The North Mississippi All Stars

May 30th, 2000

The Chesterfield Cafe

Paris, France

Last night I saw the North Mississippi All Stars for the second time, this time in Paris. They were playing at this american style restaurant bar called the Chesterfield Cafe. I had stopped in there several day earlier to make a reservation and we ended up with the best table in the house right in front of the stage. I went with the tour Manager of the trip I am on, Jessica Hamlin from Maine as well as two students, Mandy from oklahoma and Jenny from Texas. We got ther and had diiner first. The food was really good and resonably priced for Paris. Another nice thing about this place was that they had pitchers of beer which is practically unheard of in Europe. We had a nice time talking and drinking and then at about 11:30 the band came n stage.

Last time I saw the All Stars in Michigan they were a four piece with Garry Burnside on second guitar, but this night they were a simple trio of Luther Dickinson on guitar, Chris Chew on bass and Cody Dickinson on drums. The band was really ggod again. They ran through most of the songs on their debut album, Shake Hands With Shorty which is out now. Highlights for me were "My Babe", "Sitting on Top of the World", "Shake em on Down". My favorite tune of the night was probably their version of Casey Jones which Cody sang. It is actually pretty much the old tune "On the Road Again" which I know from the Dead's version. After a blistering version of "All Night Long" including a great 'Lovelight jam with Cody on guitar, the set was over. They did come out for one more encore, but the whole show was probably only an hour and a half. I guess I can't complain though since there was no cover charge at all.

We finished up our beer, collcted our free merchandise (sticker, CDs etc..) and caught a cab back to our hostel since subway was closed.

The All Stars are quickly becoming my favorite new band out there. They hav deep blues roots, but add a modern twist to it. They are really exciting to watch play and you can tell they are really enjoying their success. Their new album is also great and I have been listeing to it quite a bit while I have been in Europe. Be sure to check it out if you dig blues or improvised music at all.