Jim Dickinson was born in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1941, but grew up in Memphis, where he learned piano as a teenager. During the 60s he was part of the Memphis and Muscle Shoals music scenes, mostly working as a session pianist. One of his best-known sessions came in 1969, when he suggested to The Rolling Stones that they record at the Muscle Shoals Sound Studio whilst they were on tour - he subsequently got to play the memorable piano part on "Wild Horses". In the late 60s he formed a studio group with guitarist Charlie Freeman, keyboardist Mike Utley, bassist Tommy McClure and drummer Sammy Creason. As The Dixie Flyers, they became the house band for Atlantic Records in 1970, recording at their Miami-based studio and backing a myriad of different R&B artists on the Atlantic label.
However in 1971 Dickinson tired of Miami, and returned home to Memphis as the Dixie Flyers began to fall apart. He started to focus on production work, producing and appearing on Ry Cooder's acclaimed Into The Purple Valley and Boomer's Story albums. Atlantic offered him a chance to record a solo album, and his debut Dixie Fried came out in 1972. It gave him the chance to present his own unique and off-beat take on southern roots music, resulting in a delightfully rough-hewn mix of R&B and country. Included covers of the title track by Carl Perkins, Paul Siebel's "Louise", and an obscure early Bob Dylan number "John Brown".
|> A Thousand Footprints In The Sand (1994)
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