Three days after the death of his father, Memphis (and Muscle Shoals and Miami) music legend Jim Dickinson, Luther Dickinson opened the doors to the family's Zebra Ranch studio in Independence, Mississippi and recorded Onward and Upward, an album of gospel songs and hymns over the course of a few hours. Luther, one third of the North Mississippi All-Stars and past member The Black Crowes, was joined by an ad hoc group dubbed "The Sons of Mudboy" (an homage to his late father's influential rock band Mudboy and the Neutrons) who were all close to Dickinson the elder and wished to address his loss in a musical way. The Sons of Mudboy include two veterans of the original Mudboy: the late Sid Selvidge (guitar, vocals) and Jimmy Crosthwait (washboard, vocals). Also on the session were Jimbo Mathus (guitar, mandolin, banjo, vocals) formerly of the Squirrel Nut Zippers and of the South Memphis String Band, Steve Selvidge (guitar, dobro, vocals) and Paul Taylor (washtub bass) as well as vocalist Shannon McNally. Luther and company duplicated the sound of mid-Century era reel-to-reel filed recordings, using only two microphones plugged directly into a two-track ½ inch tape recorder: no mixing after the fact. The late John Fry of the world famous Ardent Studios, Memphis and the legendary Larry Nix mastered the tracks directly from the two track to the lacquer masters. Most of the songs were nailed in just one take with just a few exceptions and those were completed in no more than three takes. "That's just how we do it," Luther muses.
