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***James Luther Dickinson is perhaps the best known unknown musician Memphis has ever produced. As a band leader, session musician and producer, his legacy stretches back to the early '60s, when he started out in garage rock bands like Flash and the Memphis Casuals. He developed into a session musician who was involved in recordings by a number of legendary artists at Ardent, Stax and for Sam Phillips. He played the piano on The Rolling Stones' "Wild Horses" and can be seen in the studio with the Stones in the film Gimme Shelter. In the late '60s he was part of amazing house studio band called The Dixie Flyers. Jerry Wexler, impressed by their ability to play just about any style, signed them to Atlantic to back various artists he'd sign to the label. During this time the Dixie Flyers backed Aretha Franklin, Sam and Dave, Lulu, Delaney and Bonnie and many others. Wexler decided to sign the Flyers on to do their own album so that they might become a band in their own right and begin touring, something in which the Dixie Flyers had no interest. Dickinson convinced Wexler to allow him to do a solo album instead. The resulting album was Dixie Fried-- nine tracks of pure southern fried boogie. Dickinson got the cream of local talent to participate on this album, including Dr. John and Charlie Freeman. The album has been out of print for decades and fetches a high dollar in collectors' circles. Dickinson later went on to be involved in the careers of Alex Chilton (he produced and played on the legendary Like Flies On Sherbert album and Big Star's final album), as well as producing and playing with such notables as Bob Dylan, Ry Cooder, Mudhoney, Spiritualized, and Jon Spencer, among others. |
