James Luther Dickinson - Killers From Space

E’ un po’ che mancavamo dal nostro appuntamento con I nostri eroi. Il fatto è che ne volevamo uno che potesse chiudere e riaprire l’anno con lo stesso entusiasmo…. Insomma un personaggio veramente carismatico che potesse far da sintesi al nostro anno pieno di eroi conosciuti e meno.

Allora chi proporre…..Ma si’ è lui ! Ma non è solo lui. E vi spiegamo subito il perché

James Luther Dickinson … è un pioniere “naturale" con una gigantesca conoscenza della musica Americana di matrice Roots e, per la prima volta nella sua carriera lunga ben tre decadi ha fatto due album consecutivi per la stessa etichetta discografica ( ossia la sua ) il che dovrebbe significare che finalmente James ha trovato finalmente “casa” da un punto di vista musicale.

Inoltre a testimonianza della nuova ritrovata vena rimane il fatto che dopo aver fatto solo tre album in 34 anni di carriera musicale Killers from space segue di soli due anni il precedente lavoro del nostro.

Definire Jim Kickinson da un punto di vista professionale non è facile. Potremmo chiamarlo produttore, ( Big Star, Replecements, Green On Red, Ry Cooder, Alvin Youngblood Hear ) oppure session Man ( Rolling Stones, Aretha Franklin, Bob Dylan, Duan Allman ) o ancora un osservatore culturale ( Memphis Saturday Night ), oppure ancora musicista… Comunque lo si definisca Jim ha scritto pagine importanti nella storia della musica Americana.

Pino Come detto questo cd segue in un lasso di tempo breve il precedente e a detta del musicista non era neanche stato pensato. E’ venuto da solo, è cresciuto pian piano dentro di lui . Poco importava se nessuno lo volesse o se non fosse stato definito il miglior album della sua carriera. L’ha sentito dentro di lui e l’ha fatto Punto.

Ma come detto a rappresentanza di quest’annata passata insieme James non è altro che un momento di sintesi di un genere musicale che noi, come i fratelli Cohen, amiamo moltissimo : la roots music.

Ed in questo cd James o Jim per gli amici mette a disposizione la sua grande voce, la sua chitarra ad una dozzina di canzoni che nel corso degli anni pur non essendo sue le ha talmente suonate, amate, rispettate da definirle To Good To Record.

Ed eccole le registrazioni qui per noi. A voi la scoperta attraverso radio Moonlight di un vero eroe della roots music, di un eroe che ci permette di inizare nel migliore dei modi questo nuovo anno.

Ma Vediamo come James le presenta :

“Texas Me” is a Doug Sahm tune which Jim says reflects “the failed hippie dream,” adding, “since the first time I heard it, I completely identified with it.” Dickson recalls producing The Texas Tornados, the band that featured Doug, Augie Meyers (one of the writers of “Texas Me”), Freddy Fender and Flaco Jimenez. “Doug and Freddy used the same mic; they were so close they were almost touching noses and they’d argue around correct Spanish pronunciation. “

“Dirty On Yo’ Mama” was written by the late John Hurley who had a hand in the Dusty Springfield hit

“Son of a Preacher Man,” as well as “Love of the Common People,” recorded by everyone from Waylon Jennings to Paul Young.

“He cut great demos” says Jim of Hurley whom he met through Chips Moman many years ago.

“You Better Rock Me Baby” was written by Jerry Lynn Williams, the enigmatic composer whose songs were recorded Eric Clapton, Bonnie Raitt, B.B. King and Delbert McClinton. “Jerry had a rock ‘n roll voice,” says Dickinson who met him at least 35 years ago in Tyler, TX.

“Nature Boy” found its way into Killers as a result of the fact that DDT used to perform it. The song was written by Tommy Hull, a Memphis punker who was in a group called The Rudy Bad.

“Lonely Nights” includes the evocative line “these hotel walls are blue and I’m so far away from you.” It was a song from the repertoire of Green on Red’s side project, Howard Hughes’ Brain.

