South Memphis String Band returns musicians to their roots

The trio — Luther Dickinson of the Black Crowes, Grammy Award-winning blues/rock musician Alvin Youngblood Hart, and Jimbo Mathus of the Squirrel Nut Zippers — all hail from the same general area informally known as the Hill Country of Mississippi. With that shared geography comes a love of the area’s music that prompted the trio to found this new band.

“We have played on each other’s records over the years but the three of us had never gotten together to play blues,” Dickinson said. “It was electric. The chemistry was so great and extend it.”

While the members will continue their respective primary musical pursuits, the new side project gives them a chance to play their own brand of acoustic Mississippi music born from a love for such classic groups as the Mississippi Sheiks, Memphis Jug Band and Gus Cannon’s Jug Stompers.

Fans can get a taste of the new band’s pre-blues roots sound right from its MySpace page. The songs — which combines country, folk and gospel with a heavy dose of the blues — are from the band’s new release “Home Sweet Home.”

Although the trio knew almost as soon as it jammed that the new sound was something they wanted to capture and expand, Dickinson credited Mathus for the majority of the songwriting.

“Once we were working together Alvin pulled out a banjo and we took turns singing songs and it all came together,” Dickinson said. “We have a unique chemistry and like-mindedness that’s pretty rare.”

Expect the upcoming concert by the three musicians who’ve collaborated for more than a decade to reflect the down-home attitudes of Mississippi and Memphis, Tenn.

“We just have a lot of fun playing the banjo, mandolin and other instruments,” Dickinson said of classic country instrumentation. “Getting to play with these two amazing guys — two of the greatest [young] blues players out there is why I do this.”