James Luther Dickinson (November 15, 1941 – August 15, 2009) was an American

record producer A record producer or music producer is a music creating project's overall supervisor whose responsibilities can involve a range of creative and technical leadership roles. Typically the job involves hands-on oversight of recording sessions; ensu ...

pianist A pianist ( , ) is a musician who plays the piano. A pianist's repertoire may include music from a diverse variety of styles, such as traditional classical music, jazz piano, jazz, blues piano, blues, and popular music, including rock music, ...

, and

singer Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define singi ...

who fronted, among others, the band Mud Boy and the Neutrons, based in

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in Shelby County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. Situated along the Mississippi River, it had a population of 633,104 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of municipalities in Tenne ...

Biography

Dickinson was born in

Little Rock, Arkansas Little Rock is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Arkansas, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The city's population was 202,591 as of the 2020 census. The six-county Central Arkan ...

, and raised in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

and Memphis. He initially attended

Baylor University Baylor University is a Private university, private Baptist research university in Waco, Texas, United States. It was chartered in 1845 by the last Congress of the Republic of Texas. Baylor is the oldest continuously operating university in Te ...

as a drama major before graduating from

Memphis State University The University of Memphis (Memphis) is a public university, public research university in Memphis, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1912, the university has an enrollment of more than 20,000 students. The university maintains the Herff Col ...

, where he became acquainted with the pioneering music journalist Stanley Booth. After receiving his degree, he played on

recording A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, re ...

sessions for

Bill Justis William Everett Justis Jr. (October 14, 1926 – July 16, 1982) was an American pioneer rock and roll musician, composer, and arrangement, musical arranger, best known for his 1957 Grammy Hall of Fame song, "Raunchy (instrumental), Raunchy". As a ...

and recorded at

Chips Moman Lincoln Wayne "Chips" Moman (June 12, 1937 – June 13, 2016) was an American record producer, guitarist, and songwriter. He is known for working in R&B, pop music and country music, operating American Sound Studios and producing hit albums li ...

's American Studios. Dickinson recorded what has been described as the last great single released by

Sun Records Sun Records is an American independent record label founded by producer Sam Phillips in Memphis, Tennessee on February 1, 1952. Sun was the first label to record Elvis Presley, Charlie Rich, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Jo ...

—"Cadillac Man" backed with "My Babe", by The Jesters (1966)—playing

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

and singing lead on both sides, although he was not a member of the group.

Early career

By 1966, Dickinson began working as a record producer for the famous

Ardent Studios Ardent Studios is an American recording studio located in Memphis, Tennessee, United States. The studio was founded in the late 1950s by John King, Fred Smith, and John Fry. Over time, it has become a commercially successful recording studio. ...

, in

, which was founded by John Fry in 1959. The young and eager Dickinson produced and oversaw a series of blistering sessions involving bands like the Bitter Ind ( The 31st of February), and the Wallabies. Members of the Wallabies—Alex Major (electric bass, rhythm guitar, harmonica, lead singer and songwriter), Bobby Maxwell (lead guitar, harmony, lead singer on some songs), Alan Palmore (rhythm guitar, harmony, lead singer on some songs and songwriter), and Glen Wilson (drums)—recorded Major's song "Up and Down Children", a marriage of

garage rock Garage rock (sometimes called garage punk or 60s punk) is a raw and energetic style of rock music that flourished in the mid-1960s, most notably in the United States and Canada, and has experienced a series of subsequent revivals. The style is ...

and a twisted

Merseybeat Beat music, British beat, or Merseybeat is a British popular music genre that developed around Liverpool in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The genre melded influences from British and American rock and roll, rhythm and blues, skiffle, tradit ...

sound. In 2008 the first series of songs were released by Big Beat Records on a compilation album entitled ''Thank You Friends: The Ardent Records Story'' and in 2012 on the compilation album ''The Psychedelic Sound of Memphis''.

Career

In the late 1960s, Dickinson joined with fellow Memphis musicians Charlie Freeman (guitar), Michael Utley (keyboards), Tommy McClure (bass) and Sammy Creason (drums); this group became known as the Dixie Flyers and backed a variety of performers, including Bettye LaVette, Hank Ballard, James Carr,

Albert Collins Albert Gene Collins (October 1, 1932 – November 24, 1993)Skeely, Richard. "Albert Collins: Biography" Allmusic.com. was an American electric blues guitarist and singer with a distinctive guitar style. He was noted for his powerful playing ...

and

The Tempters The Tempters were part of Japan's Group Sounds pop music era in the 1960s. Featuring lead singing, vocalist Kenichi Hagiwara, who was also known by the nickname of Shoken, they rivaled The Tigers (Japanese band), The Tigers for the top spot in th ...

