Monday 19 December 2016

Little Jimmy Dickens born 19 December 1920


James Cecil Dickens (December 19, 1920 – January 2, 2015) better known as Little Jimmy Dickens, was an American country music singer famous for his humorous novelty songs, his small size, 4'11" (150 cm), and his rhinestone-studded outfits. He started as a member of the Grand Ole Opry in 1948 and became a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1983. Before his death he was the oldest living member of the Grand Ole Opry. 

Born in Bolt, West Virginia, Dickens, who is related to Charles Dickens, began his musical career in the late 1930s, performing on a local radio station while attending West Virginia University. He soon quit school to pursue a full-time music career, and travelled the country performing on various local radio stations under the name "Jimmy the Kid." 

In 1948, Dickens was heard performing on a radio station in Saginaw, Michigan by Roy Acuff, who introduced him to Art Satherly at Columbia Records and officials from the Grand Ole Opry. Dickens signed with Columbia in September and joined the Opry in August. Around this time he began using the nickname, Little Jimmy Dickens, inspired by his short stature. 

Dickens recorded many novelty songs for Columbia, including "Country Boy," "A-Sleeping at the Foot of the Bed" and "I'm Little But I'm Loud." His song "Take an Old Cold Tater (And Wait)" inspired Hank Williams to nickname him "Tater". Later, telling Jimmy he needed a hit, Williams penned "Hey Good Lookin'" specifically for Dickens in only 20 minutes while on a Grand Ole Opry tour bus. A week later Williams cut the song himself, jokingly telling him, "That song's too good for you!"

Hank Williams and Jimmy
In 1950 he formed the Country Boys with musicians Jabbo Arrington, Grady Martin, Bob Moore and Thumbs Carllile and. It was during this time that he discovered future Hall of Famer Marty Robbins at a Phoenix, Arizona television station while on tour with Grand Ole Opry road show. In 1957, Dickens left the Grand Ole Opry to tour with the Philip Morris Country Music Show. 

In 1962 Dickens released "The Violet and the Rose," his first top ten single in 12 years.

During 1964 he became the first country artist to circle the globe while on tour, and also made numerous TV appearances including The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. In 1965 he released his biggest hit, "May the Bird of Paradise Fly Up Your Nose," reaching number one on the country chart and number fifteen on the pop chart.


                            

In the late 1960s he left Columbia for Decca Records, before moving again to United Artists in 1971. That same year he married his wife, Mona, and in 1975 he returned to the Grand Ole Opry. In 
1983 Dickens was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. 

He joined producers Randall Franks and Alan Autry for the In the Heat of the Night cast CD “Christmas Time’s A Comin’” performing "Jingle Bells" with the cast on the CD released on Sonlite and MGM/UA for one of the most popular Christmas releases of 1991 and 1992 with Southern retailers.

Toward the end of his life, Dickens made appearances in a number of music videos by fellow country musician and West Virginia native Brad Paisley. He was also featured on several of Paisley's albums in bonus comedy tracks, along with other Opry mainstays such as George Jones and Bill Anderson. They were collectively referred to as the Kung-Pao Buckaroos.

With the death of Hank Locklin in March 2009, Dickens became the oldest living member of the Grand Ole Opry at the age of 90. He made regular appearances as a host at the Opry, often with the self-deprecating joke that he is also known as "Willie Nelson after taxes," playing on his resemblance to Nelson in his later years and his own short stature. At the 2011 CMA Awards, Jimmy was dressed up as Justin Bieber, and made fun of Bieber's then-current paternity scandal. 


Dickens was hospitalized after a stroke on December 25, 2014, days after his last appearance on the Opry to mark his birthday. He died of cardiac arrest on January 2, 2015, at the age of 94. He is survived by his wife, Mona Dickens, who he married in 1971, and two daughters, Pamela Detert and Lisa King. After his funeral on January 8, 2015 at the Grand Ole Opry House, Dickens was entombed in the Cross Mausoleum at Woodlawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Nashville.  (Info Wikipedia)

5 comments:

boppinbob said...

For “Rock Me - Little Jimmy Dickens” go here:

http://www6.zippyshare.com/v/48784041/file.html

01 Stinky Pass The Hat Around
02 Big Sandy
03 Rock Me
04 I Got A Hole In My Pocket
05 Blackeyed Joe's
06 Wabash Cannonball
07 Family Reunion
08 Me And My Big Loud Mouth
09 Country Ways And City Ideas
10 Hannah
11 Hey Ma (Hide Your Daughter)
12 Hot Tears
13 Sleeping At The Foot Of The Bed
14 Hillbilly Fever
15 Walk Chicken Walk
16 Salty Boogie
17 Hey Worm (You Wanna Wiggle)
18 When They Get Too Rough
19 Fire Ball Mail
20 John Henry
21 Eight More Miles
22 Night Train To Memphis
23 When The Ship Hit The Sand
24 Where The Buffalo Trud
25 Doggone It
26 You All Come
27 Out Behind The Barn
28 When The Love Bug Bites You
29 I'm Little But I'm Loud
30 Hot Diggity Dog

A big thank you to Maria @ El Rancho blog for link. Plus more of Jimmy’s albums here too

http://elrancho--1.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Little%20Jimmy%20Dickens

Pudge said...

Thanks Bob. LJD is one of my all time favorites

newnativemark said...

Do you have access to any Jimmy Dickens albums at all? These links are expired, and the blog you mentioned "El Rancho" appears to be gone... no posts for over a year and his Jimmy Dickens links are also a dead end.

I appreciate whatever you can do.

Thanks,
Mark

boppinbob said...

Hello Mark,
Regarding your comment above....I only use the free Zippyshare which only keeps the links alive for 30 days unless downloaded then the links are active for another 30 days etc. Considering this post is over 2 years old I'm not surprised the link doesn't work.

Unfortunately El Rancho like many other music blogs has been forced to close and most of the links have been stopped.

I will try and re-post the Rock Me album within the next few days. I have to find it first!!
Watch this space. Regards, Bob

boppinbob said...

Hello Mark, Here it is.......

https://www.upload.ee/files/9468429/Little_Jimmy_Dickens-RockMe.rar.html

128 bit-rate but sounds OK. Only the front cover was given with original uploader, but I found the back cover on EBay! Regards, Bob