The record leads off with the song of the same name and it's a straight ahead power rocker of a track. There's not a whole lot of nuance to talk about in this song; a three minute, two chord verse with a two chord bridge, and no solos. It's not a song you ponder whether you like or not, and if you do, you'll like it loud.

What is significant is that there are signposts of classic electric blues cropping up throughout the song. About bootlegging moonshine from Memphis to New Orleans on a legendary U.S. highway (Bob Dylan wrote about this same road on his debut album), the pile driving amped up guitar of Luther throws off strong echoes of Elmore James when he cops James' signature slide riff on the second chord. His sneering vocals end some lines with a Howlin' Wolf blues yodel. Meanwhile, Cody and Chew keep the backbeat going like a train.

To say this is indicative of the NMA's style is not really even close; there are so many more wrinkles they bring to the table elsewhere in their body of work. But for this song, at least, they testify to the simple beauty of the blues of their homeland, even as they are rocking hard doing so. It's like a drug; a gateway drug to the blues.

Listen: North Mississippi Allstars "51 Phantom"

"One Track Mind" is a weekly drool over a single song selected on a whim and a short thesis on why you should be drooling over it, too. Downloads are low quality rips available for only about a week.