Killers From Space  (Audio CD) 
by James Luther Dickinson

The "space" in this album's title may be open to conjecture, but there's no question that the material is killer, culled from Dickinson's half-century or so as a Southern musical sage. Though he remains better known as a producer (Alex Chilton, the Replacements), piano-playing sideman (Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan), or parent (sons Luther and Cody drive the North Mississippi All-Stars), any release by Dickinson under either of his own names--Jim or James Luther--is cause for celebration. This collection of Southern-fried nuggets is no exception. Though the kickoff "Texas Me" from the late, great Doug Sahm is the best-known of the obscurities revived by Dickinson, the rough-hewn passion with which he approaches (attacks?) the material makes them all sound like classics. The band features Dickinson's sons along with Texas saxophonist Johnny Reno, while the material ranges from ballads to boogie to bedrock spirituality. Only the barroom shuffle "Morning After the Night Before" was composed by Dickinson, but he makes the rest his own. --Don McLeese