THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “For decades, Cody Dickinson has flown the flag for homemade American roots music. From his ongoing work with North Mississippi Allstars — the chart-topping blues/rock band he co-founded with brother Luther Dickinson in 1996 — to his Grammy-winning turn as record producer and film documentarian, he’s become a serial collaborator, working alongside everyone from Robert Plant to Lucero along the way.
“I’ve made a career out of collaborating,” he says. “If I’m working in film or TV, my job is to support creative people and help them realize their vision. If I’m working as a musician, I’m getting behind the drums and literally backing up someone else. Most of my life has been spent supporting.”
Cody turns the tables with Homemade, an expansive and evolutionary album that marks his long-awaited debut as a solo artist. Stacked to the ceiling with southern soul, west coast boogie-woogie, hill country blues, and plenty of ear-candy pop hooks, Homemade redefines his reach as a vocalist, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. It also finds him in full-on family mode. Looking to spend more time with his young children, Cody recorded the album at home in Mississippi, where he played every instrument himself and balanced the tracking sessions with his responsibilities as a father of two toddlers.
Elsewhere, Homemade offers everything from vintage, barn-burning rock ’n’ roll (Walk Right In) to Ray Charles-worthy R&B (Black Out Curtains) to modern-day gospel (Can’t Feel At Home, featuring vocals from Tikyra Jackson). Arriving on the heels of the standalone single All Night Long — a Junior Kimbrough classic that Cody heard often as a child, back when he attended weekly shows at Kimbrough’s juke joint in Tchulahoma, Mississippi — Homemade marks a full-circle moment for the songwriter, showcasing not only where Cody is going, but where he’s been, too.
For the Dickinsons, family heritage has always been important. Long before he co-founded North Mississippi Allstars, Cody received a firsthand education from his father Jim Dickinson, a Memphis icon who played piano on The Rolling Stones’ Wild Horses, produced Big Star’s cult classic Third, and contributed pump organ to Bob Dylan’s Time Out Of Mind. That family legacy continues to thrive on Homemade, which features artwork from Cody’s daughter Mavis. The one-year-old also makes her singing debut on Goodbye Albuquerque Tuesday Night, giggling and gurgling her way through the track.
“I recorded that vocal with Mavis in my lap, and she kept grabbing the mic and singing into it, doing these real sassy ad-libs,” he remembers. “Her timing was impeccable. She really meant it! What she was singing perfectly fit the theme, too, because that song is about my children and wanting to come home to them.”
