Be warned, though, his truth is a world filled with truck driving, heavy equipment, fat cigars, skinny women, drive-by prayers and horsepower.

There’s other stuff, too, but his 2009 release “Escape from the Chicken Coop” shows why he’s a true bluesman. This album is his life.

He’s racked up more than a dozen blues music award nominations in recent years and earned praise from producers and musicians including Pinetop Perkins and Jerry Wexler.

His newest studio work also includes guests such as Gary Nicholson and members of Delbert McClinton’s band.

He lived in Oklahoma for years, earning a master’s degree from OSU in history. He also earned his keep in the years after the Vietnam War by tending a watermelon farm in far southeast Oklahoma called “Little Dixie.”

His gravelly, marble-mouthed vocals channel the best of Southern blues. His frank lyrics invoke smiles and sneers. His musicianship is simple and straightforward, down to earth and profound in its understatement.

Slim doesn’t fit the shackles of one genre. He’s definitely blues, but there’s a twang of country, a steely slide into Americana and a double-shot of punk ethos.

“I’ve always been drawn to the past,” says lead singer and guitarist Luther Dickinson. “I love old music, old books and movies, old sayings, phrases. There’s an aesthetic that runs through it all that shapes me.”

As a teenager in Mississippi in the late 1980s, Dickinson’s fervor for roots music led him to the northern hills, where he encountered a pocket of musicians whose blues departed sharply from the Muddy Waters, B.B. King Delta sounds that had inspired decades of rock-and-roll. It was these interactions that inspired Dickinson and his younger brother, Cody, to form the North Mississippi Allstars. High school friend Chris Chew joined the core unit, which is augmented by a revolving cast of hill country players.

Luther, 37, and Cody, 33, were destined to become musicians. Their father, the late keyboardist-producer Jim Dickinson, worked with Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones, Aretha Franklin and Ry Cooder, and earned a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Americana Music Association in 2007. Their mother, Mary Lindsay, is the longtime manager of the family’s Zebra Ranch recording studio. The boys began playing guitar when they were about 5.

In high school, the Dickinson brothers formed a punk band, but Luther Dickinson’s attention wandered. He became close to the late Otha Turner, an octogenarian hill country farmer and fife and drum player. He would spend afternoons at Turner’s farm and began playing music and enjoying “goat sandwiches” at Turner’s community barbecues. He also began studying the guitar style of bluesman Fred McDowell and sought out Junior Kimbrough and R.L. Burnside, who became mentors.

Pisano says the adventure will star Kieron Lafferty and Wayne Catania as Jake and Elwood Blues. The original role were played by Belushi and Dan Aykroyd. Lafferty and Catania are no strangers to the role, the duo currently play the musical pair in the touring Blues Brother Review.

In an interview with Undercover.com.au, Pisano says, “We have scripted over six to eight shows where the brothers will be on a mission down the Mississippi back to New Orleans.”

She adds that she was glad the characters will be played by new actors. “People tend to think of them as John and Dan. They were the first actors to do it but they won’t be the last. When you see Kieran and Wayne, you will see how they embody those characters and make them work.”

The two biggest living legends of the blues shared the marquee but never actually took the stage together Saturday. That they couldn’t so much as cakewalk their way through “Sweet Home Chicago” together for five minutes was just one of several disappointing facets of the double-barrel concert.

Tickets were priced almost twice what it typically costs to see King or Guy individually. However, Guy’s opening set was shorter than normal (just over an hour), and the first 20 minutes or so were spoiled by stragglers arriving late — which is inevitable when shows begin right on time, and when theater ushers don’t entrust audience members to know that Row K sits in front of Row L.

The night’s junior player at 73, Guy nonetheless lived up to the price of admission, and even provided equal value to his regular audience and virginal attendees.

Newbies got to witness Guy stalk through the crowd with his wireless guitar, and to hear his history lesson on the rock gods who followed him (complemented with snippets of “Voodoo Chile” and “Sunshine of Your Love”). More initiated blues fans, meanwhile, ate up his surprisingly refreshed, slow-stirring versions of the Muddy Waters staples “Hoochie Coochie Man” and “She’s Nineteen Years Old” — songs that have otherwise been done to death.

