Phil Lesh’s son Grahame Lesh, Steve Selvidge of The Hold Steady, Dickinson’s brother and North Mississippi Allstars bandmate, Cody Dickinson, Ray Ray Holloman (Eminem, NMA), and more guests to assist in the creation of a set that is neither pure Dead or just blues, it’s a brew of its own highlighting the historical knowledge of the Dead and blues songbook, as well as a deep sense of individuality.

Dead Blues Vol. 1 will be available across digital platforms, compact disc, and standard black vinyl and is available for pre-order.

Listen to “One Kind Favor” below.