Jim Dickinson Dies

One of the unfortunate things about a website like this one is that eventually there’s going to be a lot of posts that take the form of obituaries.

Sadly this week has seen such pieces on Les Paul and Willy DeVille and now we have to add the name of legendary Memphis producer and player Jim Dickinson to the list.

Dickinson died in his sleep Saturday morning at the age of 67, while recovering from triple bypass surgery that had endured earlier this year.

The news comes just a week after a concert was held in his hometown to raise money for his mounting medical wills. Performers included John Hiatt, Jimmy Davis, Shannon McNally and North Mississippi Allstars (featuring Dickinson’s sons Luther and Cody).

Dickinson’s condition had become apparent after a medical check following a performance with Elvis Costello at the Beale Street Music Festival.

While he enjoyed a solo career and fronted the band Snake Eyes, Dickinson was best known as a producer and musician. He played piano on the Rolling Stones’ classic ballad Wild Horses, which remains one of that bands finest moments.

Dickinson’s  session work also included Aretha Franklin, Sam and Dave, and Bob Dylan. Dylan is quoted as saying “if you’ve got Dickinson you don’t need anybody else”. Dickinson played on Dylan’s Time Out Of Mind.

He has produced Willy DeVille, Big Star (the amazing Sister Lovers aka III) , Green on Red (as well as Chuck Prophett solo), Mojo Nixon, The Replacements, Tav Falco’s Panther Burns, Jason and the Scorchers and Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, among many others. For The Replacements he produced the extraordinary indie masterpiece Pleased To Meet Me, considered one of the most important albums in that era of American music. The Green On Red albums The Killer Inside Me and Here Come The Snakes were some of the highlights from that list.

“As a producer what I am looking for is soul”, he was quoted as saying. “Capturing the soul of the moment, the spirit of the performance, is exactly what you are doing as a producer”

The following information is from Dickinson’s biography on his studio website.

Dickinson was born November 15, 1941, in Little Rock, Arkansas. His family moved to Memphis, Tennessee, in 1949. He attended White Station High School, where he formed his first band, The Regents, in 1958. Signing his first recording contract with Rubin Cherry’s Home of the Blues on Beale Street, he later recorded as an Artist for Sam Phillips’ SUN label.

He attended Baylor University in Waco, TX, studying drama under Paul Baker. Returning to Memphis, he married Mary Lindsay Andrews. The couple graduated from Memphis State University with degrees in History and Anthropology.

He participated in the now-famous Memphis Country Blues Festivals at the Overton Park Shell with Furry Lewis, Sleepy John Estes, and Fred McDowell.

After getting his first real break from Bill Justis in Nashville, he began his work in the Memphis music industry, playing sessions at American Studio for Chips Moman, ’65/’66; then for John Fry at Ardent Studio, ’66/’67; then Sam Kessler at Sound of Memphis Studio, ’68/’69, where he joined Charley Freeman, Tommy McClure, and Sammy Creason in the rhythm section that became know as the Dixie Flyers.

In 1970, the Dixie Flyers moved to Miami, Florida, contracted to Atlantic as the house band backing such artists as Aretha Franklin, Sam & Dave, Jerry Jeff Walker, and Carmen McCrae.

Dickinson left the Dixie Flyers and returned to Memphis, recording his solo album, Dixie Fried for Atlantic. He began a career as a producer working with Ry Cooder and Big Star. In the early 70s, he toured with Arlo Guthrie after recording “City of New Orleans.” Dickinson spent the ’70s and ’80s developing the notorious and mysterious Mudboy and the Neutrons, Memphis super group, collaborating with Ry Cooder on motion picture scoring (Paris, Texas; The Border, Crossroads, The Long Riders), and touring Europe twice with Ry Cooder and Jim Keltner.

Dickinson returned to production with Austin’s New Sincerity roots rockers,True Believers, which led to Green On Red, and ultimately The Replacements’ masterpiece, Pleased To Meet Me, and Toots Hibbert’s Super Session (Sly and Robbie, Eddie Hinton,Teenie Hodges).

Honored by local NARAS chapter with the Board of Director’s Governor’s Award in 1992, Jim Dickinson won Producer of the Year seven times before retiring his name from the competition.

After the murder of Dickinson’s partner, Lee Baker, Mudboy retired, but not before sons, Luther and Cody, had joined the list of Neutrons. While continuing to produce a few choice projects, Dickinson has concentrated his efforts on the family recording complex, Zebra Ranch, and launching the careers of his sons, Luther and Cody, the North Mississippi Allstars. The Allstars have received three Grammy nominations for their CDs: Shake Hands With Shorty, 51 Phantom,and Electric Blue Watermelon