Merless

If you consider raw blues dripping with attitude and passion “strange,” then you’ll likely agree with James Luther Dickinson’s musical self-assessment – and beg for more. That’s just what you get on I’m Just Dead I’m Not Gone, Dickinson’s first posthumous record, a 2006 Memphis concert he played with the masterful North Mississippi Allstars. The band, especially guitar god and son Luther Dickinson, are clearly first rate. But it’s JLD’S unruly fervor, whether he’s bashing politicians on “Money Talks” or belting out working man tales on “Red Neck Blue Collar” that injects the music directly into listeners’ souls. JLD always said, “Play every note like it’s your last because one of them will be.” Lucky for us, he followed his own mantra.