. In 1970, the group began to back

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...

' venerable stable of soul acts at the behest of the producer

Jerry Wexler Gerald Wexler (January 10, 1917 – August 15, 2008) was a music journalist turned music producer, and was a major influence on American popular music from the 1950s through the 1980s. He coined the term "rhythm and blues", and was integra ...

(who was introduced to the group by Booth) following the acrimonious dissolution of his relationship with the

Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section The Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section is a group of American session musicians based in the northern Alabama town of Muscle Shoals. One of the most prominent American studio house bands from the 1960s to the 1980s, these musicians, individually or a ...

. Based at

Criteria Studios Criteria Studios is a recording studio in North Miami, Florida, founded in 1958 by musician Mack Emerman. Hundreds of gold, platinum, and diamond singles and albums have been recorded, mixed or mastered at Criteria, for many notable artists and ...

Miami, Florida Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

, they recorded

Aretha Franklin Aretha Louise Franklin ( ; March 25, 1942 – August 16, 2018) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Honored as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Soul", she was twice named by ''Rolling Stone'' magazine as the Roll ...

's 1970 hit "

Spirit in the Dark ''Spirit in the Dark'' is the seventeenth studio album by American singer Aretha Franklin, released in August, 1970, by Atlantic Records. It received critical acclaim, but met with sloping sales, despite continued hit singles. " Don't Play Tha ...

"; over the next year, the Flyers also contributed to recordings by

Carmen McRae Carmen Mercedes McRae (April 8, 1920 – November 10, 1994) was an American jazz singer. She is considered one of the most influential jazz vocalists of the 20th century and is remembered for her behind-the-beat phrasing and ironic interpretati ...

Delaney & Bonnie Delaney & Bonnie was an American duo of singer-songwriters Delaney Bramlett and Bonnie Bramlett. In 1969 and 1970, they fronted a rock/soul ensemble, Delaney & Bonnie and Friends, whose members at different times included Duane Allman, Gregg ...

Jerry Jeff Walker Jerry Jeff Walker (born Ronald Clyde Crosby; March 16, 1942 – October 23, 2020) was an American country and folk singer-songwriter. He was a leading figure in the progressive country and outlaw country music movement. He also wrote t ...

Dee Dee Warwick Delia Juanita Warrick (September 25, 1942 – October 18, 2008), known professionally as Dee Dee Warwick, was an American soul singer. Born in East Orange, New Jersey, she was the sister of singer Dionne Warwick, the niece of Cissy Houston, a ...

Ronnie Hawkins Ronald Cornett Hawkins (January 10, 1935 – May 29, 2022) was an American rock and roll singer, long based in Canada, whose career spanned more than half a century. His career began in Arkansas, United States, where he was born and raised. He ...

Sam & Dave Sam & Dave were an American soul and R&B duo who performed together from 1961 until 1981. The tenor (higher) voice was Sam Moore (1935–2025) and the baritone/tenor (lower) voice was Dave Prater (1937–1988). Nicknamed "Double Dynamite", " ...

, Dion,

Brook Benton Benjamin Franklin Peay (September 19, 1931 – April 9, 1988), known professionally as Brook Benton, was an American singer and songwriter whose music transcended rock and roll, rhythm and blues, and pop music genres in the 1950s and 1960s, with ...

Lulu Lulu may refer to: Companies * LuLu, an early automobile manufacturer * Lulu.com, an online e-books and print self-publishing platform, distributor, and retailer * Lulu Hypermarket, a retail chain in Asia * Lululemon Athletica or simply Lulu, a C ...

Sam the Sham Domingo Samudio (born February 28, 1937), better known by his stage name Sam the Sham, is a retired American rock and roll singer. Sam the Sham is known for his Camp (style), camp robe and turban and hauling his equipment in a 1952 Packard hears ...

, and Esther Phillips. Unable to acclimate to life in Miami and the variegated production styles of Wexler,

Tom Dowd Thomas John Dowd (October 20, 1925 – October 27, 2002) was an American recording engineer and producer for Atlantic Records. He was credited with innovating the multitrack recording method. Dowd worked on a veritable "who's who" of recordings ...

, and

Arif Mardin Arif Mardin (March 15, 1932 – June 25, 2006) was a Turkish-American music producer, who worked with hundreds of artists across many different styles of music, including jazz, rock, soul, disco and country. He worked at Atlantic Records for ov ...

