Hill Country Homecoming

THE NORTH MISSISSIPPI Allstars have traveled far from their roots since releasing their 2000 debut, Shake Hands With Shorty. But two decades into their crusade to keep the traditions of Mississippi hill country blues alive and thriving, guitarist Luther Dickinson and his brother, multi-instrumentalist Cody, were transported back by pictures of the region discovered on a forgotten roll of film shot in 1996 by barbecue-joint photographer Wyatt McSpadden.

Those reminders of their past inspired the Allstars’ new album, Up and Rolling (New West). Its music captures the spirit of the Sunday afternoon picnics and late-night jukes of northern Mississippi’s hill country, where the brothers woodshedded in the mid ’90s with blues icons Junior Kimbrough, R.L. Burnside and fife player Otha Turner. The band covers those artists on the record, along with original songs that complete the story.

“Most of the originals