James Luther "Jim" Dickinson (November 15, 1941 - August 15, 2009) was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 record producer

Record producer

A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...

, pianist

Pianist

A pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers.-Choice of genres:...

, and singer

Singing

Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...

 who fronted, among others, the Memphis based band, Mudboy & The Neutrons.

Biography

Jim Dickinson moved to Memphis

Memphis, Tennessee

Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....

, Tennessee

Tennessee

Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...

 at an early age. After attending school at Baylor University

Baylor University

Baylor University is a private, Christian university located in Waco, Texas. Founded in 1845, Baylor is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.-History:...

, he returned to Memphis and played on recording

Sound recording and reproduction

Sound recording and reproduction is an electrical or mechanical inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects. The two main classes of sound recording technology are analog recording and digital recording...

 sessions for Bill Justis

Bill Justis

William E. "Bill" Justis Jr. was an American pioneer rock and roll musician, composer, and musical arranger, best known for his 1957 Grammy Hall of Fame song, "Raunchy."-Biography:...

, and at Chips Moman

Chips Moman

Lincoln Wayne "Chips" Moman is an American record producer, guitarist, and songwriter. As a record producer, Moman is known for recording Elvis Presley, Bobby Womack, Carla Thomas, and Merrilee Rush, as well as guiding the career of the Box Tops in Memphis, Tennessee during the 1960s...

's American Studios. Dickinson recorded what has been called the last great record

Gramophone record

A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...

 on the Sun

Sun Records

Sun Records is a record label founded in Memphis, Tennessee, starting operations on March 27, 1952.Founded by Sam Phillips, Sun Records was known for giving notable musicians such as Elvis Presley , Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison, and Johnny Cash...

 label

Record label

In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...

, "Cadillac Man" b/w "My Babe" by the Jesters, playing piano

Piano

The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...

 and singing lead on both sides, even though he was not an actual member of the group. In the late 1960s, Dickinson joined with fellow Memphis musicians Charlie Freeman

Charlie Freeman

Charles Redfearn "Charlie" Freeman was an English professional football player. His clubs included Chelsea and Gillingham.-References:...

, Michael Utley

Michael Utley

Michael Utley, often credited as Mike Utley, is an American musician, songwriter, and record producer for Jimmy Buffett's Coral Reefer Band. He is the musical director of the band...

, Tommy McClure and Sammy Creason

Sammy Creason

Sammy Creason was an American session drummer who played with Tony Joe White, Kris Kristofferson and Bob Dylan among others....

; this group became known as the "Dixie Flyers" and provided backup for musician

Musician

A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....

s recording for Atlantic Records

Atlantic Records

Atlantic Records is an American record label best known for its many recordings of rhythm and blues, rock and roll, and jazz...

. Perhaps their best-known work was for Aretha Franklin

Aretha Franklin

Aretha Louise Franklin is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. Although known for her soul recordings and referred to as The Queen of Soul, Franklin is also adept at jazz, blues, R&B, gospel music, and rock. Rolling Stone magazine ranked her atop its list of The Greatest Singers of All...

's 1970 Spirit in the Dark. In December 1969, Dickinson played piano on The Rolling Stones

The Rolling Stones

The Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...

' track "Wild Horses" at Muscle Shoals Sound Studio in Alabama, although it wasn't released until 1971, and in that year on The Flamin Groovies

The Flamin Groovies

Flamin' Groovies were an American rock music band of the 1960s and 1970s. They began in San Francisco in 1965, founded by Ron Greco, Cyril Jordan and Roy Loney. They are perhaps best known for their song "Shake Some Action", which was later featured in the 1995 movie Clueless...

' album Teenage Head

Teenage Head (Flamin' Groovies album)

Teenage Head is The Flamin' Groovies third studio album, released in 1971. Released the same year as The Rolling Stones' classic album Sticky Fingers, Mick Jagger reportedly noticed the similarities between the albums and thought the Flamin' Groovies did the better take on the theme of classic...

. In 1972 Dickinson released his first solo

Solo (music)

In music, a solo is a piece or a section of a piece played or sung by a single performer...

 album, "Dixie Fried", which featured song

Song

In music, a song is a composition for voice or voices, performed by singing.A song may be accompanied by musical instruments, or it may be unaccompanied, as in the case of a cappella songs...

s by Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...

, Carl Perkins

Carl Perkins

Carl Lee Perkins was an American rockabilly musician who recorded most notably at Sun Records Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, beginning during 1954...

 and Furry Lewis

Furry Lewis

Furry Lewis was an American country blues guitarist and songwriter from Memphis, Tennessee. Lewis was one of the first of the old-time blues musicians of the 1920s to be brought out of retirement, and given a new lease of recording life, by the folk blues revival of the 1960s.-Life and...

.

In the 1970s he became known as a producer, recording Big Star's Third

Third/Sister Lovers

Third, also issued as Sister Lovers, is the third rock album by American power pop group Big Star, recorded in 1974 and eventually released in 1978 by PVC Records...

in 1974, as well as serving as co-producer with Alex Chilton

Alex Chilton

William Alexander "Alex" Chilton was an American songwriter, guitarist, singer and producer, best known as the lead singer of the Box Tops and Big Star...

 on the 1979 Chilton album Like Flies on Sherbert

Like Flies on Sherbert

With its deliberately below-par sound quality and performances, reviews of Like Flies on Sherbert differ as to whether the effect is positive or merely substandard...

. He has produced Willy DeVille

Willy DeVille

Willy DeVille was an American singer and songwriter. During his thirty-five year career, first with his band Mink DeVille and later on his own, Deville created original songs rooted in traditional American musical styles. He worked with collaborators from across the spectrum of contemporary...

