Americana Music Awards

Luther and Cody worked as part of Buddy Miller's house band,
backing various artists at the 2011 Americana Awards show.

Jim Dickinson- receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award for Engineering and Production from the Americana Music Association, Ryman Auditorium, Nashville,  Tennessee, 2007.

Listen to his speech below:


Jim Dickinson's Acceptance Speech for Americana Music Association's Lifetime Achievement Award by Jim Dickinson's Legacy

Jim Dickinson and the Hardly Can Playboys

Jim Dickinson's first appearance with his very young sons at the Overton Park Shell in 1989 (Cody Dickinson we are told was 13 but looks even younger which makes Luther just almost old enough to drive maybe ...?) also includes Jim Lancaster on bass and Jim Spake on sax on this way-rocking version of J.B. Lenoir's "Down in Mississippi". The "Hardly Can Playboys" left no doubt from the start that the younger Dickinsons could keep up with their legendary Dad. Some of the most formative shows for all involved have taken place at the Shell and the younger Dickinsons have made many more appearances on this stage over the years while developing into North Mississippi All-Stars. 

This performance was part of the "Memphis Medicine Show", series of live radio broadcasts over WEVL-FM from the stage of the Overton Park Shell for two years in the late '80s.

The historic Memphis amphitheater was fully renovated in 2008 thanks to a generous grant from the Mortimer Levitt Foundation and the renamed Levitt Shell now sponsors 50 free concerts every year devoted to developing community through the performing arts.

Jim Dickinson 2nd Annual Folk Festival

Folk Festival Honors Jim Dickinson's Legacy

Although the music legend is no longer with us, Jim Dickinson is not about to be forgotten in Memphis, where he shaped the city's sound and made his mark on the music scene for four decades, as the Levitt Shell hosts the Jim Dickinson Folk Festival on Monday, September 19th.

The event boasts a stunning line-up that includes headliners North Mississippi Allstars, Lucero, Mojo Nixon, Jimbo Mathis, and Tri-State Coalition, Sons of Mudboy and Shannon McNally.

The Jim Dickinson Folk Festival event was first presented at the Shell shortly after he died on August 15th, 2009, and attracted more than 4,000 fans for an entire night of celebration and music.

Best knows as the founder and father of the North Mississippi Allstars, which included his two sons, Luther and Cody, Dickinson's talent included writing, singing, producing, and playing piano. He served as a cultural historian, Sun Studio musicians and enthusiastic collaborator with a wide range of talent. He left his musical imprint through whatever role he played, influencing musicians from Bob Dylan to John Hiatt, Ry Cooter and Alex Chilton. He recorded with and produced greats like Aretha Franklin, Bob Dylan, Big Star, the Rolling Stones, The Replacements, and Sam and Dave.

Folk FEstival organizers are expecting as many or more people than the first year it was held--not surprising knowing how deep his roots run in Memphis, according to Anne Pitts, executive director of the Levitt Shell.

"Jim Dickinson is a great music legend, a wonderful soul and a friend to many," she said. "While we miss him, the power of his music and his spirit definitely live on, especially during the event. As Jim's epitaph says, "I'm just dead, I'm not gone."

Rain date is Tuesday, September 20th.

See Jim's wife, Mary Lindsay, discuss life with Jim and her sons, Luther and Cody, and the events planned to celebrate Jim's legacy by clicking here.

Jim Dickinson and Joe Hardy working at Ardent Studios

This is a picture of Jim producing with engineer, Joe Hardy, the first time they worked with the Fairlight in Studio C at Ardent. The artist, songwriter Sandy Carroll, said that Jim hated it, but that was before he and Joe mastered the new software and perfected the mysterious technique of Quantizing.

The owner/founder of Ardent, John Fry, said about quantizing, "Describe Quantizing in a simple way?  Impossible."

 Jim's son, Cody,  North Mississippi Allstars' drummer extraordinaire, talks about the Fairlight and his dad:
" I love this picture of Dad and Hardy, working on the Fairlight.  They were so far ahead of their time it is mind-boggling.  I remember Dad telling me about sampling snare drums before rap music even existed.  They were inventing the future."

"For Your Love"

In the mid-sixties in Memphis, Ronnie Jordan was a singer/songwriter who had a recording band called the Honey Jug and a contract with Stax's pop label, H.I.P. Being a friend of Jim's, Ronnie recorded the single at "old" Ardent on National, with Jim producing and John Fry engineering. One critic called it, "a killer Memphis 45."

The personnel on the "For Your Love/In 1852 We" single is as follows:

Ronnie Jordan-vox

Jim Dickinson, Tommy Duncan-keys

Frank Watts-guitar

Joe Savage-bass

Joe Correro Jr., Charles Carrington-drums

Here's what Jim said in an interview:

"That's a hell of a track on 'For Your Love.' The whole time I was cutting that it sped up too much, probably my damned idea. That's Joe Jr. Correro on drums. 'For Your Love,' which was supposedly the A-side of that record, was the song that Ronny cared about."

John Fry commented, "We had a good time recording that song."

As fan Frank Bruno pointed out, "You can hear JD screaming, 'For your love' during the middle and end of the song."

"For Your Love" will be on the Memphis Psych compilation that Alec Paleo of Ace Records is putting together to be released soon.

World Boogie is coming!

Jim Dickinson- running with the big dogs!

In April, 2011, Memphis Magazine celebrated its thirty-five year milestone with "a lengthy photo essay, one that features thirty-five individuals whose influence, we determined, was critical to the growth and evolution of our city during the period of Memphis magazine existence." Luther, Cody, and I were thrilled to hear that Jim was included in this list of luminaries which included Jack Belz, Steve Cohen, William Eggleston, Kallen Esperian, Shelby Foote, Al Green, Karen Carrier, Henry Turley, J.R. "Pitt" Hyde, Fred Smith, and Justin Timberlake, among others. What an honor for Jim and our family.

Here's what Memphis magazine had to say about Jim:

"When he passed away in 2009, this underground godfather of modern Memphis music was the scene's most colorful commentator. With roots that reached back to jug bands and Sun records, Dickinson came of age in the garage-rock and folk revival '60s, presided over the birth of alternative music with Alex Chilton in the 70s, hung with Dylan and the Stones, did major work during the generally fallow '80s, and sired a promising new generation of Memphis music, both in his family (sons Luther and Cody of the North Mississippi Allstars) and in his home studio (Lucero, Alvin Youngblood Heart, Amy Lavere). He also found time to make some pretty fine records of his own. Dickinson contained multitudes. And he could tell you all about it."

Here's one of my favorite recording of Jim's music- a tribute that Oxford's Thacker Mountain Radio show compiled to honor Jim's work as the leader of their house band, the Yallowbushwhackers.
This is fifty-nine minutes of the most free and joyous arrangements Jim ever recorded. Enjoy!

"World boogie is coming!"