The Return Of Jim Dickinson
Even if you don't recognize his name, you've probably heard the work of Memphis legend James Luther Dickinson (AKA Jim Dickinson) at some point. He played piano on the Rolling Stones classic "Wild Horses" and contributed to Bob Dylan's 1997 Grammy-winning album Time Out of Mind. He has produced albums by such artists as The Replacements and power-pop originators Big Star, and has collaborated on many occasions with Buena Vista Social Club architect Ry Cooder. Now, at age 62, Dickinson has released his second solo album, Free Beer Tomorrow (Artemis) — a staggering 30 years after his debut.
"My first album, Dixie Fried, (released on CD for the first time in late 2002) didn't come out until '72 and by that time I was working with Ry Cooder and I just got lost in his career," Dickinson said in a recent phone interview. "He was playing music at a much higher level, and my own career didn't really become an issue. I've been more of a sideman and a producer out of choice."
Dickinson's interest in the mystery and intrigue behind recorded music goes all the way back to his childhood. "I've always been fascinated by the voices coming out of the box," he said. "My family took me to Thomas Edison's laboratory as a child and I was fascinated by the recording equipment right away; just the idea of records does it for me."
With such a bright curiosity spurring him along, the decision to pursue a life of music was easy. "Music was a thing that naturally opened up for me; I didn't even think about it," Dickinson said. "My wife, quite opposite from the rest of my friends, encouraged it, because she saw other people that turned to things like business and were miserable. So she didn't want that to happen to me."
The new album sounds like it was birthed in some fantastical, bluesy swamp located somewhere in the Deep South. It's an oddball blend of rock 'n' roll styles, from Dixieland to hillbilly to folk. Although he shows off his production skills with colorful, diverse instrumentation including banjos, fiddles, saxophones and vibes, Dickinson's uniquely soulful growl gives Free Beer Tomorrow a cohesive feel. In the book "It Came From Memphis," author Robert Gordon described him as "the man with corporate connections who prefers the underworld. His head is attuned to the sounds of tomorrow, rooted in the sounds of yesterday."
As much a musical historian as he is a performer, Dickinson also noted, "This isn't a rock record. My musical tastes pre-date rock and roll. I've been looking for an excuse to make this album for a long time. This was a chance to use some of my production tricks that I can't do on other people's albums."
Among the more notable artists Dickinson worked with were Alex Chilton and his band, power-pop legends Big Star. Dickinson famously produced the self-destructive sessions for their troublesome final release, Third/Sister Lovers. The disjointed, fragmented pop found on the album wasn't a hit when it came out in 1978, but has since become an underground classic. Dickinson gained much hipster credibility from the release, which led to more and more producing gigs in the '80s.
Dickinson didn't write any of the material found on Free Beer Tomorrow; they're simply songs he's loved to play. "The songs talk to me," he said. "I started out in the '50s before the idea of a singer/songwriter, which has always been alien to me. The idea that I could write a song better than Chuck Berry seemed preposterous to me anyway. I never got over collecting obscure songs that may have missed the public view. Millions of people aren't going to hear it because it's on my record, but maybe a few thousand will. With a song like 'Asshole,' when I first heard that in the '70s I thought nobody would hear it, and people deserve to hear that!"
"Asshole" is a laugh-out-loud fiddle-laden romp in which Dickinson grumbles, "Asshole/ No doubt about it/ You're an asshole, baby/ Strictly no class-o/ Oh yes, momma, asshole's what you are."
"Humor has always been important to me and to rock 'n' roll," he said. "And it's one of the things that upsets me about contemporary rock. All this gloom and doom rage-rock stuff is going over my head."
Another highlight on the album is "The Ballad of Billy and Oscar," a rollicking, dusty-road tale detailing an imaginary meeting between Billy the Kid and Oscar Wilde. "At first, I thought 'Billy and Oscar' wouldn't work, but it's just an amazing song," Dickinson said of the eight-and-a-half-minute epic. "The demo that I had for it is very different. It's like an Elizabethan ballad with a twelve-string, an oboe and a cello, and it took me a while to get it right, the way I wanted it to sound. I like spoken word, and I wanted to get one in there."
The main force behind Dickinson's return to recording was his two sons, Luther and Cody, members of the roots-rocking band the Mississippi All-Stars. They played many of the backing instruments on the album, and they were the ones who urged their father to return after such a long hiatus. "It's been because of my kids that I got back into recording my own stuff," Dickinson said. "Part of it was roots education for my kids, things that I wanted them to know, or songs that I thought they should hear."
The longtime behind-the-scenes man said he feels most comfortable in the studio rather than in a live setting. "I don't feel the audience playing on stage, but in the studio, they're real to me. I guess I need that separation," he said. "The recording process is an act of communion between me and the artist and the audience, and the act is completed by the audience."
Partly due to his work in the early '70s with Big Star, Dickinson was brought in to produce The Replacements' 1987 album, Pleased to Meet Me. "I tried to get them to call the record Where's Bob?, but nobody thought that was funny," Dickinson said, referring to the late Replacements guitarist Bob Stinson. "They wanted to make an adult record without compromising. And Westerberg — I think he gave me the last of what he had and he just never showed up again. While I didn't get an anthem like 'Kiss Me on the Bus,' I got an awful lot of attitude. I think Westerberg was the most sensitive writer I've worked with. Like Dylan, he doesn't trust the recording process. Nobody wants to give up their songs, because once it's in the producer's hands, it's not theirs anymore. I think Paul's still got a great record in him."
Dickinson said that after working with The Replacements, he started getting hired to produce other bands that labels didn't really know what to do with. "After the Replacements record I got a reputation for being good with 'problem artists,'" he said. "And some artists just have too big of a problem. I used to get a lot of 'kiss the frog' records — sometimes you kiss the frog and get a prince, and sometimes you get a sloppy frog. I had my share of frogs."
Although the technology involved with making albums has advanced drastically since he started out, Dickinson hasn't let it affect his work. "Technology is a reality of what we're doing, and it will enable you to do everything you want to do, and it's hard to resist," he admitted. "It's harder to maintain the human element with greater technology, but it's not impossible. I've been accused of making lo-fi records, which always burns me, because I try to make a high-fidelity recording of a low-fidelity sound."
After a long and storied career that includes collaborations with the Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan (and a host of Grammy awards), Dickinson is still playing his skewed blues for the masses. "What else am I going to do?" he said with a laugh. "People like Nathan Beauregard keep me going. I saw him at the Memphis County Blues Festival in '65, and he was 107 years old and blind. He looked like a mummy. He was playing an electric guitar, feeding it back on purpose and singing nasty songs about 12-year-old girls while laughing the whole time. When I saw that, I thought 'There is a future.'" — Ryan Dombal [Monday, Jan. 13, 2003]
|
