“I strived to get an electric guitar to respond like a fingerpicked, open-tuned acoustic for decades. I went about it wrong”: Ex-Black Crowes guitarist Luther Dickinson on why he never dug his first signature Gibson – and how its followup went MIA

Luther Dickinson’s discography is staggering, although that’s not shocking for a session guitarist. Then again, Dickinson – the son of Memphis legend Jim Dickinson – is more than just a session man. 

Many know Dickinson for his time with the Black Crowes from 2007 to 2011, which produced two studio albums, Warpaint and Before the Frost… Until the Freeze, plus two live records, Warpaint Live and Wiser for the Time (the latter of which dropped after he’d left).  

But Dickinson’s catalog is varied, and it’s driven by soulful, experimental chops: The Replacements’ Pleased to Meet Me (1987), Jon Spencer’s Acme (1998), Lucero’s Lucero (2001), a host of solo records, and yet another bushel of blues-rock with his North Mississippi Allstars.

His ability to do it all has led to countless affecting sessions and shows, and comes from slinging a semi-hollowbody over his shoulder and letting it flow. But regardless of what he plays or who he plays with, certain groupings transcend. “Playing together is easy,” Dickinson says. “I love playing with Devon Allman and Samantha Fish; they’re creative, powerful forces.

“But I have to mention Duane Betts and Johnny Stachella. As a second-generation player who grew up listening to the Allman Brothers – and whose father worked with Gregg and Duane – standing shoulder to shoulder with that crew, going hard as hell, and pushing each other is an honor. That’s why the Allman Betts tour is a yearly highlight.”

How big an influence was your dad, Jim Dickinson, on you?

“Jim Dickinson was a badass, and a first-generation Memphis rock ‘n’ roller in the ‘50s. He was five years younger than Elvis, and he started one of two teenage rock ’n’ roll bands that played the high school circuit.

“The story of how he and his friends learned open tuning is amazing and begins with their band playing Bo Diddley songs incorrectly in standard tuning. When Bo came through Memphis, dad’s band was hired to open the show. They stood in front in amazement, watching his hands, wondering, ‘What is he doing? He’s not playing any chords!’ They stayed up all night figuring out Bo Diddley’s secret code, and by the time the sun came up, they had unlocked the secrets to open tuning. 

“Dad’s open-tuned rhythm guitar playing, his piano playing, and the players he worked with – mainly Ry Cooder in the ‘70s and ‘80s – were an unfathomable influence on me; not to mention his production and film score work, which I am actively doing now.”

How did your exposure to all that affect your playing?

“Dad and his crew always served all sides of the discipline – acoustic folk, country blues, jug band music, and drug culture-inspired rock ’n’ roll – with Les Pauls and Fender amps. They were dear friends with Furry Lewis, Bukka White, Sleepy John Estes and Fred McDowell. They played music with these elders annually at the Memphis Country Blues Festivals.

“Because of this perspective, fingerpicking open-tuned guitars and playing slide were always a natural part of my guitar concept. I started in open tuning and I’ve been fingerpicking and playing slide my whole life.”

Was there a moment where you said, “I want to do this as a career” or did it happen naturally?

“I can’t remember a time when I didn’t know I would be a guitar player. I wasn’t a natural, but I continue to love fighting for every inch of progress and evolution. Simply knowing what I want to do and being focused can be a great advantage.”

How did you end up in the studio with The Replacements in ‘87 to record the Shooting Dirty Pool solo?

“It was a clear case of my dad asking the Mats, ‘How’s about y’all let my boy play?’ The Mats have always been so cool to me. They have been my lifelong friends since I was 13 and made those noises on Shooting Dirty Pool.

“See, Dad had imagined a music video for the song and wanted to illustrate a pool room bar fight with heavy metal guitar noises. Both he and Ry Cooder had just finished working with Steve Vai on the Crossroads movie, and I’d been making lots of whammy bar finger-tapped noises in my bedroom inspired by Vai. It’s just a collage of noises.”

You worked with Jon Spencer on two Blues Explosion albums in the ‘90s. What was that like?

“Jon was inspiring to work with. I loved his work ethic. We would collect riffs, quickly build the arrangement, and move on to the next song. His lyric sheets looked like poetry and art, with the words in cool placements all over the page. It was a fun collaboration, and I learned a lot – but it was hilarious because our fans didn’t get Jon, and his fans didn’t dig us!

What was your rig like at the time?

“I was probably playing my ’71 Tele, with a Silvertone Lipstick pickup in the bridge and a Teisco Paperfoil pickup in the middle position. That was a really gnarly ride.

“I’ve had the same gear in our Zebra Ranch Studio all along. I had an old Silvertone guitar and amp, Harmony guitars, old Gibson archtops with the old P-90s, a Fender Brown Panel concert amp, a Marshall 2x12 combo, a Marshall Bluesbreaker, a Black Panel Fender Deluxe.”

How did you end up working with Lucero in the early ‘00s?

“We were all friends before from the Memphis scene. I remember chatting with Ben Nichols at an Otha Turner show in Memphis, and Ben said he was thinking of starting a new band with Brian Venabel and Roy Berry, and of course, The Saint, John C. Stubblefield.

