The North Mississippi All Stars aren't like most white whippersnappers trying to "revive" the blues. A trio of Memphis area twentysomethings with backgrounds wide enough to encompass ancient fife-and-drum stomps and hillbilly post-punk throw-downs, the All Stars want to pump the blues back into the mainstream bloodstream, and they figure what that'll take is what swamp blues king Slim Harpo called the "ol' hip shake." In the world of the All Stars, the blues boogie and dance, seeking to unite both the jam-kids and indie-roots camps that love and respect the music but are all-too-alienated from its culture. The message of the All Stars' fine new album, Shake Hands With Shorty, is loud and clear: "Get thee to a juke-joint, and work with me, Annie."

Guitarist Luther Dickinson and his drummer brother Cody are the sons of Jim Dickinson — the infamous musical renegade of Memphis, Tenn., whose keyboard credits range from '60s Stax sessions and the Rolling Stones' "Wild Horses" to Bob Dylan's recent Time Out of Mind, and whose production work includes Big Star and the Replacements (as well as a parade of equally cool, often obscure projects nestled in collectors' corners). Dickinson's been to the crossroads of Highways 61 and 49, and he's instilled more than a little of that spirit in his boys, who spent their teens apprenticing with the likes of Othar Turner, R.L. Burnside and T Model Ford. They've learned their lessons well — especially Luther, whose Duane Allman-style bottleneck playing has already made him one of Memphis' premier pickers.

With electric bassist Chris Chew and Cody D. locking in rhythm, and Luther nimbly slippin' and slidin' around the groove, Shake Hands With Shorty is a blues album for boogie chillun ages 5 to 85. Appropriately, Burnside, McDowell and Kimbrough are credited as authors of eight of the 10 tracks here, and finger-popping acoustic readings of Furry Lewis' "K.C. Jones (On the Road Again)" (RealAudio excerpt) and the well-worn "Sittin' On Top of The World" (here re-dubbed "Station Blues") also fall squarely into the North Mississippi playbook.

What gives the All Stars their own unique flavor, though, is the ferocity of their attack: with R.L.'s grandson Cedric guesting on a second drum-kit, Chew poppin' the fat notes and vocalist Luther dipping the lower register like a man twice his age, "Goin' Down South" (RealAudio excerpt) is a dance-floor avalanche: all rhythm, little melodic consciousness. "Po Black Maddie" (RealAudio excerpt), on the other hand, is subtly intense — a riverside boogie that initially starts a-bopping to Luther's electric finger-picking, then veers into very Allmans-esque open space and mutates into the tight discord of "Skinny Woman."

With Luther quoting classic psychedelic lines in the midst of outwardly trajected runs and Cody's drum breaks looped for maximum sonic power à la the Blues Explosion (see the scalding slide overload "Shake 'em On Down"), the All Stars understand that fostering the blues tradition means infusing it with thoroughly modern survival tactics and leaving out the heavy-handed, arena ready bastardizing. With Shake Hands with Shorty they've got their plan for world boogie domination in place. Here's hoping their mission succeeds.