LUTHER and Cody Dickinson of the North Mississippi Allstars are the sons of roots-rock producer Jim Dickinson, who was so taken with the electric blues from North Mississippi hill country that he moved his family from Memphis to Coldwater, Miss.
As teenagers, the Dickinson boys were surrounded by dirt-floor juke joints and reveled in the flavorful local music scene.
The Allstar brothers formed their first band when Luther was 9 and Cody, 6. Now they’re twentysomething and, along with bassist/vocalist Chris Chew, play their funky blend of world-boogie/hill-country/Southern rock as the Allstars.
At first, guitarist Luther just wanted to play slide guitar and hill-country blues. “But our psychedelic Southern rock upbringing snuck in there,” Dickinson told the Advocate, a Baton Rouge, La., paper.
The energetic Allstars, whose album “Shake Hands With Shorty” was nominated for a Grammy last year, will bring their bluesy slide guitars and washboards to the Bowery Ballroom (6 Delancey St., at Bowery, [212] 533-2111) on Tuesday and Wednesday.
On Wednesday, pedal-steel guitar player Robert Randolph, who plays bluesy gospel, will join the Allstars along with keyboardist John Medeski. Randolph headlines at the venue Friday.
TONIGHT AND TOMORROW: Here’s more brotherly love. The Doves, an ethereal pop band from Manchester, England, fills Irving Plaza, (17 Irving Place, at 15th Street, [212] 777-6800) with Air-y sweetness. Twins Jez and Andy Williams formed the band 10 years ago with old schoolmate Jimi Goodwin.
Brit pop influenced the Webb Brothers, Christiaan and Justin, the sons of songwriter Jimmy Webb (“Wichita Lineman”). The duo opens for the Doves tonight and brings its ’60s harmonies to Maxwell’s (1039 Washington St., Hoboken, [201] 798-0406) Wednesday.
TOMORROW: Nashville’s enthusiastic eclectic-country quintet BR549 recorded its first album at Robert’s Western Wear, a shoe store, where the group used to play covers. The name’s taken from the telephone number of Junior Samples’ used-car lot on “Hee-Haw.” But this alt-Nashville band is no novelty act. Its new album is full of hillbilly originals. Celebrate the latest release at the B.B. King Blues Club (243 W. 42nd St., at Eighth Avenue, [212] 997-4144). Opening for BR549 is Laura Cantrell, Brooklyn’s own songbird, by way of Nashville.
THURSDAY: Andrew Bird’s Bowl of Fire, headed by the ex-Squirrel Nut Zippers violinist himself, brings its crazy mix of styles – from violin-tinged alt-country, soul and swing to garage guitars – to the Knitting Factory (74 Leonard St., at Church Street, [212] 219-3055).
FRIDAY: Clem Snide, once a punk-rock trio, moved from Boston to New York in 1995 and migrated into a more acoustic, twang-twinged sound. But don’t fret: The quartet’s third album, “The Ghost of Fashion,” has intense soul-wrenching moments with whispers of punk. Clem Snide appears at the Mercury Lounge (217 E. Houston St., at Essex Street, [212] 260-4700).
SATURDAY: The Walkmen, the reincarnation of East Village quintet Jonathan Fire*eater, headline the Mercury Lounge to celebrate their new EP, which blends garage, punk and pop.
