This past week, the music world lost a great one -- Memphis musician and producer Jim Dickinson. He certainly won't get the coverage that MJ has received, but his influence was no less profound.
But don't take my word for it -- just ask The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Aretha Franklin, Johnny Cash, Jerry Jeff Walker, Sam Phillips, Duane Allman, Paul Westerberg, John Hiatt, and Chuck Prophet. Those are the cats that Dickinson produced or sessioned with. He played piano on the Rolling Stones' Sticky Fingers album, lending a rollicking but bluesy groove. He helped Bob Dylan re-find his mojo with the Grammy-winning Time Out of Mind -- so much so that Mr. Dylan called him a "brother." And when The Replacements made the move from insolent garage band misfits to (less) insolent bar band misfits, Jim Dickinson led the way, peppering the album with sunny horns and a dash of soul.
Thankfully, his music lives on -- you can check out A Thousand Footprints in the Sand, a Memphis blues live album that'll have you craving a night on Beale Street by the third track, or the harder-to-come-by Dixie Fried. Or take a listen to anything by the North Mississippi Allstars, founded by Jim's sons Luther and Cody Dickinson. Talent runs in the family, and today, there are a ton of sad eyes in Jim Dickinson's extended family of musicians.
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