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James Luther Dickinson
Biography
A longtime staple of the Memphis music scene, producer Jim Dickinson helmed sessions for successive generations of cult heroes spanning from Screamin' Jay Hawkins to Big Star to the Replacements, additionally lending his keyboard talents to recordings from Ry Cooder, the Rolling Stones, Aretha Franklin, and others. Dickinson began his career during the mid-'60s, emerging as a sought-after session player through recordings with everyone from Petula Clark to Arlo Guthrie to the Flamin' Groovies; in 1971, he appeared on the Stones' classic Sticky Fingers, and that same year collaborated with Cooder on Into the Purple Valley, the first in a series of solo albums and soundtracks with the famed guitarist. In 1972, Dickinson issued his first solo LP, Dixie Fried; around that time he also formed Mud Boy & the Neutrons, a legendary local band featuring Delta bluesmen Sid Selvidge, Lee Baker, and Jimmy Crosswaith. Much of Dickinson's reputation rests on his 1974 production of Big Star's Third/Sister Lovers, the pioneering Memphis power pop group's abortive final masterpiece -- a record that both literally and figuratively captures the sound of a band falling apart, it was not issued in anything close to its intended form until 1992, its status as an underground classic nevertheless assured through years of unauthorized releases.
Selected Discography