What would happen if you took the UK's leading contemporary bluesman and put him in the midst of the music community of north Mississippi? That question was posed at a chance meeting between Ian Siegal's manager and Cody Dickinson, co-founder and producer of the North Mississippi Allstars.

The answer is The Skinny (2011), a captivating fusion of Siegal's song craft with influences of the hill country.

The band of musicians backing Siegal was coined The Youngest Sons when it was discovered that each was a youngest son:Garry Burnside (guitar/bass guitar), the youngest son of R.L. Burnside; Robert Kimbrough (guitar) of Junior Kimbrough; Rodd Bland (drums) of Bobby Blue Bland; and Cody Dickinson (drums/bass/woogie board), the youngest son of producer and pianist, Jim Dickinson. There are also contributions from Alvin Youngblood Hart, Duwayne Burnside and Andre Turner.

The album brims with hooks and grooves, and is characterised by Siegal's superbly crafted and intense lyrics about relationships lost, found, unrequited, cursed by human weakness or simply bedevilled by bad luck.

While his trademark voice makes this an instantly recognisable Siegal product, the visit to North Mississippi has taken him in new directions; notably the pounding drum and fife, call-and-response of Devil's in the Detail and the hypnotic hill country grooves in songs such as Master Plan and Natch'l Low.

The album was produced by Cody Dickinson at Zebra Ranch - the studio forty miles south of Memphis created by his late father. The simple low-fi facilities of the Zebra Ranch have produced many successful recordings including two Grammy nominated albums by the North Mississippi Allstars. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.