“My brother Cody produced their first and second records at Zebra Ranch, and Jim produced their fourth. I played lap steel with them on their early shows and played lap steel and acoustic guitar on their first album. We toured together for years; Ben Nicholls influenced me pretty hard!”

You formed the North Mississippi Allstars around that same time. What was your vision as far as guitars go?

“The fingerpicked and open-tuned riffs of Fred McDowell and R.L. Burnside – when R.L. played solo acoustic in the ‘80s – were so heavy and very tough. I wanted to orchestrate them with a power trio, playing unison riffs and cool beats to flesh out those hill country riffs.

“After a couple of years of playing the music very straight ahead, we started to incorporate the approach we grew up playing, which was experimental rock ’n’ roll. We’d improvise around the songs and use them as springboards for our excursions of spontaneous interpretation.

“I have strived to get an electric guitar to respond like a fingerpicked, open-tuned acoustic guitar for decades. I went about it wrong; I figured the Gibson aesthetic made sense, but it was always a struggle. I recently found that Fender’s guitar scale, tension, tone, intonation, and bolt-on neck philosophy suits me better.”

How did you end up joining the Black Crowes in 2007?

“The North Mississippi Allstars played a few gigs opening for the Crowes, and Rich Robinson and I became friends. We started a side-project called Circle Sound. So when Marc Ford quit in ’06, they called me to fill in.”

Was there an audition?

“There was indeed an audition, at the Zebra Ranch. We jammed on a handful of classics, and it went great. We recorded my first record with them, Warpaint, in ’07, released it in ’08; and another, Before the Frost… Until the Freeze, in ’09. My last show with the Crowes was back in Amsterdam in ‘11. It was a blast. They were professional gentlemen through and through.”

Was there any trepidation, given the Crowes’ shaky past regarding lead guitarists?

“No trepidation at all – I was ready to rock. I had six months to learn their whole repertoire, and I went at it, working a little bit every day. I was making charts, smoking weed, and jamming along to the albums and the live recordings from ’05 and ’06.

“But one thing that helped was that Jimmy Herring had recently joined Widespread Panic, and I saw him play an early show with a trapper keeper full of charts at his feet. Jimmy showed me his process, which I applied to the Crowes gig.

“I grew up with session players and chart-makers working with Dad and David Hood, the master. Live charts are more like road maps and short-term memory boosters. They had no problem with me not making mistakes and being myself.”

Was there pressure to play like Jeff Cease or Marc Ford?

“They had no comments about the old material, though I purposely tried to hit the landmark flagship melodies and then let it flow from there.

“The hardest thing was playing my own parts. We would record loose in the studio, jamming along to whatever new songs they brought in, and it was laid-back. I was surprised when we got to rehearsal, and those loose improvised recordings had become parts – it was harder to learn my own parts!”

You mentioned your friendship with Rich, but what was the lead/rhythm dynamic like?

“Rich is driving that ship. His cool, open-tuned guitar parts are what makes that music unique. I always vibe off the drummer, and I'd always lean into Steve Gorman and try to engage with his drumming and connect with his feel. Steve and I have a new band, Bag Men, with his old partner Nick Govrick from Trigger Hippy. We still have a blast!”

What was your main rig like during your Crowes years?

“I tried everything over those years, starting with my Marshalls, but I ended up with a 150-watt Fuchs rig that I plugged straight into. Chris Robinson gave me my first Gibson ES-335. Between that, my favorite Gibson SG and the Fuchs, I landed on a pretty clean tone.

“It was the only way I could rise above the volume and distortion. It was so loud and harmonically rich that I had to change my strategy. I played light and loose and made sure to have plenty of headroom.”

Gibson gave you a signature ES-335 with P-90s in 2014. Was that inspired by the 335 Chris gave you?

“Like I mentioned, I was trying to get a Gibson guitar to react like an open-tuned, fingerpicked acoustic guitar, but loud as hell. I always tried to get my slide guitar to use feedback sustain and get in the vibe of Jimi Hendrix’s whammy bar. I thought a long-scale, semi-hollow with P-90s would do it. It turned out nice, but it was never my favorite.

“I love old P-90s, but the new ones feel choked out and not as open and remnant as the sweet old P-90s of the ‘50s and ‘60s. But it was a beautiful guitar.

“Mike Voltz and the whole Memphis crew knocked it out of the park. They copied the finish of my father’s old ES-175 and the neck of my old LG-1. It was sweet – but it didn’t respond the way I’d hoped.”

So you weren’t happy with it; what’s the latest there?

“So, dig this: we designed a second guitar, the polar opposite, which was a full-scale, fully hollow ES-335 with humbuckers and a Bigsby called the 330-L. That son of gun crushes! It responds to natural amp sustain and sings like a bird. It’s beautiful, black, and feels so good.

“They couldn’t put my name on the second one, though, because of Gibson’s political issues then. Being fully hollow, it didn’t sell that well, either – but if you ever see a black 330-L, check it out. The two of them together are a killer yin/yang to my aesthetic.”

Are you working on any new music?

“I’m always working on new music. My latest solo record, Magic Music for Family Folk, came out in ‘23. I have another solo record called Dead Blues coming soon, featuring an amazing vocalist named Datrian Johnson. I’ve also got an ambient album, a jazz album with Medeski, and much more on the way.”

• Magic Music For Family Folk is out now.