may-2017

North Mississippi Allstars: “Run Red Rooster” Song Premiere

Cody (left) and Luther Dickinson.

The brothers Dickinson return with a grinding blues ’n’ roll homage to their home turf’s tough sound, spiked by slicing slide guitar from Luther Dickinson and guest Kenny Brown.

Although the North Mississippi Allstars have been making music as a band and touring the world for 21 years—Prayer for Peace, arriving June 2, will be their 17th full-length album—the group’s feet have always remained planted firmly in the soil of the Magnolia State’s hill country. That’s where Luther and Cody Dickinson’s father, the famed producer, pianist, songwriter, and raconteur Jim Dickinson, relocated his family after decades in Los Angeles specifically for the benefit of his sons’ musical education.

Obviously they learned well—forging a highly original sound from the foundation of the region’s legendary musicians, including R.L. Burnside, Othar Turner, Junior Kimbrough, and, from an earlier generation, Fred McDowell. That sounds drives “Run Rooster Run,” an exclusive Premier Guitar preview from Prayer for Peace. Luther Dickinson’s fat signature slide guitar grinds over his brother’s powerhouse drumming—which manages to propel the song like a freight train while still threatening, like the best Mississippi juke joint music, to jump the rails.

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Quick Hit: TC Electronic Rusty Fuzz

A budget route to big silicon Fuzz Face-style flavors.


When you get down to brass tacks (and transistors and capacitors), there’s not much to a Fuzz Face. And though the sum of good components and expert execution can be something extraordinary, it stings to shell out mega-bucks for what, on paper, looks like a couple bucks worth of radio parts in a tin box. TC Electronic’s Rusty Fuzz, which only sets you back $59, is a perfect Fuzz Face-style stomp for players fixated on this conundrum.

Tones range from good representations of vintage silicon Fuzz Face to excellent ones—particularly when you crank the fuzz and use humbuckers. Sustain is impressive with single-coils, too, but humbuckers coax the most singing and stinging tones from the Rusty. And it’s pure joy to lean into a full-step bend, consider the price, and laugh as the note hangs for an eternity. The tone knob adds versatility, and trebly settings are killer for stuttering unison bends and fast, punky chord sequences. Rusty’s weaknesses are few. It can sound thin at low gain and likes single-coils less than a pedal synonymous with Hendrix and Gilmour should. But at under $60, getting this close to classic silicon Fuzz Face tones makes the Rusty a steal.

Test gear: Fender Stratocaster, Fender Telecaster Deluxe, Silverface Fender Bassman, Fender Champ

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Staff Picks: Life-Changing Albums

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Todd Albright and PG editors name the defining albums that rocked our young, impressionable selves to the core.

We were so pumped up about our heroes’ stories of the albums that rocked their core, that we had to join the fun. Todd Albright and PG editors name the defining albums of our lives.

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