, Green on Red

Green on Red

Green on Red was an American rock band, formed in the Tucson, Arizona punk scene, but based for most of its career in Los Angeles, California, where it was loosely associated with the Paisley Underground...

, Mojo Nixon

Mojo Nixon

Mojo Nixon is an American musician, known for playing psychobilly music...

, Neon Wheels, Jason & The Nashville Scorchers, The Replacements, Tav Falco's Panther Burns

Tav Falco's Panther Burns

Tav Falco's Panther Burns, sometimes shortened to Panther Burns, is a rock band originally from Memphis, Tennessee, United States, led by Tav Falco...

, and Screamin' Jay Hawkins

Screamin' Jay Hawkins

Jalacy Hawkins , best known as Screamin' Jay Hawkins was an American musician, singer, and actor...

, among many others, and in 1977 an aural documentary of Memphis' Beale Street

Beale Street

Beale Street is a street in Downtown Memphis, Tennessee, which runs from the Mississippi River to East Street, a distance of approximately . It is a significant location in the city's history, as well as in the history of the blues. Today, the blues clubs and restaurants that line Beale Street are...

, Beale Street Saturday Night, which featured performances by Sid Selvidge, Furry Lewis and Dickinson's band Mud Boy and the Neutrons

Mud Boy and the Neutrons

Mud Boy and the Neutrons is a Memphis rock music band who influenced the Memphis alternative rock scene in the 1970s through the 1990s, inspiring groups like Tav Falco's Panther Burns, North Mississippi Allstars , Big Ass Truck, and others from the area.They released three albums on labels like New...

. He has also worked with Ry Cooder

Ry Cooder

Ryland Peter "Ry" Cooder is an American guitarist, singer and composer. He is known for his slide guitar work, his interest in roots music from the United States, and, more recently, his collaborations with traditional musicians from many countries.His solo work has been eclectic, encompassing...

, and played on Dylan's album Time Out of Mind

Time out of Mind

Time Out of Mind is the 30th studio album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released on September 30, 1997 on Columbia Records. It is his first double studio album since 1970's Self Portrait...

. In 1998, he produced Mudhoney's, Tomorrow Hit Today

Tomorrow Hit Today

Tomorrow Hit Today is the fifth album by the grunge band, Mudhoney. It was released by Reprise Records on September 22, 1998 . Although the band retains their grungy sound on the album, a noticeable garage and blues influence can be heard. The album title is a reference to a song, "When Tomorrow...

.

His sons Luther and Cody, who played on his 2002 solo effort Free Beer Tomorrow, and the 2006 Jungle Jim and the Voodoo Tiger, have achieved success on their own as the North Mississippi Allstars

North Mississippi Allstars

North Mississippi Allstars is a Southern rock/blues jam band from Hernando, Mississippi, founded in 1996. The band is composed of brothers Luther Dickinson and Cody Dickinson , and Chris Chew...

.

Dickinson also made a recording with Pete (Sonic Boom) Kember of Spacemen 3

Spacemen 3

Spacemen 3 were an English alternative rock band, formed in 1982 in Rugby, Warwickshire by Peter Kember and Jason Pierce. Their music was "colorfully mind-altering, but not in the sense of the acid rock of the '60s; instead, the band developed its own minimalistic psychedelia"...

 fame. "Indian Giver" was released in 2008 by Birdman Records under the name of Spectrum Meets Captain Memphis, with Captain Memphis, obviously, referring to Dickinson.

Snake Eyes

In 2007 Dickinson played with the Memphis-based rock band, Snake Eyes. The band, formed by Memphis musician Greg Roberson (former Reigning Sound drummer), featured Jeremy Scott (also from the Reigning Sound), Adam Woodard, and John Paul Keith. While the band disbanded in October 2008, Dickinson and Roberson went on to form another Memphis group, Ten High & the Trashed Romeos. This band included Jake and Toby Vest (of Memphis band The Bulletproof Vests) and Adam Hill. Ten High & the trashed Romeos recorded two albums, the first including all original compositions written by Dickinson and the band. The second album consists entirely of covers of 60's Memphis Garage Rock songs.

Death

Dickinson died August 15, 2009 at Methodist Extended Care Hospital in Memphis following triple bypass heart surgery.

Solo albums

• Dixie Fried (1972, Atlantic). - CD issued on SepiaTone, 2002
• A Thousand Footprints in the Sand (live) (1997, Last Call/Sony, France)
• Free Beer Tomorrow (2002, Artemis)
• Jungle Jim And The Voodoo Tiger (2006, Memphis Int'l)
• Fishing with Charlie (Spoken Word) (2006, Birdman)
• Killers from Space (2007, Memphis Int'l)
• Dinosaurs Run in Circles (2009, Memphis Int'l)

With Mudboy And The Neutrons

• Known Felons in Drag (1986, New Rose)
• Negro Streets At Dawn (1993, New Rose)
• They Walk Among Us (1995, Koch)

As a compiler

• Beale Street Saturday Night (1979, Memphis Development)
• Delta Experimental Project Vol I (1988, New Rose/Fan Club, France)
• Delta Experimental Project Vol II (1990, New Rose/Fan Club, France)
• Delta Experimental Project Vol III (2003, Birdman)

External links

• http://www.zebraranch.com/ (Official website)
• http://www.swampland.com/articles/view/title:dixie_fried_with_the_high_priest_of_memphis_mojo_jim_dickinson (Final Interview)
• http://www.furious.com/perfect/jimdickinson.html (Interview)
• http://www.popculturepress.com/jimdickinson.html (Interview)