“People ask of us old blues cats, ‘When are you going to retire?’” Guy quipped at one point. “We don’t. We just play until we drop.”

As sad as it is to say, King’s vitality on stage certainly appears to be dropping. More and more, the unquestionably legendary giant, 83, relies on personality over musicality at his seemingly ceaseless line of concerts (another is lined up Nov. 12 at the State Theatre).

‘Bleeding Heart’, the late veteran’s take on Elmore James’ classic blues song, is being lined up for a digital release on March 1 and a seven-inch vinyl release seven days later.

Originally recorded in April 1969, the studio recording, featuring Hendrix, bassist Billy Cox and drummer Rocky Isaac, has never been released until now.

Julien Temple, who previously directed the Sex Pistols documentary ‘The Filth And The Fury’ has also made a video to accompany the track.

The single will feature previously unreleased B-side ‘Peace In Mississippi’ and will be released in conjunction with his forthcoming posthumous studio album ‘Valleys Of Neptune’.

The Dixie Square Mall was the setting for an indoor car chase in the movie “The Blues Brothers,” staring comedians Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi.

The mall had closed in 1979, a year before the movie was made. Prior to that, it had only a brief history as a retail hub, having opened in 1966 and fallen on hard times only a decade later, the Chicago Tribune reported Wednesday.

MG Development South LLC attorney Thomas Planera said the new five-year plan for the 35-acre property includes big-box stores and local retailers.

Delays are possible because of a pending lawsuit over environmental concerns brought by Attorney General Lisa Madigan against the previous developer and the City of Harvey, the Tribune said.

Other than that, “this is more than a campaign promise, when you talk about the demolition of Dixie Square,” said Harvey Mayor Eric Kellogg.

“We have made history,” he said.

“Once the downbeat happens, we are transformed into joy boys. We have a ball up there. It just carries through to the audience. By the end of the night everybody is smiling and happy.”

For him, each show is like a “first-time gig,” he said.

“My musicians said to me one time, `Jim, the way you jump around and sing out there and have fun it brings us back to why we started in the first place.”‘

The Blues Brothers began as a comedy sketch on TV’s “Saturday Night Live,” created by original cast members Aykroyd and the late John Belushi.

They named their characters Elwood and Jake.

Jim Belushi, John’s younger brother and a TV and movie star in his own right, says he does not play the role of Jake in the current “Blue Brothers” shows, but rather Jake’s brother Zee.

“I’m the long-lost brother Zee. Elwood searched me out and begged me. I was running an Albanian feudal castle and he searched me out.”

Belushi said in October he obtained Albanian citizenship and currently is restoring an Albanian house and property once owned by his father.

Aykroyd and John Belushi starred in the 1980 movie hit “The Blues Brothers,” but fans shouldn’t expect a remake.

Presented by the Southern Arizona Arts and Cultural Alliance, the festival runs from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., with a gate fee of $5 per adult. Children 10 and younger get in free.

Judges rate more than 20 classes of antique, classic and muscle cars and trucks, doling out awards for best interior, paint, engine compartment and overall appearance.

Festival-goers not only can take in this parade of steel-and-chrome classics, but they also can rock to golden oldies spun by DJ John and groove to the blues belted out by the Jive Bombers. There’ll be plenty of barbecue and other food to fill up on as well.

DJ John Stroebeck (performing from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.) is a mainstay at most Southern Arizona car shows. He spins oldies from his self-contained broadcast booth.

The Jive Bombers (performing from 1 to 2:30 p.m.) feature Mike Blommer on guitar, Steve Grams on bass, Glenn Velardi on drums and vocals by Rebecca Carlson.

Last year’s inaugural Oro Valley car show at Steam Pump Village featured more than 160 cars and trucks and drew more than 4,000 attendees.

The 2010 event, with its move to Oro Valley Marketplace, likely will draw a larger crowd, a release concluded.

SAACA continues to accept applications for the car show. Details and registration forms are available online at www.southernazfestivals.org. Call 797-3959 with any questions.

Proceeds from the event benefit SAACA’s many arts programs in the community and area schools.