, Dickinson heeded the advice of

Duane Allman Howard Duane Allman (November 20, 1946 – October 29, 1971) was an American rock and blues guitarist and the founder and original leader of the Allman Brothers Band, for which he was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fam ...

and left the group to pursue a solo career in 1971. The remaining Flyers backed

Kris Kristofferson Kristoffer Kristofferson (June 22, 1936 – September 28, 2024) was an American singer, songwriter, and actor. He was a pioneering figure in the outlaw country movement of the 1970s, moving away from the polished Nashville sound and toward a m ...

and

Rita Coolidge Rita Coolidge (born May 1, 1945) is an American recording artist. During the 1970s and 1980s, her songs were on ''Billboard'' magazine's pop, country, adult contemporary, and jazz charts, and she won two Grammy Awards with fellow musician and th ...

for several years before ultimately disbanding in the mid-1970s. Dickinson's first

solo Solo or SOLO may refer to: Arts and entertainment Characters * Han Solo, a ''Star Wars'' character * Jacen Solo, a Jedi in the non-canonical ''Star Wars Legends'' continuity * Kylo Ren (Ben Solo), a ''Star Wars'' character * Napoleon Solo, fr ...

album, ''Dixie Fried'', was released by Atlantic in 1972. In addition to the

Carl Perkins Carl Lee Perkins (April 9, 1932 – January 19, 1998)#nytimesobit, Pareles. was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. A rockabilly great and pioneer of rock and roll, he began his recording career at the Sun Studio, in Memphis, Tennes ...

-penned

title song Theme music is a musical composition which is often written specifically for radio programming, television shows, video games, or films and is usually played during the title sequence, opening credits, closing credits, and in some instances at so ...

, it featured

song A song is a musical composition performed by the human voice. The voice often carries the melody (a series of distinct and fixed pitches) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs have a structure, such as the common ABA form, and are usu ...

s by

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan; born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Described as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture over his nearly 70-year ...

and Furry Lewis. In the 1970s, he became known as a producer, recording

Big Star Big Star was an American rock band formed in Memphis, Tennessee in 1971 by Alex Chilton (vocals, guitar), Chris Bell (vocals, guitar), Jody Stephens (drums), and Andy Hummel (bass). They have been described as the "quintessential American ...

's ''

Third Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', i.e., the third in a series of fractional parts in a sexagesimal number system Places * 3rd Street (di ...

'' in 1974, and serving as co-producer with

Alex Chilton William Alexander Chilton (December 28, 1950March 17, 2010) was an American musician, best known as the lead singer of the rock bands the Box Tops and Big Star. Chilton's early commercial success in the 1960s as a teen vocalist for the Box Tops ...

of Chilton's 1979 album, '' Like Flies on Sherbert''. He produced recordings for performers as diverse as

Willy DeVille Willy DeVille (born William Paul Borsey Jr.; August 25, 1950 – August 6, 2009) was an American singer and songwriter. During his thirty-five-year career, first with his band Mink DeVille (1974–1986) and later on his own, DeVille created song ...

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. Earlier records have the wide-screen p ...

, Mojo Nixon, The Replacements, Tav Falco's Panther Burns,

Toots and the Maytals The Maytals, known from 1972 to 2020 as Toots and the Maytals, are a Jamaican musical group, one of the best known ska and rocksteady vocal groups. The Maytals were formed in the early 1960s and were key figures in popularizing reggae music. ...

, and

Screamin' Jay Hawkins Jalacy J. "Screamin' Jay" Hawkins (July 18, 1929 – February 12, 2000) was an American singer-songwriter, musician, actor, film producer, and boxer. Famed chiefly for his powerful, shouting vocal delivery and wildly theatrical performances of s ...

. He appeared in ''Beale Street Saturday Night'', a 1977 aural documentary of Memphis's

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 blues music. Today, ...

, which featured performances by Sid Selvidge, Furry Lewis and Dickinson's band, Mud Boy and the Neutrons. Dickinson contributed production and instrumentation to various recordings released on the underground Memphis Tennessee record label Barbarian Records. As a session musician, he played tack piano with the

Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for over six decades, they are one of the most popular, influential, and enduring bands of the Album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the band pione ...

for their recording of " Wild Horses" at Muscle Shoals Sound Studio in December 1969; contributed to the Flamin' Groovies' album '' Teenage Head'' in 1971; worked with

Ry Cooder Ryland Peter Cooder (born March 15, 1947) is an American musician, songwriter, film score composer, record producer, and writer. He is a multi-instrumentalist but is best known for his slide guitar work, his interest in traditional music, and h ...

on nearly a dozen records beginning in 1972; recorded a one-off single ("Red Headed Woman") with the

Cramps A cramp is a sudden, involuntary, painful skeletal muscle contraction or overshortening associated with electrical activity. While generally temporary and non-damaging, they can cause significant pain and a paralysis-like immobility of the affe ...

in 1984. Dickinson played

electric piano An electric piano is a musical instrument that has a piano-style musical keyboard, where sound is produced by means of mechanical hammers striking metal strings or reeds or wire tines, which leads to vibrations which are then converted into ele ...

and

pump organ The pump organ or reed organ is a type of organ that uses free reed aerophone, free reeds to generate sound, with air passing over vibrating thin metal strips mounted in a frame. Types include the pressure-based harmonium, the suction reed organ ...

