Review: JD Simo & Luther Dickinson ‘Do the Rump!’
By Hal Horowitz
It’s not clear what exactly “The Rump” is, nor are there any directions on how to do it correctly. But for the 42 minute duration of this debut collaboration between roots guitarists JD Simo and Luther Dickinson, it’s impossible to sit still.
Dickinson is well-known and respected for his multi-decade stint fronting the North Mississippi Allstars (less so for a short time with The Black Crowes). Simo has been making fans with constant touring, familiarizing audiences with his psychedelic influenced blues. Together on the often improvised Do the Rump! (released Sept 20), they feed off each other on a set of mostly obscure, earthy Delta blues and dusky covers.
It’s a generally laid-back yet mesmerizing combination that shifts from bubbling under funk to a hypnotic, riff-based set that feels completely spontaneous. Drummer Adam Abrashoff provides the integral percussion driving this material as much as the guitarists.
Seven of the eight tracks rearrange, often radically, songs from RL Burnside, Junior Kimbrough, John Lee Hooker and others. They are nearly unrecognizable from the originals after being run through the twisty, jagged mindset of this innovative threesome.
JD and Luther trade guitar duties, but on half the album eliminate the bottom for two guitars. You won’t miss the bass on the throbbing “Come Go With Me,” an obscure Hooker composition stripped down to a repeated riff, like most of these performances. The guitars take separate solos, sparring, floating and weaving around the thumping beat as Simo sings, more like moans, lyrics that might or might not be in the original.
Take that blueprint, expand it to the other seven ragged but right performances and you’ve got a confluence of three guys immersed in their element.
Things go funky for a swamped-out version of JJ Cale’s “Right Down There.” Drummer Abrashoff sets the rhythm, Luther plays bass and Simo gets down with slithery slide that’s a disquieting combination of frightening and joyous.
On Kimbrough’s title track, lengthened to nearly eight minutes, the percussion tumbles into a repeated military dance, oddly not far from some of Captain Beefheart’s music. Simo grabs the vocal leading into a free-form jam where the six strings stumble and tumble like boxers in the 15th round; fatigued, staggering yet running on wired adrenaline. Echoes of Hendrix and Sonny Sharrock reverberate as the vibe turns psychedelic and even scary until Simo returns howling “Louise, you’re the best thing that I know” sounding like he’s waking from a bad dream. Intense.
The bass-free “Come On” is the sets only “original,” credited to both guys. It’s not much of a song as Simo wings some lyrics over an aimless boogie jamble/ramble that’s fun but faceless until it fades out barely three minutes in.
The closing take on Burnside’s “Peaches” sets up a spellbinding, dank, bluesy backwoods groove anyone familiar with his music will recognize. The guitarists play call and response with their instruments, dancing around each other’s lines with neither stepping on the other. They are clearly transfixed into their Delta muse as the instruments tumble, wind/unwind and twirl like the Grateful Dead on one of their extended sonic trips, until devolving into an uninhibited, experimental, even avant-garde ending, bringing this likely one-off to a stuttering, near nightmarish end.
Even if you’ve heard plenty of blues albums, it’s unlikely you’ve experienced many, or any, like Do The Rump!. Dim the lights, lower the shades, push play, close your eyes and let the music do the rest.
Pre-order the new album HERE
“Lonesome Road”
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