“Roly Poly” was written by Greg Spradlin, a Little Rock writer who had a band called The Skeeterhawks. He’s also the writer of “Out of Blue” that can be heard on Jungle Jim.
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“I Was A Champion” was written by Allen Jacobs and Andrea Skinner a/k/a Bunky & Jake. “I bought the album because of the picture of the cover,” says Dickinson of that 1969 release. “I had to wait to record it until my kids could play it.”

“No, No Never Again” is a song that Jim first heard when he was producing an Australian group called The Big Don’t Argue. “They were the most primitive white guys I’d ever met,” he recalls of his late 80s sessions with the band.

“Sweet Peace Within” was first heard on Mylon Lefever’s album “Holy Smoke.” “It was the first Christian rock record,” Jim declares, “and Mylon was the first guy I ever saw who wore embroidered blue jeans.”

“I Need You” is a song that Jim first heard when he produced a band up from Mississippi who called themselves The Sugar Cube Blues Band back in 1966.

OFFICIAL BIOGRAPHY

Jim Dickinson was born November 15, 1941, in Little Rock, Arkansas. His family moved to Memphis, Tennessee, in 1949. He attended White Station High School, where he formed his first band, The Regents, in 1958. Signing his first recording contract with Rubin Cherry's Home of the Blues on Beale Street, he later recorded as an Artist for Sam Phillips' SUN label.
He attended Baylor University in Waco, TX, studying drama under Paul Baker. Returning to Memphis, he married Mary Lindsay Andrews. The couple graduated from Memphis State University with degrees in History and Anthropology.
He participated in the now-famous Memphis Country Blues Festivals at the Overton Park Shell with Furry Lewis, Sleepy John Estes, and Fred McDowell.
After getting his first real break from Bill Justis in Nashville, he began his work in the Memphis music industry, playing sessions at American Studio for Chips Moman, '65/'66; then for John Fry at Ardent Studio, '66/'67; then Sam Kessler at Sound of Memphis Studio, '68/'69, where he joined Charley Freeman, Tommy McClure, and Sammy Creason in the rhythm section that became know as the "DIXIE FLYERS".
In Muscle Shoals, Alabama, in December, 1969, Dickinson recorded "Wild Horses", with the ROLLING STONES, for their album Sticky Fingers.

In 1970, the Dixie Flyers moved to Miami, Florida, contracted to ATLANTIC RECORDS as the house band backing such artists as Aretha Franklin, Sam & Dave, Jerry Jeff Walker, and Carmen McCrae.

Dickinson left the Dixie Flyers and returned to Memphis, recording his solo album, DIXIE FRIED for Atlantic. He began a career as a producer working with Ry Cooder and Big Star. In the early 70s, he toured with Arlo Guthrie after recording "City of New Orleans." Dickinson spent the '70s and '80s developing the notorious and mysterious Mudboy and the Neutrons, Memphis super group,collaborating with Ry Cooder on motion picture scoring (PARIS, TEXAS; THE BORDER, CROSSROADS, THE LONG RIDERS), and touring Europe twice with Ry Cooder and Jim Keltner.
Dickinson returned to production with Austin's New Sincerity roots rockers,True Believers, which led to Green On Red, and ultimately The Replacements' masterpiece, PLEASED TO MEET ME, and Toots Hibbert's Super Session (Sly and Robbie, Eddie Hinton,Teenie Hodges) TOOTS IN MEMPHIS.
Honored by local NARAS chapter with the Board of Director's Governor's Award in 1992, Jim Dickinson won Producer of the Year seven times before retiring his name from the competition.
After the murder of Dickinson's partner,Lee Baker, Mudboy retired, but not before sons, Luther and Cody, had joined the list of Neutrons. While continuing to produce a few choice projects, Dickinson has concentrated his efforts on the family recording complex, Zebra Ranch, and launching the careers of his sons, Luther and Cody, the North Mississippi Allstars. The Allstars have received three Grammy nominations for their CDs: SHAKE HANDS WITH SHORTY, 51 PHANTOM,and ELECTRIC BLUE WATERMELON

The latest family effort is Jungle Jim and the Voodoo Tiger, recorded with Luther and Cody. It will escape on Memphis International Records on May 30, 2006.

Dickinson played on Bob Dylan's TIME OUT OF MIND, 1998's Grammy winning Record of the Year.