's 1997 album '' Time Out of Mind''. Also in 1997, Dickinson produced ''Ya Gotta Let Me Do My Thing'' by the Australian band Kim Salmon & the Surrealists. In 1998, he produced

Mudhoney Mudhoney is an American rock music, rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, on January 1, 1988, following the demise of Green River (band), Green River. Its members are singer and rhythm guitarist Mark Arm, lead guitarist Steve Turner (guitari ...

's '' Tomorrow Hit Today''. In May 1999, Dickinson participated in a one-time collaboration with Jules Shear, Harvey Brooks, Paul Q. Kolderie, Chuck Prophet,

Sean Slade Sean Slade (born 14 November 1957) is an American record producer, engineer, and mixer. On many of his productions he worked in partnership with Paul Q. Kolderie. Career Slade was born in Lansing, Michigan, United States. He graduated from Ya ...

, and Winston Watson to record the album ''Raisins in the Sun'', released by Rounder Records in 2001. His sons, Luther and Cody, who played on his 2002 solo album ''Free Beer Tomorrow'' and the 2006 album ''Jungle Jim and the Voodoo Tiger'', have achieved success on their own as the North Mississippi Allstars. Dickinson also made a recording with Pete (Sonic Boom) Kember of Spacemen 3. "Indian Giver" was released in 2008 by Birdman Records under the name of Spectrum Meets Captain Memphis, with Captain Memphis, obviously, referring to Dickinson. In 2003, Dickinson briefly appeared in '' The Road to Memphis'', part of

Martin Scorsese Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November17, 1942) is an American filmmaker. One of the major figures of the New Hollywood era, he has received List of awards and nominations received by Martin Scorsese, many accolades, including an Academ ...

's television production '' The Blues''. ''Free Beer Tomorrow'' (2002) was an album of covers. It included “The Ballad of Billy and Oscar,” by renegade art critic Dave Hickey, and “Hungry Town,” written by

alumnus / former Dickinson protégé Chuck Prophet, along with Prophet’s main songwriting partner, klipschutz (pen name of Kurt Lipschutz). Prophet and klipschutz were amused but not disappointed that Dickinson changed some of the lyrics, according to an interview with Prophet. In the same interview, Prophet mentioned that his writing partner was credited on the disc as “klipshitz,” probably due to Dickinson’s poor handwriting. In 2007 Dickinson played with the Memphis-based rock band Snake Eyes. The band, formed by the Memphis musician Greg Roberson (previously the drummer for Reigning Sound), also included Jeremy Scott (also from Reigning Sound), Adam Woodard, and John Paul Keith. The group disbanded in October 2008. Dickinson and Roberson went on to form another Memphis group, Ten High & the Trashed Romeos, with Jake and Toby Vest (of the Memphis band the Bulletproof Vests) and Adam Hill. The band recorded two albums, the first consisting of original compositions by Dickinson and the band, and the second consisting of

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...

s of songs originally recorded by Memphis

bands in the 1960s.

Death

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

Discography

Solo albums

*''Dixie Fried'' (1972, Atlantic; CD issued by SepiaTone, 2002) *''A Thousand Footprints in the Sand'' (live) (1997, Last Call, 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) *''I'm Just Dead, I'm Not Gone'' (2012, 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)

With Raisins in the Sun

*''Raisins in the Sun'' (2001, Rounder)

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)

References

Bibliography

* Dickinson, Jim (2017). ''I'm Just Dead, I'm Not Gone''. Suarez, Ernest, ed. Jackson: University of Mississippi Press. . Well-written autobiography covering his first thirty years. * Gordon, Robert (1995). ''It Came from Memphis''. London: Secker & Warburg. .

External links

Official website

Final Interview

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dickinson, Jim 1941 births 2009 deaths Record producers from Arkansas Record producers from Tennessee Musicians from Memphis, Tennessee Baylor University alumni Musicians from Little Rock, Arkansas 20th-century American singers 20th-century American pianists Singers from Arkansas American male pianists 20th-century American male singers Tav Falco's Panther Burns members